Our alumni Hemaka Goonetilleke: You don't need to know everything, just be willing to learn

Hemaka Goonetilleke was not supposed to come to Finland in the first place.

The young man had applied to study in several different countries and had already confirmed his place of study in the United States. However, his father suggested that he should choose Finland and Tampere University of Applied Sciences instead.

– I didn't know anyone who had moved to study in Finland. However, I heard so many good things about Finland and its education system that I finally decided to come here, he says.

In autumn 2019, Goonetilleke started studying environmental engineering at TAMK. The international course had students from Italy, Lebanon, Vietnam and Estonia, among others.

At TAMK, Goonetilleke encountered a positive culture shock. In his home country of Sri Lanka, he was used to teachers expecting him to know all the answers. Here you could ask the teachers if you didn't know or understand something.

– The best thing about studying was that the teachers were so friendly and approachable. We even got to give them feedback after the course and they took it. This was all completely new to me.

Another thing that Goonetilleke praises in TAMK's environmental engineering studies is the practicality. The teachers had practical work experience and know-how, which they shared with the students.

Goonetilleke admits that he had not fully understood the difference between a Finnish university of applied sciences and an academic university beforehand. After the demanding high school studies in Sri Lanka, the schoolwork seemed too easy at first.

– After all I realized that practical studies would be the most useful for me in the future. I learned things at school that you can't learn from books.

Almost 70 job applications

At the end of his third year of study, Goonetilleke realized that he had to find a job in Finland if he wanted to settle down here. At the same time, Finland had started to feel more and more like home.

– Finland and its people have taught me a lot and changed me as a person. I have learned to love the values ​​and life here. I didn't want to move anywhere else anymore, he says.

At first, Goonetilleke thought of only applying for jobs in the field of environmental engineering. However, there were only a few open positions in the field and they often required fluent Finnish language skills.

– I contacted people in the industry and asked what I should do and what kind of positions I could apply for. In the end, I applied for a total of almost 70 different jobs.

Persistence was rewarded and Goonetilleke was offered the position of Compliance Engineer at the crane manufacturer Konecranes – first as a trainee and thesis worker, later as a permanent employee.

In his work at Konecranes, Goonetilleke is responsible for the documentation that deals with product risk assessment of harbor cranes. He is also involved in development projects related to sustainability and reducing emissions.

Goonetilleke had thought that he should know everything and be the best at everything so that he could get a job in Finland. That's why he was surprised when he was offered a job in a field he hadn't even studied.

– Afterwards, I asked my supervisor why he hired me. The answer was that I was eager to learn, curious, flexible and ready to take on challenges. The most important thing was not certain skills, but an open mind.

”I want to learn as much as I can”

In the future, Goonetilleke would like to stay in Finland and build his life here. He is now learning the Finnish language in order to learn to speak it fluently.

Later, Goonetilleke would also like to study more. Right now, however, he wants to develop his skills in industry and find out what would be really useful for him.

– My future goal is to learn as much as I can. Whatever I do, I want to do it as well as I can and learn more about it, he summarizes.