Women in Open Source Tech Roundup: June, July, August, and September 2019

Image credits: luizclas from Pexels

Open source, though founded on the principles of transparency and community, has faced criticism for the lack of diversity and inclusion. For example, a GitHub survey carried out in 2017 featuring open source developers and contributors found a stark gender imbalance - only a mere 3% of respondents were women, out of 95%!

Thankfully, things have been changing for several years now, with organizations stepping up to change the status quo and offer training and opportunities for more female engineers and developers, and recognize their vital contribution to the open source community.

That’s why back in March this year, we at WSO2 started our “Women in Open Source Tech” campaign to turn the spotlight on the many interesting stories and journeys of the women behind our open source technology. You can read more about our motivation behind this project here.

33% of our workforce is comprised of women and these blogs and videos are your chance to get to know them better.

Kavishka Fernando

An engineer. That’s all that Kavishka has ever aspired to be. Initially, she wanted to become an aeronautical engineer, but because her family wasn’t too keen on the idea of her joining a male-dominated industry, she opted to become a software engineer instead. Today, she’s working in the API management team at WSO2. Kavishka’s constantly inspired by the women at WSO2 - by their brilliance, hard work, and their ability to get anything and everything done!

Some interesting facts about Kavishka:

• New Zealand is on my travel bucket list
• If I could meet a famous person, that would be Beyoncé
• If I weren’t a software engineer, I’d be a singer or music producer

Maheshika Goonetilleke

Maheshika works in the engineering efficiency team at WSO2. Having worked in the open source tech industry for over 7 years, what Maheshika likes about open source is the community she gets to interact with and the sharing of knowledge. Apart from that, her biggest career principles are integrity, efficiency (of course), and acceptance.

Some interesting facts about Maheshika:

• Northern Lights in Finland is on my travel bucket list
• If I could meet a famous person, that would be Julia Roberts
• If I weren’t a software engineer, I’d be a chef

Malithi Edirisinghe

A member of the identity and access management (IAM) team and an IAM evangelist at WSO2, Malithi describes her time here as a massive learning experience. Malithi believes that it’s sheer curiosity that has propelled her career and allowed her to grow professionally. She’s a self-starter and self-learner and is grateful to her family for backing her up always.

Some interesting facts about Malithi:

• Switzerland is on my travel bucket list
• If I could meet a famous person, that would be Dan Brown
• If I weren’t a software engineer, I’d be a violinist

Sharon David

"If I succeed in what I do, then the company I work for will also succeed," is Sharon’s professional mantra. Sharon’s been working in the tech industry for over 10 years, mainly as a UX designer. She says that compared to a decade ago, when the percentage of girls working in the industry was minute, she’s witnessed an increasing number of girls joining the industry. When Sharon’s not doing the best she can do at work, she loves singing, playing the organ and drums, and spending time with her kids.

Some interesting facts about Sharon:

• Switzerland is on my travel bucket list
• If I could meet a famous person, that would be Mr. Bean
• If I weren’t a software engineer, I’d be an architect

You can also read the March roundup and the April and May roundup.

Thank you as always to teammates Ishara and Vidyas, for interviewing, recording, and editing behind the scenes.

Most importantly - if you’re interested in taking part in this project or know someone who’s got a story worth sharing - get in touch with us. Email [email protected] and [email protected]. We’re always happy to hear from women in the open source tech industry!