ITE student on the fast track towards turning love for gaming into a career

This article was contributed by the Institute of Technical Education (ITE).

Poh Jun Kai
Higher Nitec in Games Programming & Development @ ITE College Central
Recipient of the Ngee Ann Kongsi Gold Medal

Game On, Press On

An avid gamer since primary school, Poh Jun Kai has a penchant for anything innovative in the gaming scene, often downloading new mobile games to personally experience different mechanics during gameplay.

At age 15, he resolved to transform his passion in gaming into a lifelong pursuit as a games developer.

Jun Kai first enrolled in Nitec in Infocomm Technology (Networking and System Administration) course. It laid a foundation for him to pick up programming quickly and benefited him, as he progressed to Higher Nitec in Games Programming & Development. His dedication to honing his craft is evident in his stellar academic records and active participation in several games-related competitions.

As the President of Media Smart Club Co-Curricular Activity, he also displayed strong leadership and a heart for the community in planning events, especially during Silver IT Fest where he assisted his lecturer in sharing cyber security tips with senior citizens. Despite his achievements, he remains humble and was willing to sacrifice personal time to help his peers in their studies.

Get Creative Juices Flowing

Jun Kai shared: "Engaging in games makes me happy and I wish to spread the joy of gaming to others by developing quality games. One of the most important traits of a game developer is to be creative, in all aspects, be it in coming up with storylines, creating art or designing the gameplay and user interface.

"It is not easy to be creative but never give up. Broaden your knowledge, talk to people, think out of the box.

"For me, I always challenge myself to do something different from the norm. In my final-year project, when we were tasked to create a shooting game, many decided to create a gun that dispenses bullets.

"I designed a gun shooting slime instead. It’s a small change but something unique. Start small, believe in yourself and inspiration will come."

After ITE

Jun Kai is pursuing a Diploma in Game Development & Technology at Nanyang Polytechnic. After obtaining a diploma, he hopes to work overseas in a game company for at least five years to gain relevant work experience.

Top Achievements

• Jun Kai attained Certificate of Excellence in the Qualifying Rounds of WorldSkills Singapore 2018 and represented ITE in the category of IT Software Solution for Business.

• For his contributions in CCA, he achieved the CCA Platinum Award. Jun Kai also received the Service Star Award in 2020.

• A hardworking student, he was in the Director’s List in 2019 and 2020, and graduated with a perfect Grade Point Average of 4.0.