IIT graduate leads Leapset operations

1 September 2015 04:16 am Views - 1706

Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT Campus) in partnership with the University of Westminster has been at the forefront of tertiary education for the past 25 years, producing over 3,000 graduates, each with a success story of their own.

Many of these graduates that are innovators, entrepreneurs and business leaders have gone on to empower nearly 250 multinational and local blue-chip companies.

One such successful graduate of IIT is Rasika Karunatilake, a Computer Science graduate of IIT that has an illustrious career in the field of Information Technology. Rasika’s work experience commenced at Informatics during the compulsory internship offered at the IIT Campus. He has, since worked for Millennium IT and is currently holding office as Vice President and General Manager at Leapset, which is one of Sri Lanka’s leading IT companies.

Leapset, develops a technology platform for the restaurant industry; it has been operational successfully in the US for several years and was recently launched in Sri Lanka as well. Leapset is one of the first Sri Lankan Companies to originate from Silicon Valley – the home to globally renowned technology companies.
Rasika Karunatilake, has been instrumental in growing a team of 6 persons to a staff of around 200 within a span of 7 years and has played several key roles in the company’s success.

 “In 2013, Leapset teamed up with Sysco Corporation (NYSE: SYY) to become the unstoppable company that it is today. Sysco is the largest food distributor in the US and supplies a network of over 400,000 restaurants” said Rasika. “I am proud to say that the core development of the Leapset platform is done entirely in Sri Lanka, by Sri Lankan engineers,” he elaborated.

“I entered into the world of IT by commencing my higher studies at the Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT) which has one of the best British internal degrees in the market. I specialized in Computer Science and had a valuable internship through IIT with the Informatics Group,” he said.

“During my internship at Informatics, I got the opportunity to be involved with the team that developed the vehicle registration system and the driving license system for the department of motor traffic. I was also able to be a part of their team that designed their Telco solutions where they are currently one of the leaders in the market,” he said.

“IIT’s well accepted degree and the experience I had gained helped me secure a job with Millennium IT giving me an edge over other applicants. From then on, it was an upward climb in my career,” he said.

“IIT also cultivated a lot of soft skills in me such as working in teams to meet project deadlines and also leadership skills, all of which have stood in good stead when ensuring the delivery of complex projects and also in motivating our teams to bring out their best talents. I believe the technical knowledge and the experience that I obtained through my internship, proved to be very valuable. The advice that I can give to any student wanting to pursue a career in IT is to join a good institute that offers a globally accepted degree;  this will help you secure employment at a good organization and will in turn be your stepping stone to success,” Rasika said.

An IIT graduate will not only possess a degree but will also possess one year’s work experience which will give an added advantage following their completion of the degree. Due to the recognition of the degree and the work experience received, IIT graduates are in demand within the software and business sectors. Due to the fact that IIT graduates are highly employable, most of these graduates receive high income employment opportunities from industry renowned companies.

IIT is an award winning campus and has won many accolades in competitions such as Microsoft Imagine Cup, National Best Quality Software Awards (NBQSA), Google Summer of Code and e-Swabhimani. It has earned a wide reputation as a solid, professional training campus, catering to the needs of the students and producing well-rounded and highly employable graduates, to anticipate the professional world by being armed with confidence and knowledge.