Sri Lankans talented and IT savy - Anupriya Jayathilake, Vice President Technology and Operations, eMarketingEye (Pvt) Ltd

8-Sep-2009

Ashan Kumar met Vice President Technology and Operations, eMarketingEye (Pvt) Ltd AnupriyaJayathilake to understand How IT changed his life.

Anupriya Jayathilake, Vice President Technology and Operations, eMarketingEye (Pvt) Ltd

Developing a skilled IT workforce would help Sri Lanka be more visible in the global IT solution market. Our people are talented and IT savvy. Our developers are capable of delivering world class products. As a country we should not miss this opportunity are the thoughts of Vice President Technology and Operations eMarketingEye Anupriya Jayathilake. Born in the hill capital, the youngest in a family of three brothers and a sister, he schooled at Kingswood College, his childhood dream was to become an Engineer. His experience of a computer was when the computer industry in the country was in its infancy where he recognized the opportunity to become a pioneer in the arena of IT. He started following various courses etc, building a sound foundation to launch his career.

He selected IT as his career path as he believed that IT can make a valid contribution and become a driving factor in any industry. I felt applications for IT were near infinite, offering exposure to a multitude of disciplines resulting in a dynamic and challenging career  said Jayathilake. IT has had an impact on most of his adult life. His journey into IT began in 1996 having assisted in an accounting software development project for a leading private school in Kandy. Thirteen years down the road, he had the privilege of working in different areas within the IT industry, such as Software Development, Database systems, Hardware and Networking, IT security, Infrastructure and Service Management. Having specialized in IT solutions for the Travel and Hospitality sector, he had the opportunity to travel abroad, train at the Google Headquarters in Mountain View, California and attend numerous trade exhibitions. He is rated as one of few Google Analytics Individual Qualification (GAIQ) holders in Asia and enjoys a certain amount of recognition in the Asian Search Engine Optimization field. He said, As a country we need a long-term strategy in developing IT skills in Sri Lanka.

I believe that we need to make our people more IT literate whether they are young or old. As the Internet opens up avenues of tapping a large knowledge source, both professionals and businessmen can benefit in many ways by improving their skills and selling their services or products online. I probed into the way forward for IT development in Sri Lanka. He expressed a three pronged strategy: 1. Improve IT literacy and computer awareness - starting from the school level 2. Actively market Sri Lanka as an IT services provider - offering various incentives for setting up development centres in Sri Lanka. 3. Take government institutions online - offering most services via the internet would promote IT in the government sector and would further set an example to the private sector. I believe there is no future without IT for me.

The evolving behaviour of IT keeps me curious with an active mind. In IT, you always experience a faster paced development compared to other industries. You should be ever vigilant as new technologies translate into new, more effective solutions. I enjoy my work as I always like to be a problem solver, keeping abreast of the latest trends said Anupriya.