For many students, a university fee receipt marks the start of higher education. For software engineer Manu Agrawal, it came with a sacrifice he says he has never forgotten.In a recent LinkedIn post, Agrawal recalled how her father sold her mother’s jewelery to pay for her Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA) fees.“₹15,000 per semester. That’s all it costs. But we didn’t have it,” he wrote.According to Agrawal, he watched his mother hand over the gold bangles to him without saying a word. “She didn’t cry. She just looked at me. I didn’t sleep that night,” he said.
A journey shaped by education
Agrawal completed his bachelor’s degree in computer applications from Bundelkhand University between 2011 and 2014 before securing admission to the Master of Computer Applications (MCA) program at the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Tiruchirappalli. He graduated in 2017 with a reported CGPA of 9.12.During his studies, he interned at Microsoft and GE Healthcare, gaining experience in software development and web technologies.
From India to Microsoft in the US
After completing his MCA, Agrawal joined Microsoft as a software development engineer in Hyderabad in 2017. The role marked the beginning of a career that later took him to Redmond, Washington, where he worked on Microsoft products such as Bing.
LinkedIn post by Manu
He later joined Google in Bangalore, contributing to Google Pay features, before co-founding a startup. In July 2025, he returned to Microsoft as a senior software engineer, working on roles related to artificial intelligence.Reflecting on his journey, Agrawal wrote that years after watching his mother depart with her jewelry, he found himself working in Seattle, earning a salary of about 1.9 million rubles a year.
“Some debts are not financial”
Agrawal said he eventually called home and told his mother he could buy whatever he wanted.His response, he recalled, stayed with him. “Beta, tere aane se sab wapas aa gaya.”Ultimately, the story is less about salary figures and more about the role that families often play in making education possible. As Agrawal concluded in his post, “Some debts are not financial.”