IIT graduate speaks of her journey towards success
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“In my opinion, IIT is not an institute which only gives you academic qualifications. IIT is a place that will help you improve your knowledge, skills and attitude. The best part of choosing IIT is that it allows you to get the real world experience in the industry during the third year internship programme where students gain vital industrial exposure”
With over 3,000 graduates that are currently empowering over 250 multinational and local blue-chip companies, the Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT) is renowned for producing innovators, entrepreneurs and business leaders.
Binali Yasangika Perera is an all-round graduate from IIT who has achieved much success in her professional life. Binali who specializes in Business Intelligence Analytics is currently employed at Dialog Axiata as a Specialist in Data Analysis. Following are excerpts of the interview with Binali who shared her thoughts on her journey towards corporate success;
Can you give a brief introduction of yourself?
I’m Binali Perera. Before joining IIT, I studied at Taxila Central College, Horana. After A/L’s, I joined IIT and graduated in Software Engineering with first class honors in 2016. Currently I’m working at Dialog Axiata.
What made you decide to follow your higher education at IIT?
After my A/Ls, I completed the Oracle certification programme and was looking for an institute to continue my higher studies in Software Engineering. I did a research on available universities and after talking to some of alumni, I decided to choose IIT as the institute to follow my higher education.
We heard you held leadership roles during your student life at IIT. Tell us a bit about it?
During my student life at IIT, I was involved in extracurricular activities. I was a member of AIESEC. I participated in several sports at the annual sports meet. I was an announcer at the annual FM channel, IFM; which was the official radio network for the Cutting Edge exhibition organized by IIT. These activities were fun and at the same time helped me improve my soft skills as well.
How was the student life and experience at IIT?
I always felt that student life at IIT was a well-balanced one. Lecturers make sure the work load is well balanced so that we can get involved in other activities like stage craft, cutting edge and sports events.
What are your notable achievements at IIT?
Cutting edge is an annual event organized by IIT to showcase students’ innovative ideas and projects. As a final year student, I presented my final year project to industrial experts and I bagged the Silver award for my project. It was a memorable day for me because on that day I got a job opportunity from Head of Technologies at Dialog which I’m currently employed at.
How has IIT shaped you for corporate success?
In my opinion, IIT is not an institute which only gives you academic qualifications. IIT is a place that will help you improve your knowledge, skills and attitude. The best part of choosing IIT is that it allows you to get the real world experience in the industry during the third year internship programme where students gain vital industrial exposure. Because of that, once I completed the degree, I was not just another degree holder, but I also had experience of working as a Software Engineer.
What are your reasons to recommend IIT to students?
I would highly recommended IIT for any college student who’s passionate to succeed in the IT or business industry. The content provided by the IIT, the experienced lecturers and the internship opportunities provided to you before completing the degree programme is ideal to meet the ever evolving industry.
Can you describe the support you received from the staff and the faculty of IIT?
Special thanks go to the IIT lecturers for the immense support given me during the four years. They went beyond their duties to guide us to be competitive in the industry. During my final year project there were not many expertise in my research domain. I was directed to one of the past students at IIT who’s working in the industry to get the technical support. This was one of the reasons for me to do exceptionally well in my final year project.
IIT conducts internal postgraduate and undergraduate degrees from the University of Westminster (UOW), UK and Robert Gordon University. The University of Westminster degrees offered at IIT are Software Engineering, Business Information Systems, Business Management and Computer Science with specialization pathways in gaming and computer graphics development, mobile and web computing and multimedia computing.
IIT is an award winning campus, which has bagged many accolades for innovation in local and international competitions such as Microsoft Imagine Cup, National Best Quality Software Awards (NBQSA), APICTA, British Council-HSBC Youth Enterprise Award and e-Swabhimani.
With its strong international affiliations, outstanding resources and focus on quality higher education, IIT is without a doubt an ideal place for students to follow world renowned IT and Business degrees.
For further information, e-mail “admissions@iit.ac.lk” or call the hotline 0722 72 72 72 or visit IIT Main Campus at No. 57, Ramakrishna Rd, Colombo