What if you could become a part of a company that is potentially changing the way people view the world around them and interact with it?
For years, Magic Leap, an augmented reality startup, has been silently working on a revolutionary product that is being hailed by some as the biggest thing since the internet.
Started in 2010 by an American entrepreneur and engineer, Rony Abovitz, Magic Leap has had little to show for its efforts since its inception. However, in December 2017 they finally revealed their most advanced augmented reality Goggles, Magic Leap One, which once again brought them back in headlines.
So what exactly is Magic Leap One, why is it so keenly followed by the media, why is it backed by some of the world’s biggest entrepreneurs and corporations, and most importantly how can you become a part of what Magic Leap is doing?
Let’s quickly answer each of those questions in this post.
Magic Leap One – Changing Reality As You Know It
Most of the hype that surrounds Magic Leap is because of its flagship AR Goggles, Magic Leap One. It’s a pair of Goggles that changes the way you look at the world.
Unlike virtual reality products like Oculus Rift or Samsung Gear VR, Magic Leap One doesn’t take you into a virtual world disconnecting you from your surroundings.
Instead, it enhances your view of reality by creating immersive and engaging real world experiences and providing you additional information about things around you.
It adds people (that look almost real) to your view that not only interact with your surroundings but also directly look at you and react to your moves. It can add new things and elements to your view like doors or toys that seem so real you can almost touch them.
It comes with a controller, goggles called Lightwear, and Lightpack, the engine that drives Magic Leap One.
Think of it as a much more advanced version of Google Glass.
Which is perhaps why the online search giant has invested millions of dollars in the company along with other major investors like the AliBaba Group.
The total funding of Magic Leap currently stands at over $1.6 billion and it’s valued at $6 billion which startling considering they still haven’t publicly launched any products. However, it also shows the investors have a lot of faith in the team behind Magic Leap.
Magic Leap One and It’s Future
A lot of the success Magic Leap hopes to achieve with its AR Goggles depends on how the developer community responds to it and the kind of apps and experiences it can create using the ability of Magic Leap One.
Which is why they’re launching a “Creator Version” in the first quarter of 2018 that’ll be sent to a select group of developers and agencies who can explore the boundaries of Magic Leap One.
Like Android and iOS, it’s the Magic Leap’s developer community that’ll ultimately make it a viable product for consumers around the world.
The public launch for global consumers comes after the developer launch, probably towards the end of 2018.
Talking to Rolling Stone, Rony Abovitz said they’re “definitely shipping the first goggles in 2018”
Competitors of Magic Leap
Augmented reality is among the favorite topics of most tech founders and organizational heads. Everyone from Mark Zuckerberg to Tim Cook wants to release their own AR goggles.
But while AR headsets are already used in a few industries by a select group of professionals, they’re still far from becoming mainstream devices that people can casually wear out on the street while going about their daily routines.
That’s the challenge Magic Leap One wants to overcome and it certainly looks the likeliest to get there first. But there are other products in the race as well.
While there are many other companies working on some form of AR like Snap, we’ve listed only the ones working on augmented reality headsets for everyday use.
Career Prospects and Average Pay at Magic Leap
When you’re working on something as revolutionary as Magic Leap One, you need to build a highly skilled workforce that has the ability to turn your ideas into reality.
High skill also demands higher pay of course.
Which is why the average salary across all the roles at Magic Leap is $121K according to Paysa. And senior software engineers can make as much as $143K working at Magic Leap.
*Note: salaries shown here may have updated from the time of publication.
Since most of the engineers and developers in Magic Leap work on different aspects of augmented reality, the most in-demand skills at the company are C, C++, Software, Robotics, User Experience, Mechanical Product Development, Android Development and Linux. See the list of skills here.
The company also has dozens of vacant positions in different categories of hardware engineering and is actively recruiting capable professionals from all around the globe. A quick look at their careers page shows numerous positions in software and hardware engineering, technical documentation, product & project management, design and user testing, branding and marketing, and many other areas.
Overall, the company is growing at such a rapid pace and attracting so many new investors that it is likely to accelerate its hiring plans and offer highly competitive career opportunities to people with the right skills.
Wrapping Up
Magic Leap has been a mysterious company for a number of years and many tech publications have even gone as far as to call it a smoke screen. However, with tech giants like Google and AliBaba claiming stakes in the business and actively advocating AR on all leading platforms, it is clear that the company has the belief and the backing of its investors.
The launch announcement of Magic Leap One has further removed any doubts about the progress they’ve made.
If you’re looking to make a career in AR or want to be associated with a potentially world changing company, Magic Leap might just be the place for you.
Find out if your a good match for Magic Leap using Paysa job match.
