Will the Metaverse Create New Job Opportunities?

In the beginning was web 1.0, the Internet of the pioneers. Then came the turn of web 2.0, the social version and user-friendly to which we connect every day, using countless online services. Now it is time to look to web 3.0 (or web3): the Internet of the future, of the infinite potential Metaverses, of blockchain technology, of immersive experiences, of virtual or augmented reality, of cryptocurrencies and NFTs. We know how profoundly the advent of the Internet has transformed our lives, including the world of work: some professions have been wiped out and others have been born, but practically all businesses that exist today have at least one digital component. It is a change that does not stop and that, on the contrary, is already riding the wave of the web3: between 2020 and 2021 the job advertisements published on LinkedIn to search for experts in blockchain and cryptocurrencies in the US market increased by 395%. This is why knowing already today the possibilities offered by the web3 is a key step to enter new professional niches and to intercept the working trends of tomorrow.

If someone struggles to concretely grasp these concepts and their scope – Metaverse, blockchain, crypto -, don’t worry: it’s normal. Giancarlo Valente, organizer since 2018 of meetups related to the blockchain and CTO of aulab, the first Italian Coding Factory, he calls it “cognitive friction” and often notices it in students who learn to code from scratch following aulab’s Hackademy courses. “There is initially a friction, because what we try to understand is not tangible like all the things we have come to know since we were born. So what can we do when we have to learn abstract things? Using metaphors to try to convey concepts, for example, and over time deepen the topic from a technical point of view. But, in the end, the only thing is to try, to experience firsthand ».

This also applies to the infinite potential of the web3, the blockchain and the Metaverse, concepts that Valente talks about with an overwhelming passion, which easily reaches beyond the video call screen. It is a flame, his, which was lit in childhood, when at 9 he learned to program as self-taught, and which perhaps began to burn more intensely in the late nineties, when he began to devote himself to the web and build a career in this direction. “Some friends laughed at me: the web is something that doesn’t exist, they said. But it fascinated me, I really believed it. ” This passion for “technological things” still burns, of course, even more so in a period so rich in potential and ferment. “Today we see technically possibilities that, in my opinion, have a decisive historical importance, but we do not yet have the prospect of when they will become real, concrete and widespread all over the world. Even in 1998, when I started working on the web, we technicians understood that this was the future. It was very clear to me that it was something that would change our lives, yet we still couldn’t see what we have now. ‘

Let’s start with the basics: blockchain is a concept still distant from most people’s everyday life, so it is difficult to grasp. Still, it is crucial to understand other novelties, such as the Metaverse. Let’s try to explain it.
«The strong interest linked to these technologies – in reality there are many parallel blockchains – is in the innovative idea of ​​user sovereignty over the ownership of digital objects and the activities he can potentially perform in the Metaverse. I’ll give you an example: when I put a photo of me on Facebook, that photo becomes from Facebook, who can use it as he wants. On the other hand, in blockchain technology, which is based on cryptography, there is a different concept: it is as if there were my “digital hand” that can put my signature, perform actions or issue authorizations … which are then received directly from the network of shift. No one else can perform these actions for me because, in fact, no one has “my hand”. If someone tried to do it, anyone could see that the system is cheating, because blockchain technologies have the characteristic of being open and transparent and cannot be manipulated. This sovereignty of the user with respect to the actions that are performed is, in my opinion, the characteristic that can determine a huge change “.

Simplifying with a metaphor, could we say that blockchain technologies are like cogs at the basis of the functioning of virtual realities, such as cryptocurrencies or metaverse, whose particularity is that the control is in the hands of the user, and not of the platform?
“The user is in control of the authorization. Let’s take the basic example, namely the Bitcoin cryptocurrency, which was the first technology to bring out the term blockchain. Here: blockchain is a technical cog present in a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. And since these blockchain technologies work as I explained before, i.e. they are open, transparent and non-manipulable, when a user wants to move Bitcoins he can do it by giving his authorization – no one else can do it in his name – and immediately the whole system comes. aware of this action, which cannot be undone. Another example: suppose we have a metaverse that we access with a virtual reality headset and meet other people in a virtual meeting. While now if this happens in Facebook through the Oculus that avatar could be anyone, if the Metaverse is integrated with blockchain technology, I will have the certainty of the identity of the participants “.

Blockchain and metaverse technologies, becoming more and more everyday, will require new skills and potentially can open new professional niches. Which?
«Today we are in an embryonic and experimental phase. I cannot say what kind of technology will be used, what will be the main Metaverse where we will meet or where there will be more work. What I do know, however, is that the current ferment and large investments, at least in the most important markets, actually create jobs and can range on various professional fronts. Surely the technological front will see a growth in the expertise of web developers, such as those we train with our company, who will have to gradually move to training that includes blockchain knowledge and web3 experiences. There will also be a huge need for cyber security experts. If I imagine a situation in which my presence in a virtual world is crucial, it is important that there are no flaws in the system that allow others to identify themselves as me. There are also many other important professions that have to do with 3D modeling of Metaverse environments and virtual worlds, immersive or not. I speculate that in the future there will be real experience planners in the Metaverse. Let’s take an example: an event or conference is organized in the Metaverse. The person who participates lives an experience: he is contacted, receives a map, enters the conference and here he can carry out actions, see different settings, receive a gadget or information content … He can meet a three-dimensional Alberto Angela who explains a certain concept or perhaps pay a guide, probably in cryptocurrencies, which will lead him to explore this virtual world ».

Some potential professions of the Metaverse already exist, in short: only, they will require updated skills. Beyond the technical skills, are there also some useful soft skills?
“Absolutely yes. The Metaverse we live in now is often ugly, because it is essentially made by programmers. The technical aspect is taken care of, but there are no soft skills that could make the experience, for example, more emotional. To make a parallel, let’s think back to the websites of ’97 or ’98: they were very kitsch and crude, while those of today are made with great attention to how things are displayed. When the Metaverse enters a new phase, it will be a little more beautiful and other soft skills will be needed in addition to those of programmers. An agile mindset, a desire to experiment are certainly also useful … ».

In the STEM field (which stands for Science, technology, engineering and mathematics, ed) there is a gender gap issue, in the sense that women are still the minority. Do you notice the same trend in the aulab courses?
“Unfortunately, yes: our students are mostly men, but we always have women in the classroom. In my opinion it is important that the presence of women increases: when only men work on the code, it will always have the same shape. In short, we are missing something. This is why it is important to bridge this gender gap and in the past we too have promoted specific activities in this direction (for example scholarships with Shetech, ed). What I want to say to everyone, however, is that we need to approach these issues: both from the engineering point of view and from the point of view of the design of these experiences, because we will have more wealth ».

What will be the professions of and in the Metaverse? In the gallery some examples.