What's Stopping Universities From Teaching VR Development?

Steve Anderson : End Game
Steve Anderson
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What's Stopping Universities From Teaching VR Development?

Virtual reality (VR) development might seem like the wave of the future, and not without reason. This is the technology that may well open up a future where we can go just about anywhere and see just about anything right from the comfort of our own living room. It's a technology that will bring new meaning to the word "Staycation." Meanwhile, the next generation of developers in VR is facing some unexpected shortfalls as universities are proving unable to teach VR development. What's stopping them? A simple lack of equipment.

Crytek, a German developer, has stepped in on this front to help bring about the VR First lab, an initiative that helps bring these tools to universities, and universities are responding in a fairly big way. Just since January, 14 VR First labs have opened their doors, with eight in North America, five in Europe, and one in New Zealand. What's more, there's no shortage of applications for future VR First lab operations, with applications on every continent showing up.

The senior business manager at Crytek, Ferhan Ozkan, commented "According to our predictions, the VR industry is likely to require many more skilled development graduates than it will be producing in the next years. At the same time our data clearly shows that universities are under-equipped to implement educational goals and satisfy the VR industry’s demand. With the VR First initiative we’re addressing this problem, and we invite leading lights in the industry to contribute to this collective approach towards the empowerment of students and developers.”

It's pretty much impossible to make a movement like VR last unless there's another generation of programmers and assorted techs waiting to pick up the gauntlet. The VR First initiative not only makes it possible for colleges to teach, but it also gives Crytek a little extra edge in terms of picking future talent in that field of development. With college kids worldwide looking into VR development, and remembering that their training tech came from Crytek, they might wonder about jobs with the company after graduation.

What Crytek's doing in the field is no mean thing, but it only gets better when it's considered how this could ultimately give Crytek an edge in hiring down the line. This is a win-win for both sides, and we should see it bear fruit before too much longer.



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