'Passion and commitment matters in IT'

2-Feb-2009

Ashan Kumar meets Manager Operations hSenid Mobile Solutions (Pvt) Ltd, Dumidu Nayanamithra, to understand How 'IT' changed his life...

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Dumidu Nayanamithra possessed a childhood dream of being a journalist with the intention to travel to all parts of the world.

An old boy of Dharmaraja College Kandy who studied Biology for his A/Ls, he is from a middle class family where both the parents were government servants who did not have any idea about IT.

He recalls "I didn't have any exposure to the IT field until I completed my A/Ls". I asked him how he got exposed to the IT field. He answered "My initial IT exposure was at IDM, Kandy where I did my initial "Computer Course". Then moved to Colombo and enrolled at NIBM (National Institute of Business Management) where I did the Diploma and Higher Diploma. After which I completed my first degree at NIBM, offered by National University of Ireland. Later I did a Masters Degree in IT at the University of Colombo, School of Computing (UCSC). I queried further and he explained "After completing my A/Ls, I was thinking about various career paths. I became very frustrated with my A/L results and during this period I did my own research where I used to refer all vacancy advertisements in weekend papers and I found out that Accounting and Computing has a lot of opportunities out in the market.

I also discussed the opportunities, the challenges, benefits and disadvantages with several professionals who were already in the related professions. I realized there were immense opportunities and avenues to develop my career in the IT sphere and this will be the path for my life. The new technologies, the rapid changes in the industry and the opportunities at that time were the decision points for me. Also I realized there were lots of different paths within IT which I could choose in my journey forward. (Software developments, Quality assurance, Graphics, Hardware and networking, Database systems, IT Security, Project Management).

No doubt IT has made a great change in Dumidu's life; he said, "Having an educational background in bio-science, I was able to gain an IT qualification without much struggle. I toiled hard during the initial two years to gain the knowledge, and understand the subject. I had the determination and passion to succeed as an IT professional, I was able to lay that extra effort and gain the necessary knowledge and qualifications. Eight years back I started my career as a Trainee Analyst Programmer with hSenid and today I'm serving as the Operations Manager at hSenid Mobile Solutions".

He went on describing his rapid development "During the past eight years I have gone through several changes within the Software domain. The initial two to three years, I was into software development using Microsoft based technologies, basically Human Resource Management and Payroll solutions. I slowly moved to Project Management, where I had to manage small development teams while interacting with the clients. My next move was to account management and Pre-sales where I received an immense amount of foreign exposure since the company was expanding to new markets. I got the chance to work with international clients while promoting hSenid solutions in new markets. By this time hSenid asked me to focus more towards mobile solutions and I had gain knowledge in mobile technologies and tools. Having a Microsoft background with an HR domain knowledge, I had to gain knowledge in Java and Mobile technologies in order to work with mobile solutions. I served as a Project Manager for hSenid Mobile Solutions for two years and then moved on to be the Operations Manager".

"Looking back at the briskly paced eight years, I'm really happy about the career progression and the exposure I gained through hSenid. hSenid was a key factor during the last eight years and the work was always challenging and interesting. Travelling was part of the job which I enjoyed very much. I managed to balance my academic life where I was able to complete both my Bachelors Degree and Masters Degree while working full-time".

To the question "why should anyone choose IT as a profession, he replied "If you have the real interest and passion about IT, you can gain the required knowledge and be a professional in the industry. One need not be very bright to grasp their knowledge in IT. What matters is your passion and commitment. There are countless opportunities out there and new prospects are being created as we speak. This is an industry which is rapidly escalating to the peak. Access to knowledge and new skills is easy in the IT industry when comparing to other domains. He topped it off with this line, "Your exposure to the industry is very wide and you can stay in touch with the industry easily as this is Information Technology".