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Anish Aitharaju 16, a rising senior at Homestead High School in Cupertino, invented a mobile app now used by five schools in the Fremont Union High School District, on Saturday June 22, 2013. (Jonae Scott/Mosaic staff)

Anish Aitharaju, 16, saw his age as an advantage rather than an obstacle when he set out to create Deckshuffle.

After all, if anyone knows about cell phones, it's teenagers.

Two years ago, Aitharaju noticed that his Homestead High's online resources were often difficult to use. So he made a mobile app where resources such as school information, news and grades could be found in one easy-to-access place.

"Age is never an excuse not to do anything," the Sunnyvale entrepreneur said. "It's probably easier to learn while you're young."

He believes that being a student made it easier to contact schools and advertisers, and gave him a better understanding of what students on the go needed.

Increasingly, teens such as Aitharaju are stepping into the tech world and the app market before graduating from high school.

Karen Thurm Safran, an executive at iD Tech Camps and Teen Academies, said that "tech is cool now" with youth--especially in Silicon Valley, where tech giants Apple, Facebook and Google are located.

The iD programs' relatively new courses in app creation have become popular, Safran said.

"Kids are making apps, they're selling them, having them integrated into their school curriculum, and they're making a lot of money," she said. "It's just phenomenal what these kids can do at a young age."

More than a million careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) will be unfilled in the next 10 years, Safran said.

Aitharaju had a clear vision of his app from the beginning. The challenge was the technical knowledge to make this vision a reality. Aitharaju's brother, who founded a mobile technology company while still in college, helped him learn the necessary computer languages.

"I have an entire family of software engineers," Aitharaju said.

Though he is following in their footsteps with Deckshuffle, Aitharaju wants to become a surgeon.

The first incarnation of his app "didn't go as well as planned," Aitharaju said. It had to be manually updated, and worked only on Androids.

Undeterred, Aitharaju began anew. He ended up with Deckshuffle.

During his junior year, he worked closely with the principal at Cupertino's Homestead High to implement Deckshuffle at the school. Soon all five schools in the Fremont Union High School District used the app; a Facebook page helped it gain national attention. Aitharaju recalled how one student from Maryland requested Deckshuffle for his school.

"The next day, his entire district was on the application," Aitharaju said.

This summer he and his brother have an ambitious goal: add 500 more schools to the app. They plan to promote Deckshuffle through blogs, Facebook and Twitter.

They might even create a Deckshuffle video in the hopes that it goes viral.

The app is created to help the community, Aitharaju explained. Advertising profits go back to the school districts.

"It's really a win-win situation," he said. "The business gets more exposure, the students get an application, and then the school gets more money."

Aitharaju encouraged other would-be teen app creators to dive in, but emphasized the hard work required.

Once you have an idea, he said, "it's really about having the dedication to pursue it. It's a daunting task, and it takes a lot of time. You want to quit sometimes."

The dedication paid off for Aitharaju. He may not plan on a career in tech, but he recognizes how valuable tech-savvy will be in the future.

Asked if he had another app in the works, Aitharaju laughed and said no.

"One is enough," he said.