I honestly don’t know where I would be without WSO2, other than lost
In 2017, I was one of the four luckiest students selected for the WSO2 10-Year Customer Anniversary Undergraduate Scholarship Program. It was a fully-funded program that allows selected students to obtain a degree in Software Engineering from the prestigious University of Westminster in London, UK, via the Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT) in Sri Lanka.
After four years, right at my graduation, I wanted to express my heartfelt appreciation to WSO2. Here’s a letter I wrote to them on how I spent last four years;
Dear WSO2,
I’m Jayasanka Weerasinghe, a student who was lucky to get selected for the WSO2 10-Year Customer Anniversary Undergraduate Scholarship Program. I’m writing this to express my sincere gratitude to you as I finished my degree.
When you found me in 2017, I was a 19-year-old kid from a remote village, who had a terrible financial background, doing a small job, working hard to get back the mortgaged house from the bank, dreaming of becoming a software engineer so badly.
My whole life story changed after you granted me a fully paid scholarship to IIT and supported me financially while mentoring me.
This is how I spent my last four years;
Within the period, I was able to do four internships. I got into Entgra as soon as I finished my 1st year. I spent two years at Entgra and gained extensive experience. I was able to complete Google Summer of Code twice and served as an unofficial mentor for two other GSoC projects. I have worked with OpenMRS for nearly two years. Currently, I’m a level 3 developer and a module leader at OpenMRS. My work at OpenMRS was presented at three international conferences.
I joined the Sustainable Education Foundation (SEF) in 2018 with the intent to give back to society. SEF is a volunteer-driven organisation that helps local students connect with industry experts and academics around the world. Currently, I’m working as the CEO of SEF.
I strongly believed the only way of paying you off is by studying hard and as well as helping students as much as I could. I have mentored over 10 students personally. Almost everyone was able to get internships by their 1st year at campus. Some were able to start even before the degree. They were able to achieve international achievements as well. Google Code-in grand prize, APICTA, Intel ISEF, were some of them. Two of them were able to get into Google Summer of Code this year.
I was able to do well in my studies. I completed my degree with first-class honours and I always wanted to achieve it and believed that was the greatest gratitude I can give to you. In my final year, I was fortunate to do my research project under the supervision of Prof. Arosha Bandara from Open University, UK. The research was to make human activity recognition resilient by developing a self-adaptive framework for the machine learning component. We are currently working on publishing a research paper.
Recently, I started my career as a software engineer at Comunin AS, a Norwegian tech startup. I made that choice because I enjoy working in a challenging environment. Apart from Comunin, I’m continuing working with OpenMRS as well.
I would say that WSO2 is the colossus behind all of my accomplishments. I owe a debt of gratitude to Ruwan Yatawara, my WSO2 mentor who was always pointing me in the right direction. And I’d like to thank Sumedha Rubasinghe, former WSO2 director and current CEO of Entgra, for grooming me to be sound professionals. And a special thanks to Pramila Rajapaksa, former director of WSO2, who has always been supportive of my achievements. Thank you, Sanjiva Weerawarana, CEO of WSO2, for recognizing my potential, which I was completely unaware of at the time.
I honestly don’t know where I would be without WSO2, other than lost. Thank you for making me the person I am.
Sincerely,
Jayasanka
Some memories along the way,
Some photos taken in physical events that I took part in organising:
In addition, there have been numerous people who have supported me over the last four years. I’d like to thank Sudharshan Ramasamy, my first boss, for helping me with my studies and providing flexibility at work. Priyadarshan Ramasamy, who let me stay at his place for two years when I was homeless in Colombo. Akshika Wijesundara, my hero, who gave me a laptop for my studies because I had a broken old laptop. He also assisted me greatly in developing my soft skills. It would be impossible to list all of the ways he supported me. I will be eternally grateful for his advice and kindness. I’m also grateful to Buwaneka De Silva for introducing me to SEF, which was a watershed moment in my life. Sarani Goonathilaka, who helped me to fight against Java Institute Fraud. Minuri Adasooriya, who helped me in speaking English when I was struggling. A special thanks to all of the employees at Entgra, where I learned a great deal. I’d also like to thank Prof. Arosha Bandara, who supervised my final year project. I’d like to express my gratitude to Grace Potma, Brandon Istenes, Ian Bacher, Joseph Kawesi, and all of the OpenMRS developers. And thank you to all of my teachers who have instilled in me a priceless sense of confidence. In the end, I’d like to thank my parents, sister, and brother for their unwavering support, as well as my friends for their constant reassurances.
To everyone who has been a part of my life and a part of this journey, I wholeheartedly thank you and express my gratitude. Every drop in the ocean counts and I would never forget those who helped me sail through troubled waters for they deserve a part of this reward.
