Romesh Malinga Perera

Finding solutions to hard problems is one of my hobbies, since childhood. This led me towards being an engineer and researcher. I chose computer science and engineering as my career path, due to the growing impact it has on everyone. My life goal is to be in a place, where my code, my research, and my problem-solving skills make a positive impact on a large population around the world.

Having my school education from Maris Stella College, I was selected to the University of Moratuwa with the best A/L results in my school. I was able to be the batch 5th in the first-year field-selection examination at the University of Moratuwa, competing with over 700 best minds in Sri Lanka. I chose Computer Science and Engineering, to fulfil my dream to be a part of the digital disruption happening all around the globe. I completed my PhD on “Use of Reinforcement Learning in Self-tuning Database Physical Design Structures under Dynamic and Unexplored Workloads” from the University of Melbourne.

I completed my industrial training in WSO2 Lanka (Pvt) Ltd (9 months). I worked in Sysco Labs, Sri Lanka as a member of the data team for around 4.5 years. In Sysco Labs, I was able to lead the Database Engineering team to build multiple large-scale big-data systems. Among them, the Cake Data platform won the 1st runner-up in the ‘Best Technology or Framework Innovation’ at SLASSCOM Innovation Awards 2019. Currently, I work as a Software Engineer, Amazon Web Services (AWS).

I’m passionate about public speaking. I started public speaking from the days I was at the University of Moratuwa, through the Gavel Club of the University of Moratuwa. I Joined Negombo Toastmasters Club in December 2015 and then Sysco Lab’s Toastmasters. I have won many speaking competitions and held various positions (VP Education, VP Public Relations, etc.) on the executive committee. At the University of Melbourne, I worked as the Communications Officer in Computing and Information Systems Graduate Research Students (CIS-GReS) and as the Co-President of the Sri Lankan Graduates’ Society (SLGS), University of Melbourne.