We all know that virtual worlds are gaining increasing interest from organisations for use in internal and customer-facing scenarios. But finding a new job on Second Life? Well, yes, it can happen. At the Thinking Digital Conference in North East England today, we heard a heart-warming story.

 Here's the thing. A couple of years ago, a young Simone Brunozzi from Assisi (yes, as in St Francis of...) was just a lowly web app enthusiast. Now, being a true geek, Brunozzi decided to create a virtual Assisi in Second Life, which he did, and blogged about his work.

Then one day, wandering through the digital hallways and walkways of Second Life, he came upon Amazon Web Services. They said they were looking for a new European evangelist. He said, "Hello! I'm from Assisi, as in, you know, saints and stuff," and 16 interviews later he got the job.

Joking aside, this is probably a long shot for most of us hoping to follow in the footsteps of Brunozzi, but it does show the increasing impact virtual worlds are having in the real one. Whether organisations take their presence on these new platforms seriously or not is a matter for them to decide, but if you're a developer with a great idea, it might be worth checking out.

14 May 2009