A GAMING enthusiast who applied for 100 posts before he landed his dream job has been hailed as ‘an inspiration’.

Daniel Barlow, 24, from Widnes, had been left feeling defected after being unemployed for 18 months.

His uncle spotted a course called Get Started with Games Design, run by the Prince’s Trust, and it changed his life.

His enthusiasm, knowledge and gift for gaming secured him a job at Sony as a games tester.

“To get that foot in the door at Sony was amazing,” said Daniel, from Hough Green.

“Without Get Started I’d probably still be unemployed. I’m earning a good salary doing a job I absolutely love.”

A new report has hailed the north west as having the fastest growing digital industry in the country.

Naomi Dirks from the Prince’s Trust said: “Daniel is a really inspirational success story.

“He went from 18 months of unemployment and 100 unsuccessful job applications to a high powered job working with Sony.

“His life and confidence have turned a full 360 degrees. Now, for Daniel, the only way is up.”

The trust has pledged to give every young person the chance to succeed.

Chief executive Martina Milburn said: “We will continue to focus on embedding core skills across our programmes with a particular emphasis on science, technology, engineering and maths, literacy, language and numeracy skills.

“Our 40th anniversary gives us a platform to tell the inspiring stories of our amazing young people.”

Daniel saved his wages to pay for driving lessons.

He now has his own car and drives to work.

Daniel hopes to climb the ladder at Sony, complete a software testing certification course before applying for more advanced computer script writing roles within the company.