Here’s our transcript of an interview with Bhanuka Gamage, Lead Machine Learning Engineer at Staple! He explains what drew him to Staple, an AI company headquartered in Singapore, what its like being able to work remotely, and his choice of the best places to visit in Sri Lanka.

1. Before working at Staple, what was the most unusual or interesting job you’ve ever had?

While studying at Monash University Malaysia, I co-founded a student feedback system (UReview) for the School of IT. The system allowed students to provide a response on a course unit and upvote specific issues, which could then be discussed by other students in the review post. After pitching the project at a campus-wide Hackathon, I saw the potential of student growth to effect significant change in an institution and also received funding from the school as a student-run initiative to develop this software further.

Applying what I had learned from this experience has shaped my understanding that it’ll take much more than just an idea to build a successful startup — it takes commitment from those who use the solution and belief in its value proposition before adoption will spread organically.

2. What is the favourite part about working for Staple?

My favorite part about working with Staple is that it’s an awesome startup and I truly enjoy getting to work with such a nice and close-knit team. Since we’re an international team, we don’t have any set hours of work for any of us regardless of where we may be located in the world since we understand that schedules tend to vary from person to person regardless of if they even belong to the same continent. Since I live in Sri Lanka, I get to work on my project during typical working hours until around 4. These flexible hours give me ample free time to spend time with friends and family after work and take care of my hobbies like photography and mountain biking, instead of rushing home hurriedly.

3. What would you do (for a career) if you weren’t doing this?

In an alternate reality where I was allowed to choose a different career path I wished to take, I may have entered the civil engineering field in order to help my father with his company.

4. How do you define success?

Defining success and what it really means may sometimes be difficult to understand at first. I personally see my definition of success as having the ability to enjoy the moments with those you love, as well as doing anything you feel truly passionate about daily. It is important to remember that as long as you live true to yourself and your values, working hard, and making things happen is what success really all boils down to.

As inspirational people like to say, “don’t take life too seriously — you won’t make it out alive.” If you are passionate about something, hold on tight to that passion. It will help you achieve the level of success you are looking for if you never let go.

5. What was your favorite project at staple

My favorite project that I’m working on right now is improving Staple’s feedback system to be more effective. It is a tedious process but I’ve been working on the project for approx. the past month or so. Scaling up its operation while keeping it reliable can be challenging at times, but I’m excited to make it even better through the lessons learned. But so far so good! We’ve already managed to receive positive feedback from clients and employees alike.

6. Who/What inspired you to pursue the career you have today?

It was my parents. They got me a computer when I was young and I always enjoyed working on it — dismantling, cleaning, fixing. When I was young, they noticed how intrigued I was by computers and they knew that there was something special about this for me — almost like an unconscious spark that began to flare up at this point in time during my childhood. My professors knew about my passion for computing so they suggested I check out Stanford University’s CS231n Course — Convolutional Neural Networks for Visual Recognition. It totally blew my mind! This inspired me to dive deep into machine learning and image recognition.

7. What skill do you think everyone should learn?

I strongly believe people need to express themselves. Not everyone knows how to do this effectively, but it is really important because I believe everyone should love to learn, be challenged by their work, and have a healthy curiosity that can take them places they never imagined.

8. Place one must visit in Sri Lanka?

If you want some adventure but also some seclusion, the Horton Plains loop is your ticket to happiness.​​The trek to the world’s end and back is breathtaking and one of the most relaxing things you can do as it allows you to take in the beauty of nature and clear your mind.

9. How long have you worked at Staple and why did you choose Staple?

I’ve been with Staple for almost a year now, and I’ve always been fascinated by its unique user-centered approach to solving the problem of document extraction. Being the biggest company for document extraction in South East Asia, I was curious to understand what it is that actually makes Staple’s product so successful. When I examined their model closer, it turns out Staple has come up with a unique user-centric solution to an everyday challenge and I wanted to join forces with them to help increase their success. Meeting Josh and Ben, the co-founders, and understanding their vision, path, and enthusiasm for this project motivated me to want to join them in this adventure. I believe Staple, being enhanced by modern technology will continue to move forward at a fast pace soon becoming the market leader in South East Asia.

LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhanukagamage/

Github — https://github.com/bhanukaManesha

Website — https://bhanukagamage.com

About Staple :

Staple AI develops cognitive technologies to read, interpret and extract data from a range of documents regardless of layout or language which in turn saves thousands of hours on those tedious tasks if performed manually.

Find out more about Staple’s cutting-edge innovation, visit the website at www.staple.ai or email us for details hello@staple.io.

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