Software engineer to CTO, by way of networks, servers, databases, DevOps, systems architecture, teams, and lately AI. Plus the questions I get asked most.
Ishan Karunaratne is a systems and network architect and Chief Technology Officer with twenty-seven years across production software, Linux systems, cloud and network architecture, and AI.
I am CTO at Rehab Media Group, a US Army veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the writer of TechEarl, and the sole developer of DNS Checker. From Colorado, based in Medford, New Jersey. The career below runs newest first, and the questions at the end are the ones I get asked most.
2021 – now
Rehab Media Group
Technical strategy and architecture. Engineering culture, hiring, delivery, and the integration work behind acquisitions.
2020 – 2021
Rehab Media Group
Supported a 250%+ month-over-month revenue increase inside the first six months, and introduced the CI/CD the delivery process still runs on.
2015 – 2020
All Around Creative, Inc.
Subject matter expert on WordPress at scale, plus the Linux server management behind the sites running on it.
2011 – now
INAV8 Internet Solutions, Colombo
Founded the company, secured its funding, built the network infrastructure, and hired and trained the development team.
2010
IDM Computer Studies, Colombo
Taught Java and web development on the Charles Sturt University BIT curriculum. Teaching a thing is still the fastest way I know to find out whether I actually understand it.
2005 – 2008
Sprint Nextel, Denver
Wireless products and applications, plus a call-centre application I built in C#, ASP.NET, and SQL Server.
2002 – 2005
United States Army, Operation Iraqi Freedom
Ran an office accountable for ninety personnel, and deployed to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom, computing firing solutions on the front line. Checklists, verification, and the cost of a wrong number when there is no undo.
1999 – 2002
Charles Darwin University, Australia
Built the university website on Lotus Domino as a Principal Certified Developer, and ran the residential college network for 250+ students. The first systems I was genuinely responsible for keeping alive.
Medford, New Jersey, in the United States. I am from Colorado, went to school at Ananda College Colombo in Sri Lanka, studied and worked in Australia, served in the US Army out of Colorado, and have been on the East Coast since 2015. I work with teams in US, European, and Sri Lankan time zones.
Software architecture and distributed systems, Linux and DevOps infrastructure, application security, and AI engineering. He built and operates DNS Checker, a domain intelligence platform that analyzes more than 240 million domains a day, and has published more than 700 technical articles at TechEarl.
Fair question, because there are several of us and search engines merge us enthusiastically. I am not the frontend engineer at Moresand Technologies, and I am not the founder and managing director of Sinhalite Holdings, the Sri Lankan hospitality and consumer-goods group written up in the Daily Mirror and Life Online. He appears to be doing very well. If you need compostable lunch sheets, that is the other one. If you need someone to work out why the database falls over at 3am, you are on the right page. The reliable way to tell us apart is my ORCID iD, 0009-0002-3088-0769, which is unique to me.
He is open to hands-on development work, which is still the part he enjoys most, as well as advisory work, technical due diligence, architecture review, and fractional CTO engagements. The fastest way to reach him is email.