Communications of the ACM
Microsoft Hit by Defections as Tech Giants Battle for Talent to Build the Metaverse
Microsoft declined to share details about the HoloLens team, but said employee attrition is a regular challenge many teams face, adding that Microsoft does what it can to retain employees and hire new ones.
Credit: Angel Garcia/Bloomberg News
Microsoft Corp.'s augmented-reality team has lost around 100 people in the past year, many of them to Meta Platforms Inc., said former employees of the software company and online job profiles, as the battle heats up for workers with skills to build the metaverse.
Competitors have been snapping up people with experience developing Microsoft's HoloLens augmented-reality headsets, sometimes offering to double their salaries, said former Microsoft employees. The Microsoft augmented-reality group employs around 1,500 people, they said.
The LinkedIn profiles of more than 70 former employees on the HoloLens team show they have left Microsoft in the past year. More than 40 joined Meta, formerly known as Facebook, which is making a big push into alternate-reality tech, the LinkedIn profiles show.
The departed staffers include some longtime leaders of the team. Charlie Han, who was responsible for taking customer feedback for HoloLens, left over the summer to join Meta. Josh Miller, who worked in the display team, became the display director at Meta in recent months. Mr. Han and Mr. Miller didn't respond to requests for comment about the moves.
From The Wall Street Journal
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