Another Success Story of IIT- Rukmal Fernando, Senior Software Engineer at IFS
View(s):Pioneers in offering British Degrees in Sri Lanka, Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT-www.iit.ac.lk), is today one of the best choices for students interested in furthering careers in the fields of Software Engineering and Information Systems with Business Management offering a qualification that is on par with the world standards .
Among a number of highly successful individuals who are thankful to the Institute for their position in the community today, is Rukmal Fernando who shares his story of success thanks to IIT.
“I picked IIT from the wide choice of higher education options available for three reasons”, Rukmal said: “It had a respectable reputation of being ‘the’ place for bringing out the best in IT related talent. The industry recognition towards IIT students was also high and when looking for jobs, this was a definite plus.” He also added that good credibility, hardworking and expert lecturers coupled with the one year placement for students in reputed companies all added to his decision of choosing IIT for higher studies.
During his period of studies, immense support was provided by lecturers and the highly advanced IIT facilities which brought colossal knowledge with its state of the art library facilities. “Learning based on assignments enabled students to analyze a situation in the real business context and develop solutions.” Rukmal expressed. “The inclusion of group project assignments ensured student discussion, probably one of the better learning methodologies whilst making it fun”. He went on to explain that during his second year itself, he got the chance to design a new system for a BPO Service Provider, which ran a contact centre in Colombo to deal with an international clientele. The project consisted of studying their systems to ascertain the gaps that prevailed to better support a quality service. This led him and his team to eventually design a system to track the contact center agents’ performance.
He added that through these assignments and the final year project, they also gained an in depth knowledge of programming languages widely used in the Software Engineering industry such as Java, C++, C# etc.
He further stated that “the overall grooming received at IIT on technical and soft skills, especially in the sphere of presentation skills and communication which are traits demanded by the corporate world, helped immensely as well”.
Commencing his career with industrial placement at Virtusa, Rukmal handled the company’s internal mail forum system, and got exposure to the Open Source Movement and Linux. This was when Rukmal realized that all what he had learned at IIT really helped him in his everyday work. He also stated “Other than that, the leadership and teamwork practiced at IIT helped me a lot to be a good leader and a team member. All in all, I can confidently say that IIT proved to be a great place which opened a lot of opportunities for me.”
Currently working at IFS as a Senior Software Engineer and looking back at his career path and distinct career growth Rukmal says “I don’t think I could have been what I am today if not for the grounding and training I received at IIT. Because not only did I receive an academic education here, I also received practical training and skills development that equipped me to face the working world with confidence.” His ambition is to someday provide leadership within the organization as a Software Architect.
Rukmal concluded by saying “With Sri Lanka now aggressively expanding in the IT industry having recognised the value of the sector, this is an ideal market for those seeking employment to join in. IIT in their capacity offers the best qualification for students which would enable them to secure job opportunities with value and at higher positions.”
Web: www.iit.ac.lk, Email: admissions@iit.ac.lk, Hotline: 0722 72 72 72
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