META recruits Microsoft engineers to develop augmented reality glasses

About 100 employees have quit Microsoft's augmented-reality glasses development team over the past year, and most have moved to work for Meta, formerly known as Facebook.

In a report published by the American Wall Street Journal, writer Aaron Tilly quotes former Microsoft employees as saying that competitors have been working for some time to attract talented employees to Microsoft's HoloLens development team - a Computing platform for augmented reality - and offers them high salaries.

And former Microsoft employees revealed that the company's augmented reality development team includes about 1,500 employees.

LinkedIn profiles show that more than 70 former Hololins employees left the company last year, and about 40 of them joined Meta, which develops virtual reality technologies, Metaverse.

The list included some of the most senior employees who have taught at Microsoft for a long time, including Charlie Hahn, who resigned as head of customer feedback on the Hololins team and joined Meta, and Josh Miller, who joined Meta as Director of Offer.

A Microsoft spokesperson said the company has played a leading role in the development of metaverse technology for years, and "will continue to develop the latest, most comprehensive and affordable hardware".

The company refused to give details about the resignations of employees from the Hololins team, but made it clear that the exit of employees is a routine challenge faced by many teams in the company, and that it is doing everything in its power to retain its staff and appoint new employees when needed. Meta, for its part, declined to comment on the issue, according to the report.

heated competition

The writer stresses that competition between technology companies to attract the best employees is not new.

Matt Stern, chief operating officer of Mera Labs, a startup that helps organizations adopt augmented reality technologies in the workplace, says that what is currently clear is the amount of efforts Meta is making to develop augmented reality technologies as quickly as possible, which is what "It drove up market prices and reduced the competitiveness of small businesses."

Last October, Facebook changed its brand to META and announced that it would soon launch the world of Metaverse. The company's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, explained that spending on this new technology will reduce total operating revenue by about $ 10 billion in 2021. Meta revealed that it plans to attract more employees to build the metaverse world, including 10,000 employees in Europe over the next five years.

Microsoft is not the only company facing Mita's ambitions and desire to attract talented employees, according to the author. Apple has also lost a number of its employees to Meta, according to personal accounts on LinkedIn.

Big contract with the US Army

Most of the tech giants are currently planning to release smart glasses for use in the world of augmented reality, so the salaries of engineers with experience in this field have risen.

A number of observers believe that Microsoft's primacy in this area has made its employees an attractive target for competing companies.

Microsoft has been one of the pioneers in developing this technology, and HoloLens devices were first announced over 5 years ago, and have become one of the most advanced glasses in the world.

Microsoft has invested billions of dollars in developing the $3,500 Hololens glasses, but they have not been very popular compared to other electronic devices.

It is estimated that Microsoft has sold between 200,000 and 250,000 devices since the launch of these glasses, and some of the company's senior officials even considered cutting funding for the Hololins development program before signing a major contract with the US military last year.

In March 2021, Microsoft won a contract to develop virtual reality glasses that would help soldiers see through thick smoke and facilitate movement at night. Microsoft said the contract value could reach more than $20 billion over the next 10 years.

And former employees say that Microsoft has not hired enough engineers since then to work within the program, which prompted some employees to question the company's commitment to developing this technology, and made them more inclined to accept offers from competing companies.

Employees stress that adding modifications to Hololins to facilitate night vision has proven difficult, and they believe that leaving a number of experienced employees will make it more difficult to deal with the challenges.