There comes a point in every career where experience quietly changes shape. It stops being about learning new tools or delivering the next project and starts becoming something more personal. How you want to work. What you want to build. The kind of impact you want to leave behind.
After fifteen years across multiple companies, more than fifty projects, and countless integrations and extensions, I realised I had reached that point.
Not because I was tired of the work. Quite the opposite.
I still love solving problems, designing systems, and building things that make businesses run better. But over time, I increasingly felt the desire to do it in my own style. With more freedom. With clearer engineering principles. With a stronger focus on long-term value rather than short-term delivery cycles.
Starting with a Leap of Faith
My journey began in a very different world.
I started as a .NET developer, happily immersed in code, architecture, and familiar technologies. Business applications were not part of my plan. In fact, when I was first introduced to Microsoft Dynamics NAV, I had absolutely no idea what it was or what it did.
What I did have, however, was an opportunity.
Most of the Dynamics team had left the company. There was a gap that needed filling and a product that needed someone willing to dive in and figure things out. So, I took the challenge.
Looking back, it was nothing short of a leap of faith.
The first few months were defined by sleepless nights, endless experimentation, and a steep learning curve. Today, learning resources are everywhere. Back then, things were very different. No Microsoft Learn. Limited documentation. No endless stream of YouTube walkthroughs.
All I had were twelve PDF documents describing the product and its capabilities.
It turned out to be enough.
Somewhere in those long nights of reading, breaking, fixing, and rebuilding, I began to understand not just the product, but the ecosystem, the patterns, and the possibilities hidden inside it.
It was also during that period that I met a friend, who became one of my closest friends. We were both navigating unfamiliar territory and trying to make sense of a platform that initially felt completely alien. While I would like to say we helped each other equally, the truth is he carried me through many early hurdles with patience and experience.
Those years shaped everything that followed.
From Developer to Team Lead
Time has a way of compressing growth.
What felt slow and uncertain at the beginning gradually turned into momentum. New team members joined. Projects were won. Confidence grew. Systems became larger. Challenges became more complex.
Within five years, I had moved from developer to team lead.
I was probably too young for the title, but titles have a habit of arriving before you feel ready. What mattered was not the role itself, but the responsibility. Supporting a team. Delivering outcomes. Ensuring the work stood up to real-world pressures. Throughout that period, I developed another habit that would unexpectedly shape my career. Documenting what I learned.
My blog started as a personal notebook. A place to capture solutions, patterns, mistakes, and discoveries. Over time, it became something more. A bridge into the community. A way to give back, connect, and learn from others walking similar paths.
That quiet act of sharing eventually led to becoming a Microsoft MVP.
Not a destination I had planned, but one I deeply value.
Crossing Oceans and Starting Again
Then came another turning point.
An offer from a New Zealand based company and an opportunity that felt too significant to ignore. So, Shani and I did something that still feels surreal when I think about it. We packed our lives into four bags and crossed the oceans to start again.
The transition was anything but smooth.
New technologies. New processes. New tools. New people. New culture. Even the smallest details required adjustment. It was a reset at every level.
For a while, it genuinely felt like being back at square one.
When you are dropped into that kind of uncertainty, long-term planning becomes a luxury. The only viable strategy is simple. Put your head down. Focus on what is directly in front of you. Take one day at a time until the fog begins to lift.
So that is exactly what I did.
More sleepless nights. More learning. More rebuilding of confidence in unfamiliar territory.
Within a few short months, I found myself becoming the go-to person within the BC/NAV team.
Why Equerra
Which brings me to the present.
Equerra is not just another career move. It represents a shift in how I want to build, collaborate, and create value.
This time, I am not starting from square one.
I carry years of hard-earned lessons about architecture, integrations, product design, delivery pressures, technical debt, scalability, and the human side of projects that often matters more than the technology itself.
What makes Equerra special is the alignment.
A shared belief in thoughtful engineering rather than rushed solutions.
A culture that values sustainability over burnout.
A mindset focused on building long-term customer value.
Equerra creates space to do things properly.
To invest in craftsmanship.
To explore new patterns and technologies.
To design solutions that are resilient, maintainable, and built for real operational complexity.
It is also a place where product thinking is central.
Not just delivering features, but building tools and solutions that genuinely help partners, consultants, and customers.
Most importantly, it is a team that believes in supporting each other.
Because great systems are never built by individuals alone.
Looking Ahead
Careers rarely follow straight lines.
They twist. Reset. Accelerate. Surprise you.
When I first encountered Dynamics NAV, I had no idea it would define my professional life. When I boarded a plane with four bags, I could not see what lay ahead.
Today, the path feels clearer.
Not because uncertainty has disappeared, but because experience has sharpened perspective.
Equerra is the next chapter in a journey that started with curiosity, was shaped by countless sleepless nights, strengthened by remarkable people, and continues to evolve.
And in many ways, it feels like the most natural step of all.
Building, learning, and creating. This time fully in my own way.
Regards,
Tharanga Chandrasekara