At 24, Paul Oliver’s passion for gaming has grabbed the attention of Microsoft, which chose him to be among a handful of student partners in the Mid-Atlantic, and paid his way to a Seattle convention this week. He also launched a game-development company, Legendary Studios, at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and has drawn thousands of dollars to build the business from a private investor.

Chosen as a Microsoft “student partner”, sort of an ambassador for the company’s technology, he’s one of about 190 such partners in the United States, 23 in the Mid-Atlantic states with a handful in Maryland (there are two student partners at the University of Maryland, College Park campus; Oliver’s the only one at UMBC). He gets perks like a laptop and software, and he gets paid, though he’s officially an employee of a contractor hired by Microsoft and not the corporation itself. He’s hoping to secure a publisher at this week’s conference in Seattle.

Source: Baltimore Sun