Tragedy at Microsoft: Family of Indian-origin engineer issues a plea to stop overworking

Passion and overworking are two different concepts and it's time we stop evaluating them proportionally. Case in point, a young Microsoft engineer who died at work. Cause of death? Overworking.Pratik Pandey, 35, of Menlo Park, California, badged into Microsoft's Mountain View office at 7:50 pm on August 19. Around 2 am, he was found face-down in the campus' courtyard, his uncle Manoj Pandey told Palo Alto Daily Post.According to Satish Chandra, an IT worker and community leader in Santa Clara running for city council, an initial report by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner stated he likely suffered a heart attack.Chandra also shared with a local newspaper that Pandey didn't have any known health issues but had told his roommate and colleagues that he was under a lot of stress, juggling numerous projects at the same time.Now, his uncle is urging tech firms to keep a track of employees working late nights and take steps to relieve their anxiety. “That will probably save a life,” he said. “It’s a lot of pain for the family when a loved one passes away.”His uncle shared that Pandey frequently worked late at night. He was a hard-working man who loved sports such as soccer, ping pong and cricket."Overall, a very positive person," he said.Police officers found “no signs of any suspicious activity or behaviour” at the scene and Pandey's death is not being treated as a criminal investigation, as per the Mountain View Police Department.Pandey was born in Indore, India and migrated to the US a decade ago to earn his master's degree from San Jose University. His work experience included gigs as a software engineer at Apple, Illumina, and Walmart Labs before he landed a job at Microsoft in July 2020. He worked on Microsoft's Fabric product, a data analytics platform.His remains will be sent to India, where his parents and two sisters live.Loss of talented youngsters like Pandey's brings forth the debate on overworking and health, something that people and companies both need to focus on together to ensure quality and long life.