VR Voice Special Edition #1

6. SPECIAL EDITION
If you haven’t noticed, virtual reality (VR) is kind of a big deal.
Ever since Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion back in
March of 2014 we’ve seen an incredible explosion of the virtu-
al reality hardware ecosystem, with technical giants like Sam-
sung, Google, HTC and Sony all throwing their hats in the ring to
own the next dominant computing platform. The release this year
of the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Sony PSVR marked the official
start of the consumer virtual reality era.
What we haven’t seen yet is the software that will give us a
compelling reason to use this incredible hardware day after day.
Despite the incredible ‘wow factor’ of VR, we’re still lacking that
killer application. And while no one can say exactly what that will
be, there’s one explanation as to why VR hasn’t quite taken off yet:
Creating new virtual reality experiences is expensive, labor inten-
sive and very problematically requires a relatively obscure skillset.
The Skills Gap
So what exactly does it take to make a new VR experience?
The best way to think about it is that today every VR experience
you build is like creating a custom video game from scratch. And
there is a particular skillset required to do this:
● Use and operate a 3D game development engine such as Unity.
● Design, build and animate 3D models in a program such as
Blender or Maya.
● Code the scripts to run the game in a traditional programming
language such as C# or Javascript (a very different skillset from
web development).
From the start, we begin to run into an issue. VR is a massively
exciting medium with great implications, not just for gaming, but
also for education, the enterprise, journalism and retail to name
just a few. Yet the only people with the skillset to design VR ex-
periences today are people who work in the videogame industry.
To put it in perspective: What if the only way to build a mobile
application today would be to find someone who is an expert at
Adobe Photoshop and also a functional programmer in Perl? All of
a sudden it would be much harder to start your new app company.
But the challenges don’t end there. Beyond the technical difficul-
ties, there are also all of the user experience and interface issues.
VR is a fundamentally new medium that we haven’t seen since the
first graphical user interfaces (GUIs) began to appear decades ago.
Now we need a whole new generation of Doug Englebart’s to help
us define how we interact with this new virtual interface.
A Path Forward
We will need a whole new generation of coders, designers
and thinkers to help us lay the foundation for the virtual reality
THE GREAT PLATFORM REVOLUTION
JASON GANZ
revolution. Where are they going to come from? When you need
more work done faster, there are two common paths you can
take:
1. Create more highly skilled and well trained workers.
2. Improve the toolset that you’re utilizing.
The good news is that there is tremendous progress being
made on both of these fronts. The coding boot camp and online
education revolution has successfully retrained tens of thousands
of people to become successful web and mobile developers over
the last decade. And it’s beginning to take aim at the VR market-
place. Very recently Udacity released their Virtual Reality Devel-
oper Nano degree, which promises to turn anyone into a hot shot
VR developer within a few short months.
But, we won’t just have more developers. They’ll also be using
much better tools. Think about how web development has been
sped up with the introduction of tools like Ruby on Rails, a pow-
erful web development framework allowing developers to create
sophisticated sites much more quickly. Or consider service sites
such as Squarespace which allow non-technical users to build
their own websites.
We’re already seeing close analogues to this in the VR space.
Primerose JS is a framework which will allow VR developers to
increase their output and production, while tools like those we’re
creating at Agora VR will help non-technical users create their
own VR experiences for their sales and marketing programs. In
fact, there’s a trend today toward building virtual reality experienc-
es within virtual reality, which is going to be a core feature of game
development engines like Unity and Unreal.
The challenges we face today in creating compelling VR con-
tent is very real. But so are the opportunities and the tools to en-
able us to move more quickly. Expect to see the rise of VR content
mirror that of web development over the past twenty years. There
will be standardized user interactions, design patterns, and tools
emerging to allow a newly deployed workforce of developers to
build awesome applications more quickly than anyone would have
thought possible.
Jason Ganz is the CEO of Agora VR, a company dedicated to
spreading big ideas in virtual reality. He’s a technology optimist
and startup junky who is thrilled to be living in the most excit-
ing time in human history. You can reach him @jasnonaz and
@agoraVR.
1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Engelbart
Creating new virtual reality experiences is expensive, labor intensive and most
problematically requires a relatively obscure skillset.

8. SPECIAL EDITION
What do low to middle income urban African
American and Hispanic teens and parents
think about information technology jobs, col-
lege and future careers? IT Futures Labs, a
signature initiative of the Creating IT Futures Foundation, sought
out the answers to that question. In its research, three types of jobs
in computer technology ranked in the top ten of teens’ career inter-
ests, and teens believed that with hard work and/or innate talent,
they could be successful in IT careers. This research will help par-
ents and educators understand how to inform and motivate youth
to choose a path toward well-paying tech careers.
The surveyed teens were all B and C students in good standing
in their junior or senior year of high school. The teens overwhelm-
ingly indicated college was a high priority and that they wanted a
career they love — one that also allowed them to help their parents
financially. Three types of jobs in computer technology ranked in
the top ten of career interests. The teens believed that with hard
work and/or innate talent they could be successful in IT careers.
In terms of advice on college and careers, teens reportedly look
to parents 2-to-1 over any other source. The survey results should
help parents, schools, nonprofit STEM organizations, businesses,
and government agencies better understand how to inform and
motivate youth to choose a path toward well-paying tech careers.
BASED ON A STUDY BY THE CREATING IT FUTURES FOUNDATION:
TEEN VIEWS ON TECH CAREERS
TEENS TALK TECHNOLOGY
In 2014, the number of job listings nationally for IT jobs
stood at nearly 600,000, a number that included approximately
135,000 ads for software developer jobs1
. The unemployment
rate for computer occupations dipped to just 2.4 percent for
December 20142
. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate of youth
ages 16 to 24 is more than twice the overall national average
(14.3 percent3
compared to 6.2 percent4
as of July 2014) and
the number of adults who live in economic insecurity has risen
substantially since the Great Recession, from 37 percent to 45
percent5
. Today’s youth need jobs that lead to careers, and com-
panies need tech workers. How can more teens be steered in
the direction of well-paying and secure tech jobs for their adult
careers?
Programs that work to help youths succeed typically target
at-risk youth in danger of dropping out of high school (the low-
est achieving students), while STEM programs typically focus
on enrolling the highest achieving youth into various high-level
science, robotics and math efforts. Often left out of the equation
are the students in the middle — those whose grades may not
identify them as standouts for high-profile STEM tracks (e.g.,
engineer, physician, mathematician) but who can still achieve
success in the practical, creative and hands-on world of infor-
mation technology.
What Matters
Most to Teens?
We surveyed low to middle-income urban
African American and Hispanic teens
and found out that their goals aren’t
focused on money. They want to work in
technology to help their families, find jobs
they love and gain independence in life.
Teens clearly rely on parents the most for advice on what to do after high school,
the teen’s strengths and interests, and different types of jobs and careers.

9. SPECIAL EDITION
Subjects of the survey fell within
the following demographics:
We focused on two populations under-represented in the IT
field: African-Americans and Hispanics. Though the two ethnic
groups together represent 27 percent of the working population,
they only represent about 12 percent of the IT workforce6
.
In addition, the study centered on individuals most in need
of the opportunities offered by well-paying tech careers — that
is, students and parents from families in the lower half of annual
household income ($65,000 or less).
The survey of teens included similar numbers of boys and girls,
but parents were not targeted with a 50/50 gender mix in mind.
None of the students had ever been expelled from school, and
they all self-reported as earning mostly Bs and/or Cs.
Finally, the Survey of Teen Views on Tech Careers polled youth
and parents who live in urban areas across the U.S. as these are
the places with the largest untapped talent pools as well as where
the most IT jobs are likely to be available.
Before supporting or launching programs that target this
vast middle group of teenagers (some estimates put the B and
C students as 70 percent of the student population), Creating IT
Futures wanted to know more about how the teens get their in-
formation about careers, how college fits into their career plans,
and what drives their specific job-field interests. Additionally, we
wanted to know whether parents facilitate career thinking and to
what extent teens invite parents into their decision-making pro-
cess. Finally, we wanted to discover where an IT career ranked in
the students’ list of options and why. General questions of college,
jobs, and careers were explored in both the qualitative and quan-
titative research. For the qualitative research, students and their
parents were interviewed in their homes, in person and via Skype;
for the online surveys, the parent and the student groups were
recruited separately and were therefore unlikely to be related to
one another.
What features of careers stand out as most attractive to urban
minority teens? Across the board, the teens clearly value jobs that
lead to careers, as well as jobs that afford them the opportunity
for continual learning. Making a lot of money and helping other
people also rank high, as does landing in a career field in which
finding a job is not too difficult. Although leading and inspiring oth-
ers at work ranks as important, that didn’t mean the teens felt
they needed to be in positions of authority. For example, being
the CEO, being a manager, or having authority/power over others
ranked relatively low on the desirability scale of our survey. Work-
ing in an office also landed near the bottom of desired features in
a career. The fact that many IT professionals are out in the field or
work from home could be important messages to share.
TEENS ON TECH
Often left out of the equation are
the students in the middle, those
whose grades may not identify
them as standouts for high-profile
STEM tracks — engineer, physician,
mathematician — but who can still
achieve success in the practical,
hands-on world of information
technology.
No. 1 Goal:
Having a Job I Love
Teens want a career —
not just a clock to punch
“Having a job I love” was ranked
number one by teens in terms of goals
to accomplish over the next decade.
Furthermore, it is interesting to learn
what other qualities in a career are
desirable to teens. Altruistic aspirations
such as contributing money or housing
to parents or “helping other people”
tended to rank just as high as or even
higher than, “having a lot of money,”
“owning my own home,” or “moving
into a better neighborhood.” It’s likely
that motivational messaging targeted at
urban minority teens have missed out
on this altruism angle.

10. SPECIAL EDITION
TEENS ON TECH
The survey drilled further into specific careers and career cate-
gories, giving the teens 60 careers from which to choose their top
three. Somewhat surprisingly, the computers/technology catego-
ry was at the very top of the teens’ interests, besting even such
high-profile career categories as business & retail, law, music and
sports. Furthermore, three of the top ten careers were computer-
related (software programmer, computer technician and computer
design engineer). Software programmer in particular won out over
career paths that receive much more exposure in our media and
culture, such as nurse/doctor, lawyer and architect. Clearly, urban
minority teens have a strong affinity for technology and a desire to
work directly with technology in a career. That said, what isn’t clear
is how much young people are aware of their top career interests
in terms of pathways to success and barriers they would have to
overcome to reach their goals. For example, do the respondents
really know what a civil engineer does or is there something ap-
pealing about the title or perception of what that job might entail?
The high placement of “business owner” as an interest may
be partly the result of high-profile entertainers and professional
athletes who have parlayed their original careers (and dollars) into
becoming business moguls.
What Are Some Important
Aspects of Future Careers?
The opportunity to travel, continue learning and inspire others are three of
the top things teen told us that they’re looking for in their long-term careers.
Top 10
Careers of Interest
Business Owner 18%
Software Programmer 17%
Nurse or Doctor 15%
Civil Engineer 15%
Lawyer 12%
Computer Technician 11%
Military Job 11%
Computer Design Engineer 11%
Architect 7%
Engineer 7%

11. SPECIAL EDITION
How do youth currently get to know more about a career of in-
terest? According to the teens, personal research on the Internet
is the most popular single way (43 percent), but they also acquire
career info in their high school classrooms, through career fairs,
and through television. Interestingly, nearly 80 percent of youth
report having at least one role model in their career(s) of interest
— most likely someone they know (57 percent), but potentially
also a famous person (22 percent) or a character from TV shows
or movies (11 percent). What’s not clear, though, is how accurate
or readily available that career information is.
How the teens matched their self-perceived skills to careers
is another area the survey explored. When the teens were asked
to rank the skills and subjects they thought they were good at,
appearing at the top were customer-service skills — for exam-
ple, being friendly, being creative, being a good listener, accept-
ing responsibility, and listening to others. About a third consid-
ered themselves good at math, thinking logically, working with
technology, and solving problems. Also, a quarter of the teens
considered themselves strong in computer science, while a fifth
believed themselves to be strong in science in general. This pro-
vided hope that a sizable number of urban minority students who
earn passing, but not outstanding, grades could see careers in
tech as open to them.
‘To Know IT Is to Like IT’
The information technology field is typically referred to by its
acronym, IT. This may present an awareness problem for urban
minority teens and their parents. As a matter of fact, only 21 per-
cent of teens and 30 percent of parents surveyed felt they defi-
nitely knew what IT stood for, although a majority of teens and
adults thought they “might” know or were “pretty sure” what it
meant.
Once it was explained to each group that IT stands for infor-
mation technology, a significant proportion of each group rec-
ognized people in their lives or in popular media who work in
the field. It turns out that IT benefits from a number of positive
perceptions. A lot of teens and parents viewed IT careers as pay-
ing well, offering a way to help people, while providing fun and
interesting work. A smaller number held negative attitudes of IT
careers, such as feeling that a job in IT would mean working
alone in front of a computer all day, be difficult and complicated,
be too competitive, be “just for geeks”, or be boring. When the
types of work that fall under IT were described in more detail,
there was a huge jump in enthusiasm, with 70 percent of the
teens denoting at least some interest in IT. Specific IT jobs draw-
ing the most interest were writing software (83 percent), com-
puter build-install-repair (78 percent), and technology consulting
(78 percent). Because the IT function is present in virtually all
companies in every industry, the survey asked if the possibility
of obtaining an IT job within another chosen field would make
TEENS ON TECH
Learning the Way Forward
the teen more eager to work in IT. Four out of five teens said they
would be somewhat or a lot more interested in IT if the job aligned
with another area of focus.
Some of the top draws to the IT field for those who specified
an interest were good pay, enjoyment of working with technology,
the opportunity to constantly learn new things, and a goal of us-
ing technology to help people. More than a fifth of the surveyed
teens also selected reasons such as having a career that allows
them to grow, getting to solve logic problems, and high demand
for workers in the IT field. Refreshingly, most teens and almost all
parents were unaffected by several of the popular misconceptions
surrounding IT, such as the myth that most IT jobs are being off-
shored.
The 30 percent who specified a lack of interest in the IT field
gave several reasons why. Unfortunately, most teens and more
than a third of parents mistakenly indicated that IT jobs require a
four-year degree or more; nearly all the teens and parents (again,
inaccurately) believed that being successful at an IT job necessar-
ily required doing really well in math and science courses. Lack of
knowledge about IT jobs, lack of math and science talent, and lack
of a personality fit were the top reasons given by the teens who
did not feel drawn to an IT career. Those reasons were followed
by distaste for desk jobs and the perception that IT jobs were too
boring or too difficult.
Parents seem to support teens in their efforts. Overwhelming-
ly, parents in the survey said they want their child to have a more
successful job or career than they did, to make more money than
they did, and to have the ability to do things the parents didn’t
get a chance to do. The question becomes: Do parents have
enough information and knowledge to be good career guides for
their children?
What Draws
You To Technology?

12. SPECIAL EDITION
Parents aren’t sharing their expectations for high-school grad-
uation — or kids just aren’t hearing the message. More than 25
percent of the teens said their parents would feel it was “OK” if
they dropped out of high school (especially if they got a decent job
instead), but in actuality, only 4 percent of parents thought it was
okay if their child didn’t finish high school.
In addition, parents are much more likely than teens to say
that they and their child talk “a lot” about jobs/careers and future
plans. Even if conversations about college and careers may be
happening, according to teens those conversations aren’t hap-
pening enough.
Reality Crashes Into
College Aspirations
According to Pew Research Center, just over half of low-in-
come high school graduates attend a 2 or 4 year college or uni-
versity7. The Survey of Teen Views on Tech Careers revealed that
the vast majority of low to middle income high school students
desire and/or intend to do so. Nearly all report that going to col-
lege would make them feel proud, including those who would be
the first generation to attend college. Parents are somewhat more
hopeful than teens that their student will attend a 4-year institution
(74 percent of parents versus 57 percent of teens). At the same
time, more than half of parents agree that cost is a barrier to their
teen attending college. As reported by the Washington Post, of
students in the bottom quarter of income who were born in the
1980s, only 29 percent enrolled in college by age 19. Of those,
only 32 percent graduated by age 25 with a bachelor’s degree.8
Strictly speaking, college is not a requirement for an IT career,
TEENS ON TECH
FOR ALL THE IMPORTANCE THAT TEENS PLACE ON HEARING
THEIR PARENTS’ CAREER ADVICE, THERE EXIST A COUPLE OF IMPORTANT AREAS
IN WHICH PARENTS AND CHILDREN ARE CLEARLY NOT COMMUNICATING.
as the IT field is more hospitable to non-institutional learning than
some other fields. Though many companies continue to list col-
lege degrees in their employment want-ads as non-negotiables,
other hiring organizations focus entirely on acquired skills and rel-
evant experience. In fact, most youth (and a third of parents) mis-
takenly think that a college degree is a requirement for success
in the tech field. So it is no surprise that college specifically and
general post-high-school education and training rank very high
(3rd and 2nd respectively) in terms of what teens want to obtain
and accomplish over the next five to ten years.
Countering Feelings of
Discouragement
The survey of parents made it clear that they would over-
whelmingly encourage their child toward a career in IT, and vir-
tually none said they would discourage it. However, half of teens
reported being told by a parent and/ or a teacher that they are
not good at math, science, engineering, or information technolo-
gy. Despite feeling discouraged on some fronts, about a third of
the teens felt they would be naturals at IT work, and — including
those who believe they could achieve more through hard work
than innate talent — the vast majority thought they could succeed
in the field. Parents, according to the survey, feel the same way.
In fact, a large portion of teens reported being encouraged by a
parent (41 percent) or by a teacher (39 percent). Students who
knew about the IT field reported learning about IT in a number of
ways, including elective classes, regular classes, extracurricular
activities, and career-exploration programs. Some had completed
an internship that gave them some exposure to IT or had visited
at least one company or job site where they saw IT professionals
at work.
COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN
According to our survey, teens clearly rely on
parents the most for advice on what to do after
high school, the teen’s strengths and interests,
and different types of jobs and careers. Teens
in the survey clocked parents as their most
significant influencers by a factor of 2-to-1
or greater compared to teachers, guidance
counselors, peers, and coaches.
WHO HAS THE
MOST INFLUENCE
WHEN IT COMES
TO CAREER AND
COLLEGE ADVICE?
?

13. SPECIAL EDITION
TEENS ON TECH
One of the concerns of STEM proponents is that not enough
schools offer the right courses. A majority of the surveyed teens
(62 percent) report access to IT or computer science classes at
school, though that figure skews well above the 10 percent of
schools that are thought to have such courses nationally.9 About
39 percent of students report taking a class where they learned
about IT (a full 30 percent specifically in either computer science
or IT), while 26 percent report being involved in an after-school ac-
tivity where they learned about IT. Of those who became involved
in IT-related courses or activities, nearly two-thirds report becom-
ing more interested in IT as a result. Though courses increase
interest, urban minority teens report greater preference for other
methods of learning about IT. Job shadowing for up to a week, on-
line career exploration, or working an internship are the students’
preferred ways of learning about the field. In addition, there are a
few extrinsic factors that could motivate young people to develop
IT skills. About half of teens — which certainly included a number
of those who expressed low interest in IT to begin with — reported
that they would be very interested in developing IT skills if they got
paid, if they were awarded course credits, or if learning IT helped
them get into college. And, almost all teens expressed at least
some interest in these options.
African-American youth were more likely than their Hispanic
counterparts to say that their parents wouldn’t mind if they didn’t
go to college, to rely on family members to talk about jobs and
careers, to have an interest in science careers, and to see IT as a
field that pays well. In addition, they were more likely to have an
interest in business and retail careers, including owning a busi-
ness.
African-American boys surveyed were more likely than other
groups to know what IT is; to value earning money; to look toward
the military after high school; to rely on teachers to help them
explore academic talents; and to cite regular classes as having
sparked their interest in IT.
Compared to the other groups, African-American girls were
more likely to cite friends and community programs outside of
school as helping them explore career interests, including IT. In
addition, this group was more likely to value being able to work
independently in their future job or career.
Hispanic teens were more likely than their African-American
counterparts to learn about jobs through TV or movies; to see IT
as fun and interesting work; and to cite visits to schools/colleges
as having sparked their interest in IT.
Of all the groups, Hispanic boys reported the highest interest
in IT careers and were more likely to say that IT classes sparked
their IT interest. This group also reported stronger than average
interest in law/military careers and highly valued being a manager
or having power and authority. More so than the other groups,
they reported that getting married and having a family is important
to them.
Hispanic girls stood out in a number of ways, including want-
ing to have a job that they love; wanting to help parents with mon-
ey or housing; reporting that their parents insist they finish high
school; and feeling that parents are less involved in giving feed-
back on their academic strengths and what colleges or programs
they should attend. Hispanic girls are as a rule less interested in
IT careers than the other groups, being more likely to cite poor
personality fit. They were more likely than the other groups to want
to learn about careers through mentors, internships, or site visits.
Looking strictly at gender, the boys were more likely than
girls to have an interest in careers that involve building and fixing
things (engineers, architects, mechanics, carpenters, and electri-
cians). Meanwhile, girls were more likely to cite the importance
of attending higher education; to express an interest in traveling
to new cities or countries; to have an interest in helping profes-
sions (nurse, doctor, teacher, childcare worker, social worker) and
in music, art, or writing. They were also more likely to learn about
specific jobs or what they might be good at through their friends
or through personal Internet research; view IT as sitting alone in
front of a computer all day; and more likely to say that they would
struggle with IT or to state that they are just not interested in com-
puters or technology.
Note that the differences between the groups were relatively
small and don’t negate the overall direction of the trends. For ex-
ample, just because the girls surveyed were more likely than the
boys to view IT as sitting alone in front of a computer all day isn’t
meant to imply that most of the girls felt this way.
What Different Subgroups Say About Careers in Technology
Are Schools Offering Enough Suppport?
Up to this point we’ve been talking about overall trends for all the groups surveyed. Diving deeper into the demographics, it’s possible
to find a few (small, but still statistically significant) differences between some of the surveyed sub-groups:

14. SPECIAL EDITION
TEENS ON TECH
Parents
Recognize and capitalize on influence. Even if parents are
already talking about college and careers with their teen, they
should not assume that messages about college and career are
getting through. Parents should work to educate themselves more
about college and career options and intentionally set aside more
time than they are doing now to discuss these topics with their
high-school-age child.
Educate yourselves about IT careers. Teens clearly look
to their parents more so than other adults to gather information
about careers. If your student indicates that a tech career is of in-
terest, educate yourself so you can point your student in the right
direction. Learn more about IT careers at CompTIA.org/Roadmap.
Disavow yourself of career myths. A four-year degree, while
potentially beneficial in the long run, is not the only way to get
started in an IT career. Neither does a student have to be a top
achiever in math and science to be successful. Many adults with
successful IT careers self-identify as one-time average students
who managed to turn their computer interest into a livelihood.
Explore the IT training options at 2-year-degree institutions, non-
profit training programs (such as IT-Ready), as well as on-the-job
training opportunities with local employers. Become familiar with
IT certifications offered by CompTIA, Cisco, Microsoft, and other
certifying bodies. Certifications assure employers that a candidate
has attained a particular skill level.
Nonprofits, Schools & Corporations
Market tech careers differently. Promoting tech as a way to
make a high salary or to attain a high position of authority may not
be the right messages to lead with. Students also want to make
an impact on their families and the greater world. Leverage their
sense of responsibility and altruism with material goals.
Develop and promote hands-on tech learning programs.
Programs that help a young person learn about IT careers and
that compensate the teen in some way could be the most promis-
ing for bringing more urban minority youth into the field. Focus on
hands-on approaches that get students learning about tech by do-
ing the work of IT. Promote programs that don’t require a college
degree to get a foothold in a career. Teens clearly like job shad-
owing and “real-world” approaches to learning about tech careers.
Help the primary influencers of teens to provide career
guidance. Our survey says it loud and clear: Parents are teens’
most trusted source for college and career guidance. Emphasize
to parents that they have permission from their teens to talk about
college and careers more often than they are already doing. Find
ways to put relevant information in the hands of parents, so they
can give informed advice.
Clarify what IT means. Information technology is attractive as
a career path — once that path is recognized. First, teens and
parents need help picturing IT in their minds. Only then can they
have a visible path to follow.
Important Takeaways
Urban minority youth are attracted
to IT careers, believe they can be
successful, and have parents who
believe they can be successful.
For organizations that want to
interest more youth in IT careers
— especially youth most in need
of opportunity — this should be
encouraging news.
IT careers rank high in attractiveness
compared to other fields.
Myths about the necessity of 4-year
degrees and proficiency in high-level
math and science still exist. Those
misconceptions need to continue to
be combatted by organizations that
promote tech careers to the average
student.
Leverage the Internet to inform about tech careers. The
top place for urban minority youth to obtain information about ca-
reers is the Web, including YouTube. More good career resources
(especially videos) need to be deployed to catch the attention of
these teens and their parents.
Emphasize that entrepreneurs often started out as tech-
nologists. Teens who indicated “business owner” as a top career
interest should be aware of the high number of technologists who
go on to start their own businesses in everything from tech service
to cybersecurity to software design and app development.
Put math and science in their proper perspective, depend-
ing on the student. A future mathematician would find AP Cal-
culus in high school indispensable, but it’s rare that a network
administrator, for example, would need high-level math to pass
a crucial certification exam. Schools should take this wide variety
of tech careers into account and not discourage a student from a
technologist career pathway just because he or she isn’t taking
the most advanced math and science courses.
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15. SPECIAL EDITION
TEENS ON TECH
1) Burning Glass Technologies Labor Insights.
2) Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Current Population Survey.
3) “Employment and Unemployment Among Youth
Summary.” Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Depart-
ment of Labor.
4) “Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population
Survey.” Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Department
of Labor.
5) “Living Below the Line: Economic Insecurity and
America’s Families: 2013.” A Project of Wider Opportu-
nities for Women’s Family Economic Security Program.
On the Internet at: http://www.wowonline.org/wp-con-
tent/uploads/2013/09/Living-Below-the-Line-
Economic-Insecurity-and-Americas-Families-Fall-2013.
pdf (visited 1/5/15)
6) Swift, Mike. “Blacks, Latinos and Women Lose
Ground at Silicon Valley Tech Companies.” San Jose
Mercury News, 13 Feb 2010. On the Internet at http://
www.mercurynews.com/ci_14383730 (visited 1/8/15)
7) Desilver, Drew. “College enrollment among low-in-
come students still trails richer groups.” Pew Research
Center, 15 Jan 2014.
8) “Why poor kids don’t stay in college.” Washington
Post, 20 Oct 2014.
9) “A Push To Boost Computer Science Learning, Even
At An Early Age” NPR, February 17, 2014. On the
Internet at http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2
014/02/17/271151462/a-push-to-boost-
computer-sciencelearning-even-at-an-early-age.
Raw Data on Teen Responses
http://www.creatingitfutures.org/docs/default-sour-
cePDFs/citff-survey-of-teens---2014-03-13.pdf?s-
fvrsn=2
Raw Data on How California Teens
Answered the Survey Questions:
http://www.creatingitfutures.org/docs/default-sour-
cepdfs/citffsurveyofteenscaliforniabreakouts.pdf?s-
fvrsn=2
Raw Data on How Parents of Teens
Answered the Survey Questions:
http://www.creatingitfutures.org/docs/default-sour-
cePDFs/citff-survey-of-parents---2014-03-14.pdf?
sfvrsn=2
Additional Graphs from the
Study on Teen Views
on Tech Careers:
http://www.creatingitfutures.org/docs/default-source/
pdfs/teentechcareerpptextradata.pdf?sfvrsn=2
Endnotes

16. SPECIAL EDITION
The way we in which we interact today has changed
dramatically in the last decade. Today, most social
interactions are done online rather than in person.
But what will our social connections and experiences
look like during the next ten years?
I believe that Virtual Reality (VR) will provide many more so-
cial opportunities than exist today. A head mounted display (HMD)
and headphones will open up your senses to whole new worlds.
Within seconds of seeing and hearing your virtual world you no
longer know which direction the real world is facing. Where is my
computer desk that was just in front of me? Where is the sofa I
was just sitting on? You have been completely transported to your
new virtual world.
Whatever that new world is, be it an underwater adventure in
The Blu, a wave shooter game like Space Pirate Trainer, or creat-
ing new art in Google’s Tilt Brush, most virtual reality experiences
to date have been independent, on your own experiences. But hu-
mans are social creatures. And the real power in VR is understood
when a social element is added. That’s why we created Sports-
BarVR. But more on that later.
In the non-virtual or real world on a Friday night when I want to
change my reality and not stay at home by myself all night, I might
choose to walk down to the neighborhood bar and play pool and
have a conversation over a drink or two. Maybe I invite a friend to
come with me, or maybe I just meet new people. Your local bar is
not an empty space. It’s an establishment that offers experiences.
Maybe it’s billiards. Maybe its darts. Maybe it’s as simple as the
opportunity to meet others while having a drink.
A month ago, I flew home from Seattle and arrived just after
midnight. It had been a long week of development and I just want-
ed to relax before going to bed. I would not have gone to a bar at
that hour, and did not want to stay up too much longer. What I did
do was jumped into our new application SportBarVR and selected
a multiplayer match. Within seconds I was playing pool against
another person.
Over the course of the next twenty minutes, as we played a
couple games of eight-ball, I got to know him. He was a police
officer from Florida who had just finished his shift (it was 4 a.m. his
time), and we were sharing some time together, getting to know
each other, while trying to hit some balls into their corner pockets.
Quite an experience. We’ve recently added the ability to have up
to six people in your bar, so it can be even more social.
But maybe the pool game and bar scene is not your cup of tea.
What about virtual tourism where you can visit a country you’ve
never been to? Interesting by yourself. But what if you could go
VIRTUAL REALITY IS
THE NEXT SOCIAL PLATFORM
travelling with a friend? How about sharing a virtual concert or a
virtual sporting event with a friend who lives across the country?
Who’s going to be making all of these experiences that we haven’t
even dreamed of yet? Will it be Google’s DayDream team? Will it
be Facebook’s Oculus team? Or will it be a band of small startups
we’ve never heard of? Either way, it’s going to take a lot of techni-
cal minds to come up with these new worlds.
About 20 years ago I was working in the visual effects indus-
try in Hollywood developing photorealistic virtual worlds for films
like Titanic and The Matrix. It was a very specialized field and
we needed top talent to invent the future technology. We had the
fastest computers in the world and the brightest minds, but we
needed more minds to solve the problems more quickly.
Computers can’t invent the future, only people programming
and using them can. At that time, Dr. John Lombardi, then Presi-
dent of the University of Florida and I discussed this need. He and
I worked together to start the Digital Arts and Sciences program,
and the Digital Worlds Institute at the University of Florida to help
train the minds that are needed to create these new virtual worlds.
Now that VR is finally here for the masses, there are endless
possibilities that lie ahead. But we’re going to need many new
creative and technical minds to join us and make it happen.
Richard Kidd is the CEO of Perilous Orbit. Having pioneered
many new digital technologies such as motion capture, computer
generated people, cyber scanning, digital water and virtual sets,
Richard has built a career toward developing solutions to previ-
ously unsolved problems in the digital entertainment industry.
1) http://digitalworlds.ufl.edu
RICHARD KIDD

18. SPECIAL EDITION
As we march into the tail end of 2016, “The Year of
VR”, let’s take some stock in what has happened
this year, look ahead at how the market will devel-
op, and then drill down to see what this means for
employment and business prospects within the sector. The dawn
of consumer VR happened this year, with three major premium
headsets launched and we are now talking about millions of pre-
mium VR customers for the first time.
Oculus Rift and HTC Vive
In the middle of summer 2016 we had two major VR headset
releases. At CES in January, Oculus Rift announced pre-orders for
their headset that would include an XBOX 360 controller and basic
positional tracking up to nine feet with a single camera. Around the
time the Oculus Rift should have shipped, HTC Vive announced
that their headset was shipping. The race was now on. Part short-
ages and manufacturing delays from Oculus put some customers
almost two months past their shipping window to receive their Rifts.
Oculus was kind enough to refund the shipping costs to those who
had to wait, but public sentiment suffered. What arrived by early
summer was a lightweight high definition VR headset with built-in
speakers, and a modest selection of games, including two exclu-
sives for pre-order customers (Eve Online & Lucky’s Tale).
HTC Vive picked up the slack in the Oculus chain and had
plenty of Vives to deliver in less than three weeks from the time
of ordering. Unlike Oculus, the Vive came with robust positional
tracking in the form of Lighthouse, complete with a “chaperone”
system to keep players from running into walls. This enabled im-
pressive walk around VR experiences which were hard to match
on the Oculus. Also, HTC Vive came with two positional tracked
six DOF (Degrees of Freedom) controllers at launch. Something
Oculus has promised, but has yet to deliver. We also had some
nice exclusives from HTC Vive available with pre-orders as well
(Fantastic Contraption, Tiltbrush, and Job Simulator).
Sony Enters VR
The Playstation VR launched in the US in October to largely
positive results. It has the advantage of being a much cheaper
solution that the premium HTC Vive or Oculus Rift headsets. An
install base of over forty million Playstation 4 owners, and min-
imally required additional $400-$500 investment to experience
a very robust VR experience. Furthermore, Sony brought the
games. The Sony library of complete game experiences has ri-
valed both HTC Vive and Oculus right out of the gate. It’s still very
early in this product’s release, but it looks promising, and while
not the premium PC VR experience, it is a major step up from the
mobile headsets and accessible to a very large market.
VR Development
Both Unity and Unreal game engines tried their hands at cre-
ating a development environment in VR. Between these two, the
Unreal toolkit is a little further along, but both need a lot of design
and improvement, and neither of these seem like it has surpassed
VR 2016 AND JOBS OF THE FUTURE
the productivity of a traditional development environment. None-
theless, they both hold promise for the time being when we will
prefer to develop with the headsets on.
The Opportunities
Hollywood: Directors like Steven Spielberg (Ready Player
One) and Jon Favreau (Gnomes and Goblins) are dipping their
toes into full VR movie experiences and validating the medium.
Hollywood is taking this very seriously. They recognize it as a new
platform, one which evolves their current storytelling, venturing off
into new areas in which the rules are not yet defined, and one rich
with new experiences to be explored.
Construction: Architects, city planners, and anyone building
anything can benefit from VR visualization of their proposed devel-
opments. Stakeholders can walk around imagined spaces along-
side their architects and builders to experience large developments
long before the first shovel has hit the dirt. Allowing for very realistic
presence in those environments and a real sense of what the fi-
nal product will be, it’s a far cry from the conceptual drawings and
physical models that have been the mainstay in this sector.
Real Estate: Visualization of existing spaces, like homes
and commercial spaces are greatly serviced by VR. High reso-
lution 360 photography as well as video allows for buyers to walk
around homes that may be thousands of miles away, trying before
they’re buying. This is really taking off and we will see this evolve
into “the” method for home buying over the next few years.
Health: The health field has several areas that will benefit from
VR in the near term: Diagnostic, Pain Management and Fear Man-
agement. In health, a good distraction might be more effective than
a sedative or painkiller. VR has been used to help with chemother-
apy sessions and skin stretching for burn victims, proving as or
more effective than painkiller counterparts. For fear management,
the simulation and presence capability of VR allows for very real
human reactions to virtual situations allowing people to approach
their fears in a safe and controlled environment. This year we saw
live streamed medical procedures in VR, and VR also being used
to train surgeons with interactive elements. The health benefits of
VR are just starting to be tapped, and the future here is very bright.
We are into our first year of VR, and there have been many
stumbles, but those have been outshined by the successes, and
ultimately the fervor of what is to come. We know that there will
be better headsets and better experiences in the not too distant
future, and anyone who has tried some of the premium offerings
in VR already has a good sense of where we’re headed. So strap
in, because it’s going to be a very fun ride.
Chris Wren comes from a background in AAA game develop-
ment, working as an artist and producer for 12+ years at com-
panies like EA/Maxis, Namco and Microprose. He’s worked on
Falcon 4.0, the Sims franchise and Warhammer: Mark of Chaos.
CHRIS WREN

19. GRAPHIC DESIGN&ILLUSTRATION
JLAMBGRAPHIC.COM

20. • Busts myths about tech careers
• Details the job market and the more
than half a million available jobs
• Illustrates how technology lets kids
think, try, fail and succeed
• Explains educational pathways and
the importance of mentorship
• Points out areas of opportunity,
including where to find jobs
• Outlines opportunities for every teen
The T in STEM