💡 Why it matters: Augmented reality (AR) adds digital things to the real world and virtual reality (VR) creates a whole new one. Both are growing in games, training, healthcare and design, though the field is still young and changes quickly.
💰 What it can pay
🇳🇬 Nigeria
- Starting out
- ₦1M – ₦3M
- Mid-career
- ₦3.5M – ₦10M
- Senior
- ₦10M – ₦25M
≈ ₦292k – ₦833k a month mid-career. Indicative estimate by Incusim.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
Closest National Careers Service profile: Software developer. Typical starter to experienced salary. National Careers Service, 2026
🇺🇸 United States
Closest US category: Software developers, quality assurance analysts and testers. Median pay. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025
🇨🇦 Canada
Closest Job Bank occupation: Software developer. Hourly wage low/median/high x 2,080 hours. Job Bank (Government of Canada), 2023-2024
Yearly pay before tax. UK, US and Canada figures come from the official sources named on each card. Nigeria has no official salary survey, so those are our indicative estimates. Real pay depends on the employer, the place, your skills and experience.
🛠️ What you actually do
- Build 3D experiences using tools such as Unity or Unreal Engine
- Write code so objects respond to a user's movement
- Test comfort and performance on headsets and phones
- Work with artists and designers on look and feel
- Fix bugs and update apps
⚡ Skills you'll need
- Programming
- 3D and maths thinking
- Creativity
- Problem solving
- Teamwork
Get ready at school
🇳🇬 Nigeria
- Self-study with free engines and online courses, plus a portfolio of small projects
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- Software developer apprenticeship, then specialise in 3D
- Games development degree or HND, with a portfolio of demos
🇺🇸 United States
- Community college game development or programming program
- Self-study with free 3D engines, plus a portfolio of demos
🇨🇦 Canada
- College game development or software programming diploma
- Self-study with free 3D engines, plus a portfolio of demos
🗺️ Your path to this career
- 1Learn coding and try a free 3D engine to build small projects
- 2Study computer science, games development or software engineering
- 3Make demos and add them to a portfolio
- 4Join a studio or startup as a junior developer
- 5Specialise in AR, VR or spatial apps and move into lead roles
⏰ A day in the life
You put on a headset to test a virtual science lab you built and find a button that is hard to reach. You change the code to move it, then check that the app still runs smoothly. After a team chat with the artist, you add a new 3D model.