Kaverappa K.U., 30, has loved video games since he was a kid.
“I always wanted to be a video game developer,” he said.
A young Kaverappa would save money to play video games at a nearby cyber cafe.
“After graduating from school, my family wanted me to be an engineer,” he said.
Kaverappa forwent his family’s engineering ambition to explore game development.
“Video game development was very nascent in India back then. There was one institute that offered the program,” he said.
Kaverappa wrote the exam and was accepted to the gaming institute, but never started the program.
“The game development course they offered was a certificate program, and in India, parents want their children to have a degree,” he said.
Kaverappa’s father asked him to pursue a bachelor’s program instead so he would be employable.
“I had to agree with my dad,” Kaverappa said.
He resigned to being a player only and pursued a Bachelor’s in Computer Applications instead.
“Back then I did not know that it wasn’t a degree that made a game developer but the skills,” he said.
Kaverappa got his first job at Nokia as an application developer, with his first salary, he bought a video gaming console.
At Humber, Kaverappa is now doing a web design program and is hoping to find employment to fund his love of gaming.
“I wish I could’ve done that certificate course, but that’s just how life is. It’s all part of the game,” he said.