Dharshana Kasun Warusavitharana shares his story of following his dreams to pursue his career through open and distance learning at the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL). He discusses how Jack Ma found success after many failures, and encourages students to stay hungry, work hard, and take opportunities to learn from failures. He provides advice on how to be competitive through seeking opportunities at OUSL and beyond, setting challenging targets, developing a personal brand, and having fun along the way.

1. Follow your dreams
Dharshana Kasun Warusavitharana
Make your career

2. Who Am I , Why i'm here today
You will see …….
Let me share you my story

3. Who you are ??
As I See you

4. I know what's in your mind…...
But have a look

5. He is Jack Ma
Founder and CEO Alibaba Group
"I even went to KFC when it came to
my city. Twenty-four people went for
the job. Twenty-three were accepted.
I was the only guy ..."
Failed 3 times in college entrance exam
Failed more than 30 Job interviews
World E-commerce giant and Most richest man in China
(Alibaba and AliPay)

6. Are you DREAMING ,Have vision of life

7. Common Question as a child
Who you wanna be when you grow up??
What was your answer

8. My earliest answer as i remember

9. What makes your dreams realistic
● Education with proper direction.
● Experience.
● Dedication Hard work and determination (You need lot of this).
● Ability to make decisions.
● Ability to not depend on anyone to find your dream job in your
dream place.

10. Who Am I Today
Feels Proud?? “Yes I Am”

11. What OUSL-FET means to me
A second chance to persuade my dreams
And become who am i today

12. Why am i need a degree

13. What Industry expects from you
● Will confidence and passion alone would work.
○ Might be id this is 50s but this is 2015.
● Will be expert in tech bubbles help you.
○ Ok best of luck.
● Be a good worker and find out life time work place
○ I don't think so :)
● Going for startup
○ Good but you need to have experiance first

14. My Main Advice :)
Original Idea is a Book by Rashmi Bansal

15. Stay Hungry ,Stay Foolish
● Never ever Copy assignments.
● Never ever cheat on projects/mini projects.
● They are golden opportunities to review your self.
● Do research be hungry.
● Familiar with tech bubbles , But don't live on them.
● Select your expert area hit them hard.
● Do failures no one will shoot you
○ I can't do them now
○ Worse thing you will meet is Dr Udugama or
Dr Uditha will cut off some of your marks :)
○ But you will learn.

16. Adapt to Culture , It's different But it's FUN
● Open and Distance education
○ It's not that distance but it's way open.
○ Opportunities flying around be dare to catch them.
● Supportive community
○ Not only friends but of cause the staff.
○ Help others and get help from others there is plenty to help you.
○ Be participate in group activities and discussions.
■ They helped me a lot
● Be social help to build university brand
○ Participate events.
○ Participate and build up community around your interested areas.
■ Ex - FOSS@OUSL
■ I have a story to tell.

17. How to be competitive
● Seek for opportunities There is plenty around you in OUSL
○ CSSOUSL – Computer Science Society of the Open University of Sri Lanka
○ Be a Microsoft Student Partner
○ Meet ups: PHP, Selenium, UX, Java Colombo, MongoDB
○ Forums : .NET, SQL Server, IT Pro
● Hit your limits with
○ Robotics – IESL, SLIIT.
○ Google Summer of Codes.
○ Imagine Cup – Microsoft.
○ Entrepreneurship – Spiralation, MIT- GSL, Young Entrepreneur Challenge.

18. How to be competitive
● Seek for opportunities There is plenty around you in OUSL
○ CSSOUSL – Computer Science Society of the Open University of Sri Lanka
○ Be a Microsoft Student Partner
○ Meet ups: PHP, Selenium, UX, Java Colombo, MongoDB, Cloud meetup
○ Forums : .NET, SQL Server, IT Pro
● Hit your limits with
○ Robotics – IESL, SLIIT.
○ Google Summer of Codes.
○ Imagine Cup – Microsoft.
○ Entrepreneurship – Spiralation, MIT- GSL, Young Entrepreneur Challenge.

19. Have hard targets Die for achieve them
● Complete degree with first class in minimal
years.
● Keep eye on awards.
○ Best ERU publication Gold Medal.
○ Best Student.
○ Best Project.
○ Scholarships.
● Publish research paper and present it.

20. Makeup your personal brand
● Have a blog maintain it update it.
● Be a contributor in StackOverflow industry will notice you.
● Be with professional groups ex- Linkedin
● Keep updated
○ Ted Talks is a good source
○ Follow Slideshare you will get lot.
● Be part in competitions (GSOC, IEEE, Microsoft)
● Try things by yourself tweet on it Blog it, Make noice.

21. Have fun , Lot of fun , Hmmm ok keep your limits :)

22. Questions?
Thank You