Let us move forward to 2019 together : Recap of 2018

It is nearly one year, from my last feed "2017: A year to remember" where still I didn't complete my second part of that series. but here I come back with the kind of recap of 2018. And I can give you a promise I will be written at least one post which can be a technical one which I explain some technical things or about an event I participated or at least one of my life incident and what I learned from that. mostly it will be in the third week of the month. Let us see how things go.

And what I like to share in here is what happened to me in the last 12 months and did I achieve anything or lose anything. let us start from the month of January which is pretty awesome for me. try to attend some Microsoft azure meetups and try to learn and do some projects on that but for me, Amason web services are pretty simple and developer friendly while we compared to this Azure services. other than this we celebrated a Tamil festival in our university (Kelaniya) for the very first time and it is a very much successful one event. 

A group of us in the Thaipongal Festival.

And one more thing that started in the mid of January and goes up to the end of February is "Explore SriLanka 12.0" for those who don't know what is that, it is one of the AIESEC projects which is undertaken by the AIESEC in Colombo North, So me and another person is selected as the Team leaders where we want to saw the beauty of Sri Lanka to the volunteers who visiting Srilanka. but the other person who is selected as the team leader is giving up and all the responsibilities come to me. and the volunteers come from different countries such as India, Vietnam, Egypt, Indonesia, Poland, UAE, and the list goes like that. while traveling with them I noticed what are the struggles a backpacker facing while he/she is traveling in Sri Lanka and how the people react for outsiders. and these experiences influence in some of the acts I do in the later of this year.  

And this project opens the door to find the peoples mentality of different parts of the world as we are there in the same house for nearly 45 days. but the end of the project is not a happy one, I got some fights with the AIESEC of Colombo north and after successfully finished the project I left AIESEC. But still, I am with contact with all the people who traveled Sri Lanka with me. as this project goes up to the end of February nothing special happened in February 

The very first photo we take with a part of Explore Sri Lanka Team

March it is like the resting month of the year after finishing the project as well as having some problem with the head team I want a pretty long gap so I used this month for that and also I am in the situation of facing my semester examination. so that nothing big happened on that month 

April is the month where Yarl Geek Challenge Juniors stared. and if you know me well you must know I am the one who never misses any program which is organized by the Yarl It Hub because it is where I learned and still learning many things. for preparation of them, one of the videos created by me is shared with the students about how to use Wordpress: you can check that here :p and the main thing is it takes nearly 2 full weeks for creating that less than 5 mins video. so a huge salute for those making video content, and this is the point I got interested in the video content making.

May and June both the months are like traveling to North and Colombo. for the YGC and in the mid of June the grand finale of YGC juniors happened to be frank even I can't do what those school kids do it and presented. <3

The final picture of YGC juniors

July is the month of emotions which taught me some very hard lessons and also make me face some of the true situations in the ground during an event we organized in the university, which is called Mathugai. This is a Tamil cultural event we organized in our university where the Tamils are like only 100 to 150 students. and this month spends with the preparation and other things of mathugai.

Click on Mathugai

Parliamentarians without borders for children rights this is what all about August, i was lucky to attend the workshop aka conference where parliamentarians from different countries like India, Nepal, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Srilanka, Norway and etc come and discuss how they can protect the child rights in their countries and I am lucky to attend that conference as  a technical advisor to tell how the technology can help the child rights. and from this one, I got different level of networking and knowledge.

And after this until now my life is like this : 

when I travel with my friends around we always find problems and while we gossiping with ourself we find the solutions for those problems ( The Happy face )  and when we apply it to real-world scenarios they are like ultra failers. ( The sad Face) But anyhow we are not ready to give up the things so easily so the end of 2018 is giving us some positive sides from my clients by the emails and messages like these: v 

And these positive feedbacks also make channels to us to get a regular income for 2019 which could cover my travel expenses in 2019 so hope will travel to more places in 2019. Let us see.

By the way when we talk about traveling 2018 was a great year for me in the perspective of traveling nearly travel around the Srilanka once again in this year.

Places I visited in 2018

So overall 2018 is a good year for me. Not a great and also not a bad. Earned a lot of friends, Get some enemies. Learned many new things, Do some crazy shits, but still live.
Some new announcements on the way on my next Blog post. See you then. Byeeeee

Siva.

Read More

2017 : A year to remember - Part 1

I did not do many things in 2017, to be frank, 2017 was one of the worst year :(. when I steed into 2017 I was planned to do many things but I didn't do 95% of what I thought. on the other hand, I was do something that I never thought of doing.

Sorry, This is the first thing I want to ask so many people because I destroyed the faith in me with HackerCG, Billboard.lk and some other projects which I planned to do in this year and still not do them. And let us see a quick recap of 2017 and how it help me to step forward.

January

• The year starts with the launch of yathusha's BackPackTrips. and yathu start to write the very first article "A Journey to Remember" but unfortunately due to my laziness the website goes down after two or three months :( ( Sorry +Yathusha Ulakentheran for this I promise you to up the site on 2018)
• Yarl IT Hub's first meetup on 2017 which is all about leadership where I learnt some cutting edge things ( Mainly the importance of communication and how to communicate with different sets of people) as well as made some new contacts like Randhula (P.S: If you want some good contacts then attend a Yarl IT Hub meetup ) 

• 2017 gives a great start for HackerCG and personally to me also. HackerCG was inboard as a media partner with HackIT 2k17 which was the biggest CTF competition in 2017 and for personally, I am able to gain access to some high profile individuals in the security industry. And also we released the first video production of HackerCG team.(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5lnj-6fLi4)
  
  
  

  

  The HackerCG Crew at the HackIT 2k17

• "HCGCON" was planned in this month but still it is not happing. try to do this at various time but not worked out. but I have still the hope to do that in 2018. but until that it is one of the failed projects I started.

February

• February starts with a tour "Freedom special Boat safari"(on the independence day) for the first time I and my friends go for a boat safari in Madu river. It was a superb experience for all of us. we made some very nice friends on that trip. after that, on 5th of Feb, we spent the day by walking around Kandy and seeing some nice places. 

The Final photo :P Jumping moment 

• A long train journey with the one i love <3 yes for the very first time we travel a long distance together.

புகைவண்டிக் கண்ணாடியில் கண்ணம் சாய்த்து தூங்கும் பெண்கள் அழகோ அழகு .  

March

• I am from a big family with many siblings but due to work (Not for me) and other things we rarely have some family times. but this month starts with a family time where we all get together and have some very good family time.

The family <3

• "Thonma-Yathirai" this is organized by a group of people in Jaffna where people go to a place and communicate with the locals and know about the tradition of the place and about their food. for over one year they are doing it in Jaffna. but luckily I got the change to participate one of them in this month. and from this, i could able to learn about the sea and the local people behavior around the seaside. and most importantly it expand my networking circle from the digital to other areas

April

• Starts with Two Hikes :) Ella and Little Adam's peak with my super cool friends from BackPackedTrips.

When we start to hike on our own

• The launch of Uki: Stepping stone to tech life one of the initiatives by Yarl IT Hub. what I love is the concept and also one of my friend Thuvarakan in the first batch.( Now he is working as an intern in Calcis) 

May

• The launch of "Pandagraph". The startup of my friend Thuva which is for graphic design and video productions.I always get goosebumps when my friends start something new other than my own startups. 

• Yarl Geek Challenge: Juniors officially stated and delivering / Guiding some students to make their products. 4 years back I was in the students' seat someone from YIT guide me and now I am guiding some and 4 years later they will guide some this is how YIT works <3 always love to be a part of it. 
• Launch of this blog Siva Feed to write my experience and thoughts but this is the third post ( so this also comes under the failed one ) 
• Spent a full evening in UKI and also had the change to participate in their Gaval club, and to be frank I am surprised by the teamwork and the confidence they have. 
• First full night program of 2017 Google I/O learn many things from here. In the morning spent the day with the Senzmate exhibition booth and in the night with the I/O where get to know about many new things in google and excited to the maximum level.

On the goodbye time of Google I/O

Will continue the other six in the next article... 

Read More

"Not a fan of meetups? Here is why you should."

One way to meet new people, to make friends or practice your social skills, is going to meetups and conferences.

Over the last six months, I've gone to a dozen of Meetups, conferences, and events met some fun people who later turned out to be my friends. I haven't created or run any groups myself, yet I see how that have potential. This article will share what I've learned.

The first problem you face in the meetups are colleagues; there are always elder people in the groups but no peers. From the meetups, I have attended I rarely saw teenagers. But I never worried about the social dynamics of meetups. Some of the events I participated are big where everyone circulates and mingles at a pub. Other activities are smaller and more activity-focused, like five people getting together to go for a hike. Below I'll focus on the bigger meet-and-greet type, but some of the ideas will apply to the smaller ones as well. But definitely, you get at least five new friends from every meetup you attend. Sometimes they will be CEO or CTO's. Pretty much everyone gets nervous before their first meet up or two, ( for me it took up to five meetups ) especially if they're going alone and everyone is new. It's an uncertain, unfamiliar social situation, and it's only natural to feel some anticipatory anxiety. Keep in mind that it will be only for a short time. At smaller meet ups the dynamic will be that of a casual group conversation, and you'll automatically be part of it as soon as you show up. At larger meetups, you need to mingle actively, but the reason everyone's there is to talk to new people, so starting or joining in a conversation is very easy. The simplest way to start talking to a single individual is to introduce yourself. Once the conversation begins you can ease into it by spending a minute or two asking about nothing-fancy topics such as: "Is this your first meet up?" "How long have you been in town?" "Do you work or go to school? / "Where do you work?", "What are you majoring in?" "What kind of stuff do you do for fun?" I If the group is hobby-related, you can ask about your shared interest. Approaching groups are just as straightforward. You can go up and introduce yourself, or saddle up to them, listen to their conversation for a bit, and then chime. From there you can stay in the group discussion, or if it seems appropriate, turn to someone beside you and have a one-on-one chat with them. If you've been at the event for a few hours and have had your fill, of course, it's fine if you want to take off. However, at social meetups, it's not unusual for a smaller group to stick around and decide to go somewhere else after. If you click on them changing venues can be a good way to bond further and feel like you're getting to know each other and are on the road to becoming friends. Memorize these words: "Can I introduce myself?" That's it. Four magic words that will let you start a conversation with anyone, at any tech meetup you'll ever go. I have used this to meet strangers for last six months. No one has ever said no.

Read More

Intro to Siva Feed...

Hi, all. Welcome to my feed. Here I am going to share my own experiences and the projects I made. This is my first feed here, and I am going to elaborate who am I here.

Now I am 20+. Ya still I am a teenager :P I am a computer enthusiast ( I think I am ); I love computers from my very young age, from the age of 7( 2002). The first operating system I used was windows 98, but that was for gaming purpose only, and it went on until I am 17 years. Ya, I didn't have much interest in other computers activities except gaming until I am 17 (2012). At the age of 17, I had the chance to participate in a community meetup conducted Yarl IT Hub, and I think it is in the month of June or July. I went there and seated myself in a corner. I didn't know anyone in that hall so I sit quietly (But that is not my character).

The First meetup ( i am the one behind the Standing JK )

There were some interesting talks and interactive activities happening.

And, I still remember the database session by Mr.K.Preethiviraj

“What is a database? Don’t know? Just think of an army base. In an army base, there are groups of army, like that in a database, there is a group of data”

Mr.K.Preethiviraj On that meetup with that cool T-Shirt

This is an extract he told. I still use this same line to introduce database when someone asks me doubts about databases. Also, he explained about the graph database used by the Facebook (at that time Facebook did not introduce the graph search). Those made me study these myself. Also, he introduced the word hackathon. He used his T-shirt to give an explanation. To be honest, that meetup gave me more knowledge than the classroom study. So I started to dig more into these things. Because I don't like to be a silent listener.
  ( P.S : - After this meetup I never missed any meetup of Yarl IT Hub )

The actual turning point.

After this, I didn’t have any contact with the Yarl IT Hub or its activities. One day, one of my favourite and respected teachers, Mr.R.Kumaran asked me to come and meet another boy. I went to meet him. Our Teacher said, "There is a competition called “Yarl Geek Challenge” happening at TCT ( one of the halls in Jaffna ) and all the schools are being sent there. But no teams have gone from our school. So you two must go and participate in that competition." He is the one I respect most, so I couldn't say no, so reply him “Yes sir “ The other boy also said yes.

( P.S : I am 18 on that time, so my main aim is to cut the subjects and have fun with friends, and also sir indicates all the schools so …………… were also there :P I think you got it )

But when we went there, there were rules which said only 3 individual per team. The other boy had a friend with him, but not me. I left that  team and joined with my two other friends and had some fun. On that time, YIT (Yarl IT hub) arranged a workshop for all the school students about bootstrap (still I use that ). The workshop was crystal clear, I understood every word told at that workshop. After that workshop, we start to have fun.

On that time, Lacksika Akka (one of the YIT member. Akka means – Sister) had asked us about our plan. Actually, we didn’t have a plan. So to hide that we told her that we didn't have a laptop to do. Then she gave her laptop and wished us best of luck. Then we decided to do something and started to do a html page for tourism :P .

At the same time, on the other side of the hall. The competition was being held for seniors (school leavers). Mr.S.Ramanan, one of my best friends brother, was the mentor for that.  At the lunch time, he met me and told,

“If you are participating in a hackathon then your idea must be crazy, and it must be useful also”

So again we erased all our plan and thought of something new. We thought of what to do and the idea came to our mind is the usual thing that happens at our school: head break. So we built an application for that and called it as “E-Service”


My special thanks to google and Ramanan anna (anna means brother) who helped me to complete that application, and by the end of the second day, we went to present it, in front of the judging panel. At that time, I had a deep stage fear, so I didn’t present it in English while others presented it in English. But luckily we got the 1st Price. And I was shocked. Because when I came to the competition I didn't know anything, but in two days I learned and got something from it.
This incident changed me fully. Computer became my passion.

The Group photo after our competition 

After this, I participated many competitions and hackathons. Won some;Lost in some, but I never lost my courage.

Now I am 20+ studying HND in Software development at ICBT, one of the private colleges in Sri Lanka. Also an author of hackercg.com, one of the cyber security blogs.

If you have any questions Feel free me to talk to me on the social media or send a message to my email id sivarathans@gmail.com

Read More