Ravi Chandu Edru❤️

I was supposed to become a Chartered Accountant.

That was the plan. I studied CA, and numbers became my first language. But somewhere inside, a quiet voice kept telling me the truth: CA was not my cup of tea. What I truly loved was tech, and building things with it.

So I listened. I left CA in my final year. No one around me accepted it, trusted it, or believed in it. And I walked into a world I knew nothing about. It was the riskiest bet of my life. Luckily, or unluckily, it was COVID. The world had paused. So while everything stood still, I took my chance and started again from zero.

Tech is an ocean. I did not know where I belonged in it. I tried field after field, searching for the one that felt like me. Slowly, I noticed something. I loved to investigate. To ask why. To dig into data until it told the truth. That is data analytics, and that is where I stopped searching.

I chose Power BI. For eight months, I learned it every single day. In October 2021, I passed the Microsoft Power BI certification. Now I had the skill, and the paper to prove it.

Then came the hardest part. I applied for jobs, but my degree said accountant and the role said tech. Doors did not open.

So I stopped waiting for a chance and made my own. I opened an Upwork profile and started freelancing. In November 2021, my first client said yes. ✨ I worked with that organization for more than a year, and I gave it everything I had.

If you do your work sincerely, the universe helps you.

I believe that line, because I lived it.

The years that followed gave me things I never dared to imagine. More than 50 projects delivered, for different clients, in different industries, across different countries. Over $200K earned, a number I could not have written down as a goal without laughing at myself. Four straight years as a Top Rated Plus freelancer on Upwork with a 100% job success rate. A place on Contra's list of the best Microsoft Power BI freelancers to hire in 2025. And rooms I never thought I would sit in, working directly with CEOs, CTOs, and CFOs, learning from them every single day.

But I never stopped being a student. I completed a Post Graduate Program in AI and Machine Learning from the University of Texas at Austin. Last year I fell in love again, this time with Real-Time Intelligence and Microsoft Fabric, and earned two Fabric certifications along the way.

Five years. Many ups, many downs. All of them part of one life I chose for myself.

Through it all, I never stopped trying new ways and new things. A continuous evolution of myself.

And I owe a thank you. LinkedIn, Upwork, Contra, and YouTube have been a huge part of this success. They connected me to the world.

Until now, I did all of this quietly. From now on, I want to build, teach, and share in public. To help, to inspire, to learn, and to find new people walking the same road.

I love this work. I love finding solutions. And I love continuous learning. ❤️