Who was Pratik Pandey, Indian-origin Microsoft techie found dead in California office?

An Indian-origin software engineer employed at Microsoft was found dead at the company’s Mountain View campus in California on August 20.

An Indian-origin software engineer employed at Microsoft was found dead at the company’s Mountain View campus in California, United States. Pratik Pandey entered the office on the evening of August 19 and was discovered dead in the early hours of August 20, police confirmed. Pandey was 35 at the time of his death.

Pratik Pandey was found dead at Microsoft's Mountain View campus on August 20.

Officers responded to the scene around 2 am and reported finding “no signs of any suspicious activity or behaviour.” Authorities have clarified that the case is not being treated as a criminal investigation, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Who was Pratik Pandey?

Pratik Pandey, originally from Indore in Madhya Pradesh, moved to the US more than a decade ago to pursue a master’s degree in computer science from San Jose State University.

In the US, he built an impressive career, having worked at Apple, Illumina and Walmart Labs before joining Microsoft in 2020.

On LinkedIn, he described himself as a “Dedicated software engineer with over 3 years of experience at Microsoft, specializing in the development of cutting-edge solutions within the Microsoft Fabric and Synapse products.”

Before moving to the United States, he worked for two years as a software engineer in India with companies like Noida-based Newgen and John Deere in Pune.

Colleagues and classmates described him as helpful and approachable, with a passion for sports such as football, cricket and table tennis. His family said he was specially interested in soccer.