Скачать или смотреть Getting a job without a degree | ft. Bhawesh Agarwal

I remember when flexing fancy degrees got you amazing social credits, and I love that now the opposite is true. Story of someone who got a job offer in IGDC 2023. #HumansOfGaming

“Fun fact, I have still not graduated,” said Bhawesh in my conversation with him, with a boastful smirk. And why not, it is not only about working full-time at Kwalee as a Game Programmer without any engineering degree but going against the common ‘wisdom’ and defying a set path imposed on every student in India.

It is about showing people that, Hey! skills are much more important than your degree and even the employers understand that.

This is the story of Bhawesh Agarwal and how he learned to create games in #HumansOfGaming

Bhawesh recalls his favorite childhood gaming memory being playing Road Rash with his brother. Yes, Road Rash is a single-player game but if you grew up in a house with siblings you know the hack. One person controls the bike and the other person lands well-timed hits on the opponents.

But despite his love for games, Bhawesh didn’t think about game development as an actual career option. When in college Bhawesh started experimenting with web development learning react. With his skills, he landed a few freelance gigs and eventually an internship in web development.

However, after an excruciating three months, Bhawesh realized it just wasn’t for him. He then went on to explore other domains like software development and trying out Hackathons. But while sitting on Discord one day with his friends talking about some game and how the developers made it, it hit Bhawesh.

“I like to program, I like to play games, why not explore game development?”

This tiny seed of ‘why not’, soon turned into ‘how to’.

Bhawesh, seduced by the great graphics of Unreal Engine tried starting his game development journey with Unreal, only to be intimidated and confused by the complexity of the engine. He then turned to Unity, which not only had better community support but also had a rudimentary course that teaches you the basics of Unity.

With constant trial and error, Bhawesh picked up the software enough to land a project with NOKIA, where they required a Unity simulation. Now as this was a prestigious company, Bhawesh got permission from the HOD at his college to work on it and didn’t have to attend college for next six months.

After completing his project with NOKIA, Bhawesh was more sure than ever that this was the right field for him. However, he also knew that to excel in this field he needed to build his understanding from the ground up.

While he extensively consumed YouTube content around game development he didn’t find the understanding he was looking for.

“YouTube shows you how to copy a game, not how to make it”

His next plan?

Complete his B. Tech. and go to a university abroad to do an MS in game development. While looking for a master’s Bhawesh stumbled upon Outscal.

A few months later, he didn’t only ditch his master’s plan but even his undergrad. However, what he acquired was a very particular set of skills, skills that made him industry-ready with a deep understanding of not only Unity but also various design patterns and game architecture.

Next thing you know, Bhawesh transitioned from an aspiring game enthusiast to a professional in the industry, landing his debut role at Kwalee.

Yet another #OutscalMafia who is killing it in the industry. Keep it up Bhawesh.