Few words about the ÇøŋfuzëÐ SøurcëÇødë Blogging Style ! ;)

Yes I am a Developer! A Software Engineer by career!

But truth be told, I’m not the typical type of software-engineer-developer-geek ! 😛

I’m a hyper-active, overjoyed, crazy enthusiastic, energized, optimistic human being! 😉

I often go on Adventures, Hiking, Running, Cycling and Basketball, also includes Socializing and talking to People in Public…

I run a lot ! literally like a mad man, and I’m addicted to it. It makes me feel free, refreshed, de-stressed, energized, hyped up, and allows me to push myself beyond the physical limitations. Hence it keeps reminding me that nothing is impossible as long as I keep on pushing myself without giving up.

I enjoy every single moment of my life, seeing the positive perspective of everything that happens around me. And I never regret any decisions I have ever made. I like making others happy and cheering up people around me is something I enjoy a lot. 😀

Yes! obviously I’m always cheered up! 😛 that’s probably the easiest way to recognize me from any crowd lol! 😉

I do a lot of crazy random stuff! 😀

I truly enjoy helping others, teaching others new stuff, I’m not very good at teaching though, but I enjoy engaging in such activities to the fullest.
So basically whenever I’m blogging the same chemical reactions fires up in my brain which is responsible for the above, thereby almost all the time my blog articles ends up being a hyper active conversation lol! 😛

So you may find my blog articles UNPROFESSIONAL most of the time! but I DO NOT CARE! Hence blogging programming articles is something I do for fun and I enjoy it insanely. 😉 And yes this is probably going to be one of the weirdest tech-blogs you have ever seen given my unprofessional-blogging-style! lol 😉
Well I couldn’t care less as long as I share the knowledge across the articles, in a very friendly, easy to understand manner for even a high school kid could understand.

So you got any complains about the ÇøŋfuzëÐ SøurcëÇødë Blogging Style? Don’t bother complaining! 😀 As ÇøŋfuzëÐ SøurcëÇødë wouldn’t ever care! 😛

Cheers!

Stay Awesome fellas! 😀

Nǐ hǎo ma! fellow awesome developers ! ;)

Woot Woot! I’m back fellas! Yeah, it’s been a while since I have last been in this blog-sphere…

To keep it short, I was extremely busy last few months due to some awesome career related changes in my life. 😀

Probably you are wondering what’s with the “Nǐ hǎo ma!”, yeah that’s how you say hello! in Chinese and I have moved to Singapore fellas!
(PS – I’m self learning Chinese these days with the help of some colleagues here lol 😛 )

Flickr Album of some sceneries in Singapore – https://www.flickr.com/photos/confuzed-source-code/albums/72157660613627064

Yep, that’s right. Last November, I got recruited by a company in Singapore as a Xamarin Mobile Engineer, so I moved to Singapore from Sri Lanka, and settled down there. 😉
Hence I couldn’t keep in touch with my blog, but now things are completely settling down with my new life in Singapore, I have finally managed to get back on my blog-sphere.

I have been doing some really interesting and challenging work at my new company related to Xamarin, so I’m looking forward to share a lot of cool stuff with you guys in the coming weeks.

So let’s get this going fellow Awesome developers! 😀

Cheers! 😉

Stay Awesome! 😀

So you are not Happy with your Job ? Here’s some Wisdom…

A very well known truth is, that it is hard to find a job which we would love, or be truly satisfied with it. Nearly 60% of the work force out there are suffering from unsatisfying jobs or career experience.

I have published a post previously on, How it Feels like to be truly Satisfied and fallen in Love with your Job … But I thought I shouldn’t be so selfish to leave the other side of the scenario behind which is What if you aren’t satisfied our your job ? or hate you job ? as I, myself started off with a negative career experience and ended up here. 😉 So my advice ?

A lot of people go to work everyday being miserable and all they do is just talk about how miserable they are… but they don’t wanna do anything about it…

– Les Brown

First let that sink in…

The major reason why we have such a huge chunk of unsatisfied employees out there is precisely because of the above reason. Almost everyone only talks about how miserable they are at work or how they hate it or fed up of it, but none of them takes any actions towards it. Most probably due to the laziness or the fear of risk. But if you are not one of those people, then I suggest you keep on reading this article, 🙂 otherwise this article is no use for you…

Make it work…

If you have have a job, and you don’t feel satisfied, try to look for the positive aspects of it, all the good things, could be even teeny tiny bits. Trust me it’s worth it to focus on the tiny bit of positivity, even in the midst of whole bunch of negativity, because if you do, you might end up actually turning it upside down and begin to be satisfied with your job. 🙂 

If not take the next step…

What if that’s not very practical for you ? then keep on looking for your dream job! Keep working your way up, keep improving yourself, and keep an eye out for your dream job. Don’t be ashamed of yourself, first of all identify the reason why you couldn’t get your dream job (be honest to yourself), and then work up for it. Lack of experience ? paper qualifications ? poor interview performance ? identify what went wrong, and keep improving yourself to make sure it won’t happen again. And apply for it again and again.. 😉 Yes ! Make yourself heard !

There was this one company I wanted to get in so badly right after I graduated, so I sent them my CV, but they didn’t even consider me for an interview and replied me saying I lack experience they are looking for. I was terribly disappointed about myself. But I didn’t put myself down, I just kept on working and improving myself throughout every little opportunity I got. Well guess what ?
After one and half years, that same company contacted me on LinkedIn and said they are impressed with my portfolio and how I have engaged myself with technologies, and they would like to offer me a certain job, with a much higher salary than I’m currently getting… 😉 Likewise it’s never too late for your own improvement… Keep on working towards it, and never give up ! 😀

Let go of fear and take risks… SERIOUSLY !

Just because you are unsatisfied with your current job, doesn’t mean all the other jobs would be the same, you may never know, your dream job might still be waiting for you to reach out for it…

– ÇøŋfuzëРSøurcëÇødë

Most of us fear that we won’t be able to get into our dream job and we would be unemployed for the rest of our lives if we leave our current job. It is not ! unless you keep on improving yourself and build your own brand ! 😉 Let go of the misery of life by wasting yourself for an unsatisfied job. There are plenty of jobs out there if you are willing work hard to achieve them, and never give up on yourself.

Take risks towards your own success, let go of your fear and never give up… 😉 Eventually you will find it, and your life will never be the same again…

In Conclusion…

Well to simply put it, as a great man once said…

Cheers everyone ! Wishing you all Success ! 🙂

Stay Awesome ! 😀

All Images are fetched via Google Search, 2015

How it Feels like to be truly Satisfied and fallen in Love with your Job …

Before I begin, I am currently working as a Software Engineer at an Europe based IT company here in Sri Lanka. And YES ! surprisingly I am truly satisfied with my Job ! 😀

But some of you might be wondering what qualifies me to define the fine line between true job satisfaction and dissatisfaction. To keep it short, I have been to the both ends, and to elaborate let me give you a little insight of my story…

So here is my Story…

I finished my degree by the age of 21, and right after that I got job offers from three famous companies in Sri Lanka after successfully passing through all their interviews. So what did I do ? like every other excited-inexperienced-smart graduate, I chose the Job offer with the highest salary and accommodation without considering my passion for innovation, creativity and new technologies as a fresh college graduate.

Everything was great and going smooth except for the job didn’t turned out to be what I was expecting, so I started to get bored of it. So after completing a considerable work period, I left the job, hoping for a different next step. Learning one of the biggest lessons of my life, when it comes to your Career, never choose money over your life’s passion… 🙂

A Little break for Life…

So for few months, I took a little break, did some freelancing, tried to start off something of my own. But mostly I guess, I just wanted to take a break and refocus on my passion. 🙂 So after two or three months, I got a new Job offer which seemed kind of interesting… 😉 So I thought of giving it a try.

A new Hope…

And I started off working, but I didn’t keep much hopes as I had for my first job, because I didn’t want to get disappointed and suffer later on. But surprisingly after few days of working, I fell in love with that job. I started to love every single day at work. It was the kind of job I have been dreaming to have, filled with innovation, new technologies, and experimentation. And whenever I got home, I couldn’t wait to go back to work the next day… 😉 My life started changing in so many ways since then, and after a long time I was feeling fulfilled about my life…

So starting from having a disappointing career experience and then ending up with a truly satisfied career experience… let me share some of my own Experience of How it Feels like to be Truly Satisfied with your Job… 😀
And Yes, I know this “satisfaction” may or may not last forever or for a long time, as nothing is permanent and everything is constantly changing in this universe by its nature, I’m really valuing and and enjoying it to the fullest while it lasts… After all, change is Inevitable ! 😉 That is Life !

So how does it really Feel ?

Now I should tell you, I have been observing and analyzing my own experience and behaviors regarding this since the beginning whereas I have been collecting facts to write this article since over 9 month. So summing up all the facts, Lemme being… 🙂

You can’t wait till you get back to work next day…

This is the first feeling you will encounter, at the end of the working day, you won’t be able wait till you get back to work on the next day. You prefer staying at office and keep on working even after office hours. Mostly you will wait till the security guards closes the office and shuts down all the light. This used to happen to me all the time, specially during the first 6 months, I was among the last few to leave office. (Later I forced myself not to wait till they close the office lol)
You may get forced to leave office being worried, thinking you couldn’t wait more longer and keep on working. And you may go home after closing the office, but still you will be impatiently waiting till the next day morning to get back to work. 😉

Weekends ? You will be counting hours till Monday!

Oh please, while your friends are waiting for the Weekends to arrive with all their #TBT #TGIF #ThankGodItsFriday and #FinallyItsFriday hashtags, you will hate it when the Weekend arrives. Yes it is true, when you are truly satisfied with your job, you won’t even think of the Weekends to arrive, in fact you wish if there were no weekend. And during your weekends, you will be literally counting hours for it to over and get back to work on Monday! While your friends be like,  #IHateMondays #OhShitItsMonday, and there you would be like all pumped up for work, counting hours for the Monday to begin. The best feeling when you are truly satisfied with your Job is that, when everyone is hating their Mondays at office, you would be loving the Mondays, you would be super energetic and pumped up to begin your work. Yep I know, sounds funny… but that is what happens when you are truly satisfied with your Job ! 😉

You will be like, Thank God It’s Monday #ThankGodItsMonday #TGIM #ILoveMondays…

Simply put, you are gonna love Mondays ! Like I mentioned earlier this is one of the best feelings you would ever encounter. While everyone is hating Mondays, you would absolutely love Mondays, and you would be thanking whoever the guardian higher power you believe in.. 😉 You would be counting hours during weekends and once the Monday arrives, you would be super energetic and pumped up to begin your work while everyone is cursing their Mondays. Personally this is by far one of the best feelings I have ever encountered, because I used to hate Mondays during my previous job, but now I absolutely LOVE MONDAYS ! ❤ 😀

You wish if you could work on Weekends as well…

Yes weirdly enough, you are gonna wish if you could work on Weekends as well. There was this one time I couldn’t bear it up and I asked the manager if I could come to office on Saturdays and keep on working, where he advised me not to even think of it and go out to enjoy real life. lol (whereas later I adopted some habits and activities to do on weekends, such as going out on adventures, cycling, running and so on)
This occurs especially during the first few months of your job once you get satisfied (but later you might find some alternatives to do like I did)… When you are in love with your job, you begin to dislike weekends, and you wish if you could work on Weekends, because simply you are bored of Weekends, having nothing to do, or even if you do have things to do, you would prefer your office work more than them.. 😉 And it gets worst, if you have nothing planned to do on your Weekends, you are going to be bored to death and you will be wishing to get back to work as soon as possible.

Nine to Five routine ? Screw that ! I want more…

Like I mentioned earlier, you are gonna get hungry for your work, you just don’t want the day to end, and specially while your friends are waiting for 5PM to get out of office, you wouldn’t even care about the time. You would simply want to keep on working and you wouldn’t even notice the time moving. And yes this phenomena, I still go through it almost every single day… 😛

You wake up with so much of Energy and Motivation!

Every single morning you will be waking up with so much of Energy and Motivation to go to work, and not only related to work, but also other aspects of your life. You will be pumped up, ready to get back to work every morning when you wake up. You would be ready to go through any challenge at work, and in fact you’ll be on fire at the moment you start working in the morning. With that mentality you get an extra push to set your mind to overcome any challenge or difficulty of your life.

You feel Fulfilled, Happy about Yourself and your Life…

You begin to feel fulfilled about your Life as well as Yourself as a whole, whereas in almost every aspect of your life you begin to feel complete and calm. That feeling of fulfillment and happiness is something truly amazing and very hard to come by for anyone. 😀 We all want to feel fulfilled, about ourselves, and being able to satisfy with your job, plays a huge role in that pursuit. Happiness is something that we all seek for, and let me tell you, when you are satisfied with your Job, you feel an immense amount of happiness throughout your day, whereas Happiness comes as a part of the fulfillment. 😉 You become more optimistic towards life and everything that you go through in your daily life.

You make everyone Happy around you…

With that energy, motivation, fulfillment and happiness comes another benefit, where you begin to make everyone around you Happy ! 🙂 As you become more positive towards every aspect of your life, you begin to direct the same mindset for people around you, your parents, life partner, family, friends and so on. You are always calm and you could easily tolerate anyone around you. You become more positive and cheerful when it comes to dealing with your loved ones so in return you end up making them happy…

Your Efficiency, skyrocketing at work…

One of the best results of being truly satisfied with your job, is that you become more efficient at your workplace, whatever the work you are given, or however challenging it is, you become insanely efficient in it. That very sense of motivation , fulfillment, and happiness become the key ingredients for this amazing force. As you begin to love your work, your efficiency may sky rocket in ways that you won’t even believe. Whatever the work you have given, you would be able to finish it off way better, way quicker in ways you wouldn’t have even thought of before. Your brain gets super focused during your work, that everything becomes so easy to you, that you could easily figure out anything, given any challenge and finish off your work even before the deadlines. Not only that, the quality of your work will begin to improve unbelievably. You will be very much confident in everything you engage with your office work, because you would be doing it with passion for the joy of the job you’re doing. 😉
This effect, I have experienced very well with my work as for the last few months, I have been noticing myself being able to finish almost all the tasks way before deadlines and getting way better at the approach of the work after each and every task. 🙂 Likewise overtime you get insanely efficient with your work, when you are truly satisfied with your job… 😀

…beginning to push through your limits beyond the impossibilities !

Along with all the above incredible side-effects of being in Love with your job, you get an extra super power to push forward through your limits, beyond your own impossibilities… expanding yourself into new horizons of success. 😉 Yep that statement may seem to be a little exaggerated, but yes it is kind of true, with proof of my own experience. You begin to explore more knowledge by yourself, and expand your potential. Personally last few months I was able to easily learn so many new things knowledge related to my career which I thought I never would. 😉
You automatically adopt the ability to learn anything easy without any stress, and rapidly absorb more knowledge and experience by yourself. Therefore your job satisfaction plays a huge role in pushing you forward through life and expanding your possibilities…

Now now…

Now I know the above facts/behaviors/effects/ are based on my own experience and could be easily differ from one person to another, depending on their own perspective, whereas one might have their own different ways of being satisfied with their job, with different experience. But overall I suppose most of these facts or experience are common for those who are actually satisfied or fallen in love with your jobs… 🙂

In Conclusion…

Well to simply put it, as a great man once said…

It is hard to find a job that you would love or even like it up to some extent, but if you are determined enough, it is not that that hard to find, as it all comes down to our own determination and not giving up on our dreams. 😉

Once you find it, become truly satisfied and you begin to love your job… Your life would begin to change in so many amazing ways that haven’t even thought of before… 😉

Cheers everyone ! Wishing you all Success ! 🙂

Stay Awesome ! 😀

All Images are fetched via Google Search, 2015

One of the Greatest Secrets of My Life…

For me its not about Winning or Losing, Its about reaching my limits, going as far as I can go and then going farther… One of the greatest secrets of my life is, I never executed for victory against anyone else, or being better than anyone else…
I have always executed for the ultimate victory over myself, becoming the best I can be, breaking through my own impossibilities, redefining possibilities, and achieving greatness !

– ÇøŋfuzëÐ SøurcëÇødë
[Udara Alwis]

 

So I just bought a new Sony Xperia Z3 Compact from Sri Lanka

After almost 3 years of awesomeness with my Nokia Lumia 820, it had come to a point that I needed to buy a new smartphone. 😀 I really enjoyed my time with Lumia 820, but to be honest since last year I was kind of getting bored of it. And its started having a few hardware issues, such as random network disconnecting, and the camera photos were getting blurred and so on. 😦 So it was high time to switch after almost 3 years… 😀

Love at First Sight… 😉

This time I went for Sony, which had been my favorite Smartphone brand since long time back. I always loved their amazing design, build quality and specially awesome features. 😉 I was never a fan of enormous screen sized smartphones, which in my opinion completely ruins the definition of a mobile phone. So I was looking for a small screen sized phone, and fortunately I found out about Sony Xperia Z3 Compact which is the compact model of Xperia Z3 ! 😀
I literally fell in love with this phone since the first sight of it. So I did some in depth research about this phone before deciding I was gonna buy it.

Phobia of Precautions… 😦

And very disappointingly some users of Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact models has complained about some ‘Self cracking screen issue‘ which got me very skeptical. I went through so many user forums, Sony forums, XDA forums regarding this issue and there were complains from a lot of people and they were saying that Sony doesn’t cover this in warranty, but however in some News report Sony had agreed that there was some defected stock has been released by accident. But all in all I somehow decided to buy this phone, as there were a lot more users who had reported saying they weren’t having such an issue, which was bit of a relief.

Final decision was taken… 😀

So I straightened up my mind, wishing for the best, I decided to buy this awesome smartphone, Sony Xperia Z3 Compact … 😉

 Deciding on a Mobile Phone Shop to buy in Sri Lanka…

So when I stepped outside the house to buy this phone, I decided to buy this from a well known reputed mobile phone shop, rather than going for the lowest price from a small shop, specially because of the above ‘Self cracking screen issue‘ that some Xperia Z3C users were having. By the time I was looking for this phone it cost around Rs. 57,000 – Rs. 59,000 so obviously not much of a difference whether you buy from a small shop or a bigger shop. After visiting a few popular shops around Colombo I found out that none of the shops in Sri Lanka would cover such an issue (Self cracking screen issue) with the warranty, everyone was saying if we are able to prove that it’s a manufacturer fault, only then they would repair it. So I realized there’s no point of worrying about the warranty as every single shop here offers the same crappy warranty, I somehow bought it from Dialcom in Sri Lanka for Rs. 59,900 after a few of my friends’ recommendation. (which actually drained over half of my bank account 😛 )

So here it is, the thing of Beauty and Awesomeness…

From the moment of unpacking it, it was a thing of wonder… 😉

 

Such a beautiful slim and light design… with uncompromised performance.. 😀

From the moment you unlock that screen, is like entering into a whole new world of beauty.. 😀 the screen, is epical indeed with its TRILUMINOS Display and X-Reality Engine, which truly brings an amazing display…

What’s in the Box… :O

Now this is what you get with the whole box…

 

I never expected such a high quality headset with the phone.. 🙂 oh well, Thank you Sony ! Except for that it’s just the charger and the USB cable you get in the box.

It was a truly surprise with the performance in such a compact device, Quad-core 2.5 GHz Krait 400 Processor and GPU, Adreno 330 seems to be paying up over the expectations…

In some reviews they had mentioned the sound quality is not that good in this device, but for me with those front dual speakers, it gives an awesome experience for watching movies and videos…

One of the best things about this awesome smartphone is that it fits so perfectly in hand, specially for someone like myself having a comparably small palm.. 😛
It gives a truly premium feel of a mobile device when you hold this in your hand, durable tempered glass panels on front and back sides, along with the round comfortable edges give a real amazing feeling…

A defect or not ? 😦

So I was playing around with the phone for a while, holding it with both hands 😛 , well you know the excitement you get when you first use your new mobile phone, whereas you hold it very carefully worrying every second whether your would drop it… 😉

Anyhow after a while I realized that the Sim Card cover flap kept slowly open, every single time I close the flap it kept on popping open very slowly. The most annoying thing was it slowly pops open after 20 mins every single time I closed it.

Below is a close up picture I took for this issue…

Closing the Sim Card flap

After 20 Mins… 

Another side-close up of before and after 20 mins…

I was sick worried about this issue, I thought it would get fixed after sometime , but it didn’t. Then also it hit me that when I first opened the box I saw that this same flap had popped out, but I didn’t take it to much consideration as I had just opened the box and it popped out only after 20 mins. I was wondering whether this phone is also one of those defected phones that Sony had release…

Thankfully, it was fixed… 😀

So the next day I took it to Dialcom, they checked it and cleaned the cover flap with some liquid, which surprisingly fixed it. They said that this happens to most of the Xperia models when they are right out of the factory, and it’s not a big issue whereas it only occurs due to some oil liquid being contacted with the flap during the manufacturing.

So keep in mind, if you are buying this phone, when you first open up the box and any of the Sim card or SD card cover flaps are popped out open, then make sure to inform them and get the flaps cleaned up. So that you won’t go through the same burden I went through…

Oh well now it works perfectly… 🙂 Thanks Dialcom for saving me from a heart attack. But I’m still a bit skeptical whereas this is also one from the defected stock Sony has released. Therefore I will keep a careful watch and update this post.

Conclusion

Now that was my entire experience with before and after buying this phone… Yes ! I’m literally in love with this phone, and I gotta tell you this is one of the best smartphones I have ever experienced.

If you are like me, who doesn’t prefer bigass screen phones, then this is definitely the Smartphone you should go for… pretty sure you will not regret it.. 😉
CHEERS ! 😀

After the Graduation Ceremony… ^_^

Yeeeeei ! 😀 Graduated as a BEng(Hons) Software Engineering with a blast on the stage ! 😉

that moment when they called “W.U.A. Alwis”, the next thing I know, I jumped on to the stage shouting out and while leaving the stage shouted out saying to the whole audience “Amma, I’m a Graduate !” (Mom, I’m a Graduate !) One of the best moments of my entire life… 😀

Oh well everyone was acting like robots and walking across the stage 😛 So I thought of doing something truly Human and Fun, most of all it was my moment to cherish ! 😀 hehe xD

Very well it has been an extraordinary, amazing and epic journey throughout last 4 years at APIIT Sri Lanka ! Specially my Mother who believed in me since the beginning, when I told her I needed to achieve my dream without wasting time going around like everyone else.. and my Father who supported me from the fullest in everything ! Thank you ❤ !

I honestly had the best time of my life back at APIIT, with all the crazy fun and incredible hard work… I would say I rebranded myself there.. 😀 It was a place where I was pushed to realize nothing was impossible, and recognize my hidden strengths and move forwards… Also I was truly lucky to have such an epic bunch of friends ! I really love you guys and will surely miss yol 😀 !

Finally but not least I would like to Thank all the Lecturers who guided us all the way to achieve this amazing achievement.. Thank you all ! 😀

Oh yeeeeeeeeeee xD Lalalaaaaaaaa 😀 ^_^

Just a moment before the Graduation…. ;)

And the day is finally here, officially

Graduating in BENG(Hons) Software Engineering (Second Class First Division) ! xD

Reminds me of the very humble beginning of this dream, when I decided to drop off from my A/Ls Mathematics stream after 6 months of time waste…

When I decided to chase my dream, my passion for technology and innovation, that desperate need of achieving my goal…

Whereas most of my school friends got rid of me thinking that I’m a loser to skip the time waste of A/Ls and jump start my Undergraduate studies, even though they didn’t even know the meaning of what a “Degree” was back then ! 😛 (Seriously everyone thought, I was doing a computer diploma even though I tried to explain that I’m studying for a degree lol) When they were going for Tuition classes I was going for undergraduate Lectures, which I still remember most of them ignored me even in the buses ! 😀 lol

Well after all the hard work and incredible journey of over 3 years end, while my old school friends are still doing CIMA, SIM and all the typical lame courses you do when you waste your life with A/Ls, and trying to find their way… here I am,

Right after my final exams, I got recruited as

a Software Engineer by one of the top IT companies in Sri Lanka just by the age of 21, earning piles of money each month since then, and living my Dream to the fullest ! ^_^

Never underestimate the power of a passionate crazy Dreamer ! 😉

YES I DID IT ! 😀

You… the people have the Power !

the Kingdom of God is within Man !
not one Man or a group of Men…
but in All Men !
in You !
You… the people have the Power,
the power to create Machines !
the power to create Happiness !
You… the people have the Power,
to make this life Free and Beautiful !
to make this life a Wonderful Adventure !

(extracted from, The Great Dictator)

The amazing journey I had as a Microsoft Student Partner..

I always loved building things, and solving problems, which is one of the reasons why I got into Software Development in my early higher studies. I would always look at any problem or requirement, and try to come up with a solution to fix them, with my passion for technology, even if I’m not able to solve it I would seek out and self-learn the knowledge and skills required.

I remember back in the day, around the end of my 1st year in University, when I was a self-taught Java code junkie, building cool little scripts, software tools and apps while sharing them among my friends and fellow students for fun, well for the sheer joy of building things and fixing problems. 😉

Around the same time, I stumbled into a senior fellow, Nisal “Cheezy”, who’d later become a good friend of mine, who heard of my work around the campus and introduced me into the world of Microsoft. So I was a bit skeptical in the beginning, given my inspiration towards Open Source Software movement where I started off of my enthusiasm.

So I attended few student work shops hosted by Microsoft Sri Lanka and I was stunned, well you could even say I was hooked. The next thing I know, I self taught .NET framework and started building things off of C#, given the amount of free tools and support they have for the University students those days. 😀

Since then I went down a journey that would inspire my whole career, from being an enthusiastic college kid to a Software Engineering professional. So here’s me sharing a bit of that journey to mark a remarkable turning point of my life…

One of the first few workshops for Students I attended was at the Microsoft Sri Lanka office, which was led by Mr. Wellington, Uditha and Malin, this was around May, 2012 as I recall…

Those workshops and demonstrations were truly incredible learning opportunities I’ve ever had, where the presenters and instructors were well experienced and very welcoming of us.

The Microsoft App Sunday was a workshop and a full day hackathon program that was hosted by Microsoft Sri Lanka, around October, 2012, which I believe they continued on for several months. This was really fun!

Oh that guy in Blue T-Shirt on the right side photo is me! xD

We were hand picked by the Student Ambassadors at the time, from different universities and we’d spend our whole Sunday at the Microsoft Sri Lanka office, with free food, snacks and drinks, building awesome Windows Phone and Windows 8 Store Apps. 😀

Early 2013 I got involved in organizing these Microsoft Student workshops in my own University as well… These were the days of Windows 8 hype!

APIIT Windows 8 App Fest was one of those initiatives that I was part of, sharing the awesomeness of latest Microsoft tech among fellow students…

Microsoft Student Champs is something that definitely needs mentioning here, where Microsoft Sri Lanka office hosted these monthly meetups for University students for free, to come together as a student community, and share knowledge and experience, gaining insights from industry experts.

Microsoft Student Champs: https://www.facebook.com/studentchamps

That’s the little meeting room that these monthly meetups were held, so much wonderful memories right here, lots of friendships formed and connections across universities all over Sri Lanka.

Even I got the opportunity to present some of my self taught expertise in Windows Phone App development… 😀

Oh yeah goodie bags from Microsoft for coming forward and presenting was my all times favorites! 😉 lol

This was an incredible opportunity for us as students to share our knowledge and expertise with the rest of the student community and improve our presentation skills!

Then next big achievement was, around June 2013, when I was appointed for a Microsoft Student ambassadorship under the Student Partnership program, in recognition of my contribution to the student community as a fellow student.

News article: https://www.readme.lk/sri-lankan-msps-appointed/

That right there are some of my fellow Student Partners from my University at the time. Good friends, good times!

This wonderful opportunity only propelled me further sharing knowledge and experience where I continued on my passionate journey. One of those memorable events was Infotel 2013 where we got to volunteer for the Microsoft stall with our expertise of Windows Phone!

This was an awesome event, we as students had quite a lot of fun, and had a lot networking opportunities showcasing our skills and passion.

One of the best things ever happened to me was, being inspired to build over 30 Windows Phone Apps and published them on Microsoft Store, gaining over 160,000 users across the world… 😀

Not only that, I even managed to build a whole bunch of Windows Store Apps for Windows 8 as well. My Windows 8 Store App Development Projects : https://theconfuzedsourcecode.wordpress.com/2013/11/11/my-windows-8-store-app-development-projects/

This is something I really enjoyed connecting a worldwide audience through the Apps that you have built by yourself, knowing that out there people are using stuff that you’ve built!

Well my official Microsoft Student Partnership came to an end in mid 2014, since I graduated from my University. But all in all, this entire journey had a massive effect in my Software Engineering career. I’ve gained so much knowledge and expertise thanks to the Microsoft Student Champs initiative, while making a whole bunch of friends and wonderful memories.

So once again thank you Microsoft for this incredible opportunity, and for Mr. Wellington who lead this entire program during the time. This is one of the most remarkable opportunities I had ever stumbled upon as a Student, for that I will forever be grateful, and I hope you guys keep on inspiring many more students like my myself. Cheers!