Where engineering meets the people paying for it: sustainability, project management, cost, risk and the responsibility of building things that outlive the spreadsheet. The one course where "it works" is the start of the argument, not the end of it.
ACADEMICS // THE LIBRARY
Courses
Done. Trusted. Recommended.
Every course I have finished, and four I am still in the middle of. Some took a year of past papers. Some took a long lunch.
01 // How to Read the Shelves
Pull Any Book
Every course I have taken, one book each, shelved by where it came from. Click a spine to open it. The certificates are real and kept offline; ask and I will send one.
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Matched sets are exams
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Odd sizes I chose myself
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A ribbon means still reading
02 // The Shelves
Everything I Have Studied
Forty-five books. Four of them still have a bookmark in.
Digital logic and programming, side by side. A-Level Computer Science explained what a processor does with one instruction; this is where I find out how the thing doing it gets designed.
Circuit theory with the hand-waving removed. A-Level Physics made electricity behave; this course makes it answer exactly, on a lab bench that does not accept "roughly".
The third in the series, which is where advanced direct entry drops you in. I skipped parts one and two. Further Mathematics did most of the warning in advance.
Algorithms, data structures, architecture, databases, networking, security and assembly. Debugging was the best teacher: a program does not care how convincing your explanation is. It either survives the input or it does not.
Complex numbers, matrices, differential equations and the kind of calculus that makes you abandon the first obvious method. The subject that made difficulty enjoyable, and made standard Mathematics feel much less intimidating.
Pure mathematics, mechanics and statistics. The language I use everywhere else: moving from a messy question to a clean model, then checking whether the model deserves any trust.
Fields, waves, quantum ideas and practical work, where mathematics stops sitting still. Reality always adds one more variable than the textbook promised.
Algebra, trigonometry, geometry and statistics, applied to problems that came with real numbers in them.
Physics, chemistry and biology in one paper: energy, reactions, ecosystems and the habit of running the experiment before trusting the answer.
Computing fundamentals, databases, spreadsheets and networks. Useful, and also the first time I was graded on a spreadsheet.
Prose, drama and poetry, read for technique, theme and context. Known locally as the hardest O-Level subject, which is a strange reputation for something this enjoyable.
Grammar, comprehension, essay writing and summary, sat as a second language.
Double-entry bookkeeping, management, marketing and how organisations actually spend their money.
Local and global history read from the sources, with a lot of practice arguing for one interpretation over another.
Grammar, comprehension, creative writing and the literary works that carry the language.
Buddhist philosophy, ethics and history, and their influence on Sri Lankan society.
Algorithms, programming, logic gates and data representation, and the first time code had to be right instead of nearly right.
Calculus, functions, trigonometry, circular measure and permutations. The first real taste of the mathematics that came after.
Algebra, geometry, probability and statistics, applied to practical problems and data.
Mechanics, energy, waves, electricity and magnetism, with practical experiments to keep the theory honest.
Bonding, stoichiometry, electrochemistry and organic chemistry, with enough lab work to respect the fume cupboard.
Critical reading, essay writing and comprehension across a wide range of texts.
Short problems on cleaning, reshaping and summarising data in Python. Mostly you, a blank cell, and a test that says no.
How organisations use data about their own people: hiring, retention, performance, and the ethics of measuring any of it.
How to choose an HR system without buying the demo: requirements, vendors, cost and rollout. Mostly a course on asking the right questions before anyone signs.
Design patterns for AI systems that plan and act instead of only answering: agents, tools, orchestration, and where predictive models still fit. Close to the day job.
Timed exercises on reading, transforming and querying data in Python.
Case studies of companies that put AI, IoT, robotics and blockchain to work, and what separated the ones that got value from the ones that got a press release.
Writing tests for code whose output is a number you were not sure about in the first place.
Text preprocessing, embeddings and language models in Python, from raw strings to features a model can learn from.
Building, tuning and evaluating models with scikit-learn, including the unglamorous part where you check whether they work.
Turning notebook analysis into code that runs without its author standing next to it.
asyncio, concurrency and the moment a slow script stops waiting on itself.
Building a small generative language model from the ground up, which is the fastest way to stop treating the big ones as magic.
Speech-to-text and text-to-speech through the OpenAI API, wired into working code.
Sending images to the OpenAI API and getting structured, usable answers back.
Getting to the point in front of people with no time: structure, the ask, and what to leave out.
The classic algorithms side by side: regression, trees, random forests, boosting and SVMs, and when to reach for which.
A short one on writing technical prompts that get technical answers. The title is longer than some of the lessons.
The national exam every child on the Sri Lankan curriculum sits at ten, and the usual way into schools like Ananda College. I was already at Ananda through Grade 1 admissions, sat it anyway, and finished among the highest marks in the school. Ten-year-old me did not see the point of an entrance exam for a school I was already in.
One of four IWMS English exams sat in primary school, before Grade 5. Long before English Literature at O-Level, this is where the reading habit got its first paperwork.
One of four IWMS English exams sat in primary school, before Grade 5. Long before English Literature at O-Level, this is where the reading habit got its first paperwork.
One of four IWMS English exams sat in primary school, before Grade 5. Long before English Literature at O-Level, this is where the reading habit got its first paperwork.
One of four IWMS English exams sat in primary school, before Grade 5. Long before English Literature at O-Level, this is where the reading habit got its first paperwork.
Not on the shelves.
Either I have not taken it yet, or you have just suggested my next course.
03 // The Card Catalogue
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
Every Course, in Writing
The same 45 courses as plain text, drawer by drawer, for anyone who prefers an index to a bookcase.
IHeriot-Watt University
4 courses
Electrical & Electronic Engineering. Four modules, all still being read.
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Vol. I
Sustainable Development and Engineering Management
Where engineering meets the people paying for it: sustainability, project management, cost, risk and the responsibility of building things that outlive the spreadsheet. The one course where "it works" is the start of the argument, not the end of it.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. II
Digital Design and Programming
Digital logic and programming, side by side. A-Level Computer Science explained what a processor does with one instruction; this is where I find out how the thing doing it gets designed.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. III
Circuits and Analysis
Circuit theory with the hand-waving removed. A-Level Physics made electricity behave; this course makes it answer exactly, on a lab bench that does not accept "roughly".
Open on the shelf -
Vol. IV
Mathematics for Engineers and Scientists 3
The third in the series, which is where advanced direct entry drops you in. I skipped parts one and two. Further Mathematics did most of the warning in advance.
Open on the shelf
IICambridge A-Levels
4 courses
Four subjects, both stages, one accelerated year.
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Vol. I
Computer Science
Algorithms, data structures, architecture, databases, networking, security and assembly. Debugging was the best teacher: a program does not care how convincing your explanation is. It either survives the input or it does not.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. II
Further Mathematics
Complex numbers, matrices, differential equations and the kind of calculus that makes you abandon the first obvious method. The subject that made difficulty enjoyable, and made standard Mathematics feel much less intimidating.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. III
Mathematics
Pure mathematics, mechanics and statistics. The language I use everywhere else: moving from a messy question to a clean model, then checking whether the model deserves any trust.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. IV
Physics
Fields, waves, quantum ideas and practical work, where mathematics stops sitting still. Reality always adds one more variable than the textbook promised.
Open on the shelf
IIISri Lanka O-Levels
9 courses
Nine subjects on the national curriculum, sat the year after the Cambridge papers.
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Vol. I
Mathematics
Algebra, trigonometry, geometry and statistics, applied to problems that came with real numbers in them.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. II
Science
Physics, chemistry and biology in one paper: energy, reactions, ecosystems and the habit of running the experiment before trusting the answer.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. III
Information & Communication Technology
Computing fundamentals, databases, spreadsheets and networks. Useful, and also the first time I was graded on a spreadsheet.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. IV
English Literature
Prose, drama and poetry, read for technique, theme and context. Known locally as the hardest O-Level subject, which is a strange reputation for something this enjoyable.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. V
English Language
Grammar, comprehension, essay writing and summary, sat as a second language.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. VI
Business Studies & Accounting
Double-entry bookkeeping, management, marketing and how organisations actually spend their money.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. VII
History
Local and global history read from the sources, with a lot of practice arguing for one interpretation over another.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. VIII
Sinhala Language & Literature
Grammar, comprehension, creative writing and the literary works that carry the language.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. IX
Buddhism
Buddhist philosophy, ethics and history, and their influence on Sri Lankan society.
Open on the shelf
IVCambridge O-Levels
6 courses
The Cambridge set, sat first. The technical base everything after it stands on.
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Vol. I
Computer Science
Algorithms, programming, logic gates and data representation, and the first time code had to be right instead of nearly right.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. II
Additional Mathematics
Calculus, functions, trigonometry, circular measure and permutations. The first real taste of the mathematics that came after.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. III
Mathematics
Algebra, geometry, probability and statistics, applied to practical problems and data.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. IV
Physics
Mechanics, energy, waves, electricity and magnetism, with practical experiments to keep the theory honest.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. V
Chemistry
Bonding, stoichiometry, electrochemistry and organic chemistry, with enough lab work to respect the fume cupboard.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. VI
English Language
Critical reading, essay writing and comprehension across a wide range of texts.
Open on the shelf
VLinkedIn Learning
17 courses
Fourteen of these were finished in one week in July. It was a long week.
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Vol. I
Python Code Challenges for Data Analysis
Short problems on cleaning, reshaping and summarising data in Python. Mostly you, a blank cell, and a test that says no.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. II
People Analytics
How organisations use data about their own people: hiring, retention, performance, and the ethics of measuring any of it.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. III
Human Resources: Selecting an HR System
How to choose an HR system without buying the demo: requirements, vendors, cost and rollout. Mostly a course on asking the right questions before anyone signs.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. IV
Agentic AI Design Patterns for GenAI and Predictive AI
Design patterns for AI systems that plan and act instead of only answering: agents, tools, orchestration, and where predictive models still fit. Close to the day job.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. V
Python Code Challenges: Working with Data
Timed exercises on reading, transforming and querying data in Python.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. VI
Digital Technologies Case Studies: AI, IOT, Robotics, Blockchain
Case studies of companies that put AI, IoT, robotics and blockchain to work, and what separated the ones that got value from the ones that got a press release.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. VII
Testing Python Data Science Code
Writing tests for code whose output is a number you were not sure about in the first place.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. VIII
Advanced NLP with Python for Machine Learning
Text preprocessing, embeddings and language models in Python, from raw strings to features a model can learn from.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. IX
Machine Learning with scikit-learn
Building, tuning and evaluating models with scikit-learn, including the unglamorous part where you check whether they work.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. X
Python Data Analytics: From Notebooks to Production
Turning notebook analysis into code that runs without its author standing next to it.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. XI
Asynchronous Python: Boost Performance and Efficiency for Real-World Apps
asyncio, concurrency and the moment a slow script stops waiting on itself.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. XII
Hands-On AI: Build a Generative Language Model from Scratch
Building a small generative language model from the ground up, which is the fastest way to stop treating the big ones as magic.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. XIII
OpenAI API: Speech
Speech-to-text and text-to-speech through the OpenAI API, wired into working code.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. XIV
OpenAI API: Vision
Sending images to the OpenAI API and getting structured, usable answers back.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. XV
Presenting to Senior Executives in the Age of AI
Getting to the point in front of people with no time: structure, the ask, and what to leave out.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. XVI
Applied Machine Learning: Algorithms (2019)
The classic algorithms side by side: regression, trees, random forests, boosting and SVMs, and when to reach for which.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. XVII
Nano Tips for Leveraging Technical Prompts Using ChatGPT with Lachezar Arabadzhiev
A short one on writing technical prompts that get technical answers. The title is longer than some of the lessons.
Open on the shelf
VIOther Courses & Scholarships
5 courses
Where the paper trail starts: primary-school English and the Grade 5 Scholarship Examination.
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Vol. I
Grade 5 Scholarship Examination
The national exam every child on the Sri Lankan curriculum sits at ten, and the usual way into schools like Ananda College. I was already at Ananda through Grade 1 admissions, sat it anyway, and finished among the highest marks in the school. Ten-year-old me did not see the point of an entrance exam for a school I was already in.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. II
IWMS English, Level 1
One of four IWMS English exams sat in primary school, before Grade 5. Long before English Literature at O-Level, this is where the reading habit got its first paperwork.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. III
IWMS English, Level 2
One of four IWMS English exams sat in primary school, before Grade 5. Long before English Literature at O-Level, this is where the reading habit got its first paperwork.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. IV
IWMS English, Level 3
One of four IWMS English exams sat in primary school, before Grade 5. Long before English Literature at O-Level, this is where the reading habit got its first paperwork.
Open on the shelf -
Vol. V
IWMS English, Level 4
One of four IWMS English exams sat in primary school, before Grade 5. Long before English Literature at O-Level, this is where the reading habit got its first paperwork.
Open on the shelf
04 // Still Reading
Four Bookmarks In
Every book on these shelves started as a course I was not sure I would finish.
The four with ribbons are still at that stage. They are the Heriot-Watt modules I am sitting now, and the only books here that have not been marked yet. When they are, the ribbon comes out and a grade goes on the spine, and there will probably be four more next to them.