Lakindu Chathushka is an all-round BEng (Hons) graduate from IIT
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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.
Lakindu Chathushka Gunasekara is an all-round BEng (Hons) Software Engineering graduate from IIT who has achieved much success following graduation. Lakindu is currently employed as a Software Engineer at 99X Technology, which is an award-winning software product engineering company that specialises in delivering high-end software product development services to independent software vendors worldwide. Following are excerpts of the interview with Lakindu, who shared his thoughts on his journey at IIT.
My name is Lakindu Gunasekara. I reside in Mount Lavinia. I live with my parents and I have an elder brother. I studied at Royal College, Colombo.
For my Advanced Level, I selected the Commerce stream. As I performed well in my studies, I was able to score high in my academic subjects, especially for ICT. Because of this, I became a prize winner at 164th and 165th prize giving of Royal College, Colombo. My passion for social welfare led me to function as the Chairman of Royal College Social Service League during my final years at school. The club was awarded for the Best Community Service project of the year at Club Felicitation ceremony at Royal College – 2015, during my tenure. After ALs, I remained a Senior Prefect during years 2014-15. I ranked 8th place in the all-island inter-school carom championships 2008, too.
Q: What made you decide you follow your higher education at IIT?
One of the key factors that made IIT stand out from other institutions in the education sector is the unmatched industry placement. I strongly believe that this 1 year internship helps students to understand the corporate and mold themselves to fit accordingly.
My life at IIT was filled with great experiences. As the secretary of IEEE at IIT, I was exposed to a wide variety of interactions among students, lecturers as well as the experts in the industry. I was a part of the committee which organized Code Sprint 2.0 along with many more hackathons and events as well. In 2017, I became the 3rd place in the game of carom in Rotaract Champions League.
Q: What are your notable achievements at IIT?
I completed Google Summer of Code in 2018 & 2019 and Google Code in Mentor in 2017 & 2018.
Also, I published research paper on the second year’s group project to ICIIT in 2017 followed by another research paper on my final year project to National IT Conference in 2019. In 2016, I managed to win the Youth Hack Hackathon as well.
The industry placement brought me a wave of achievements which helped me advance my career and stay ahead. The basics included on the 1st and 2nd years of the curriculum helped me a lot to achieve success, as it provided in depth understanding of principals and applications that drove my knowledge to excel further.
I must highlights the guidance I received from the academic staff to complete my final year project. The timely and successful completion of the degree was due to the proper guidance I received.
The parties and events organized by the student union were the fondest moments I had with friends at IIT. IIT is not a place full of stereotypical activities. Although course work is always prioritized, there was always room for entertainment and having fun. Various kinds of celebrations throughout the year as well a showcase of talent through concerts such as Stage Craft definitely made my life at IIT even more exciting than I thought it would be.
IIT being the pioneering private higher educational institute in Sri Lanka is one of the best established institutes in the island. When it comes to your higher education, it is always wise to learn under an institute that has evolved along with the industry. IIT is the only of such I can image which qualify under that criteria. 1 year industry experience provided to all the students in the 3rd year of the degree is another key factor why I highly recommend IIT for anyone who wishes to have an excellent and a fulfilling academic experience.
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.