Shan Wijenayaka

My passion for coding ignited around the age of 15, where I devoted hours post-school to creating small desktop applications using VB.NET and Age of Empire, tinkering with Raspberry Pi devices, and experimenting with dual-booting my Windows computer with various Linux distributions that I received on CDs. During my teenage years, this keen interest expanded into designing websites using Django for local businesses and individuals.

Motivated by this early enthusiasm, I pursued a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science at University College Dublin, where I graduated with Second Class Honors (Upper Division) in 2018. Starting from my second year, I balanced a full-time job alongside my full time degree program while also achieving certification as an Oracle Certified Java Developer. This certification grounded me in Core Java, covering Object-Oriented Programming, Data Structures, and Java Concurrency. This phase of my education not only honed my skills in programming and core concepts of Computer Science but also instilled a robust sense of resilience and an ability to manage multiple responsibilities simultaneously.

My professional career commenced at Omobio PVT LTD, Which provided B2B services (SaaS, PaaS) to third-party customers who were giants in Asia-Pacific telecommunications sector, including Axiata Group, Airtel and Vodafone. Collaborating closely with an experienced architect, I co-developed the Robi USSD Recommendation Engine using Golang (which later became my favorite programming language), Python, and React. This project was designed to support a substantial daily active user base of 140 million, enhancing my skills in scaling applications and optimizing performance for large-scale systems.

Not just in Golang, I was also involved in developing the Dialog Axiata MyDialog app, and later led the project for Mobitel Selfcare with two interns. During this time, I delved into technologies such as React Native, Django, NodeJS and master Java Spring Boot, AWS Cloud services, and the essential implementation of CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins, the whole SDLC process. I also learned about idempotency the hard way in payment platforms, and was directly involved with our customers in good and bad days of our projects. After all, Omobio was a significant milestone in my career. These projects paved the way for me to become the developer I am today.

Subsequently, at Sysco and later at Wiley, I deepened my understanding of large-scale enterprise software implementations, lean agile principles and had the privilege of work shoulder to shoulder and learn from some of the finest engineers in Sri Lanka. These experiences sharpened my abilities in leading, designing, and executing significant technological initiatives including Sysco Cake Platform (Later this was acquired by MadMobile) and Wiley's Wiley Educational Platform, where I gain the experienced distributed well design architecture principles, and the importance of testing (TDD) and monitoring in production environments.

Before the onset of geopolitical difficulties in Sri Lanka in early 2022, I moved to Singapore and joined Chope Group, Who welcomed me to Singapore, At Chope I again got the opportunity work with my favorite golang. About a year later, I transitioned to TP ICAP, a gient in both conservative trading and Fintech. Over the past year, I have played a pivotal role in developing a cutting-edge fintech platform known as Matchbook for the non-derivative international trading markets including currency swaps, Basic, well you name it.

Today, as a Senior Full Stack Software Engineer with exactly 7 years and 4 months of experience across a variety of settings—from startups to large-scale enterprise environments—I have worked on everything from enterprise-grade, large microservice platforms written in Java and Go, to React micro frontends and Node Express BFFs, and even medium-sized Django monoliths. With a curiosity to learn and build things from a young age, I am deeply committed to continual learning and growth. Recently, through exposure to the Singapore Fintech industry, I have developed a keen interest in the DeFi, Web3, and cryptocurrency sectors. I am actively self-studying blockchain technologies—coursera, Edx, you name it—and am eagerly awaiting the start of a Master of Science in Computer Science, specializing in Artificial Intelligence (Part time), at NUS this coming August. My career is fueled by dedication, adaptability, and a drive to tackle complex technological challenges.

Each day offers fresh challenges and the chance to learn something new and excel.