Visually impaired software engineer gets Rs 47 lakh Microsoft job in Bengaluru

A 25-year-old visually impaired software engineer who has just graduated from an institute in Indore has received a job offer from IT giant Microsoft with an annual package of Rs 47 lakh, an official said on Tuesday.

Yash Sonakia earned his BTech degree in 2021 from Shri Govindram Seksaria Institute of Technology and Science, a government-aided autonomous institute in Indore, the official from the SGSITS said.

Sonakia lost his eyesight to glaucoma when he was eight years old.

Sonakia said he had accepted the offer and would join the company’s Bengaluru officer soon as a software engineer, though initially he had been asked to work from home.

“After completing my studies with the help of the screen-reader software, I started looking for a job and applied at Microsoft after learning coding. After an online examination and interview, I was selected for the post of software engineer in the company,” The Telegraph cited Sonkia as saying.

“I cleared my JEE Mains and JEE Advanced. But, because I wanted to stay in my hometown Indore, I preferred to study at SGSITS over the IIITs where I was selected,” Sonkia says.

Sonkia wants to work with Artificial Intelligence and do something great for the world.

Sonkia’s father Yashpal, who runs a canteen in Indore, said his son was diagnosed with glaucoma a day after his birth, due to which he had very little vision in his eyes.

The SGSITS director, professor Rakesh Saxena said, “Sonkia has achieved this success with his determination and talent. He’s acted as a source of inspiration for other students.”