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Trapped in Silicon Valley’s hidden caste system

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Re: Trapped in Silicon Valley’s hidden caste system

#371

Post by tradertef »

aletzo wrote: post #34
throwaway_dcnt wrote: post #11

The reason for my current user name here at hn was this exact form of racism. It is the first post I made when I created this throwaway. I was assured that my experience was unique and not widespread. I am both sad and happy to see this, sad because it exists, happy because it is getting some attention here at HN. I would like to take this opportunity to point out that everyone of us needs to be vigilant about this t…

I'm sorry, but can you please elaborate a bit more on Greeks and Turks? I happen to be Greek and have worked with 2 Turkish colleagues without any issues. On top of that, during my many travels across Europe, Turks (along with other Balkan nationalities) are by far the most welcoming people I meet once they learn that I come from Greece and I befriended a few of them. Do you have any different experiences to share?

Turk here.. no problem working with and being friends with Greek folks. I actually prefer to work with them over Turkish people since we do not need to worry about cultural baggage from Turkey (politics, religion, etc.), and we can focus on finding the best Baklava in town.

Re: Trapped in Silicon Valley’s hidden caste system

#372

Post by sanmon3186 »

dang wrote: post #8

Past related threads. I think there have been others. How Big Tech Is Importing India’s Caste Legacy to Silicon Valley - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26435117 - March 2021 (195 comments) Caste discrimination in some of Silicon Valley's richest tech companies - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24952698 - Oct 2020 (322 comments) How India's ancient caste system is ruining lives in Silicon Valley - https://n…

Every time such articles pop-up, I wonder what rock am I living under. In 22 years of experience (Half in US/UK and rest in India) in eight global organizations, not even a single time I heard or witnessed any cast based biases. What we regularly see is region/lingustic biases.

Cast based discrimination exist in India, but in my experience the issue is overblown in the knowledge industry.

Re: Trapped in Silicon Valley’s hidden caste system

#373

Post by register »

I am very happy for how it ended for Siddhant and pretty sure that he deserves all the best in this world. However to me a package of 450K as an individual contributor seems completely out of reality. I really don't get it. The fact that the same engineering skillset can be paid 450K in USA and peanuts in India (or any other country for what matters) seems to me a huge market distortion. Would like to understand more about why this is happening and how this can be sustainable.

Re: Trapped in Silicon Valley’s hidden caste system

#374

Post by kamaal »

tsol wrote: post #271
belval wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems to exist for Indian muslims as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_system_among_South_Asian...

Anecdotally I believe it occurs in a much lower amount, I haven't seen it at all as an Indian Muslim. Still I don't deny that it happens, especially in areas with less education. By creed it doesn't make sense-- as a popular hadith says "no Arab is better than a non Arab and no white is better than a black, except by piety and good deeds". Of course this hasn't stopped the ignorant in the past(unfortunately)

Among muslims themselves its practically non-existent.

Speaking as a Muslim, the way the Indian society perceives us, we are the lowest of the lowest castes.

Muslims themselves perceive our layer as fairly flat. This is mostly because most muslims themselves have been caste refugees to a new religion(Islam) in the past. And for the better wouldn't want to go back to that history.

Re: Trapped in Silicon Valley’s hidden caste system

#375

Post by throwabcd123 »

throwaway_281 wrote: post #366

I would like non-Indian people to know that the caste problem is not uniformly distributed throughout India. In cities like Kolkata, Chennai, and Mumbai- the problem is non-existent. The problem is much more rampant in Northern parts of India. This region is the American south without the good parts. This region ranks the highest in the country for foeticide of girl children. Because the society is deeply patriarchal…

what would you say if we keep reservation as such and make caste self declared?

Re: Trapped in Silicon Valley’s hidden caste system

#376

Post by vishnugupta »

wincy wrote: post #23
Bhilai wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of stuff mentioned in the article is true. I would even go ahead (at peril being downvoted by Indian patriots) that India is a deeply racist country. My parents, educated upper middle class working folks use to 'educate' me to not get married outside our caste and such. Caste system is deeply rooted in India and you can pretty much read about it from lots of sources online. India has a lot of right provisions (…

Okay so curious, I have a South Indian neighbor who is Muslim. I assume Muslims are just a different thing outside of the caste system, despite people saying caste is not rooted in Hinduism? (I’m not saying it is, just curious how an Indian might view their Muslim neighbors).

Caste system of India is somewhat unique in the sense that it gets superimposed on almost every religion in India.

So no, Muslim/Islam religion hasn’t escaped caste trap in India. There are upper caste, lower caste etc. For instance, leather/tanning work is typically done by lower caste Muslims compared to say a merchant.

Let me further drive home my point. “Lingayat” is a religion created explicitly to be outside of caste system. To an extent they consider themselves to be of a different religion from Hinduism. Though superficially you can’t tell the difference because culturally they are very similar to Hinduism. But after a few centuries, Lingayats now have their own caste hierarchy. Almost parallel to Hindu caste system.

https://karepass.cgg.gov.in/CasteReport.do?actionParameter=C...

Re: Trapped in Silicon Valley’s hidden caste system

#377

Post by random314 »

mama123 wrote: post #223
belval wrote: post #7

To Indian commenters on HN, how much of that is true? Do you feel threatened when a coworker asks about where you are from? It's something I do ask from time to time (not during interviews obviously, but during lunch for example) out of pure curiosity. Should I stop? I guess that I should explicitly add that I am not from India. Cross-cultural communications can be a bit difficult at times and I'd rather not make blu…

Historically peoples names included their village name, son of x and their caste/jaati - which indicated their profession or specialization. That meant getting new business when introducing themselves in the neighboring village. This is true with European names too (masson, taylor, carpenter, miller ....), and has the exact same origin. However, today due to the politicization first by the colonialists and the church…

This has to the most contrived and ridiculous comment I have seen. Virtually all Brahmins proudly advertise their caste and their caste is also obvious from their last name. There is literally no need to pat their backs.

Re: Trapped in Silicon Valley’s hidden caste system

#378

Post by skynetv2 »

I have been working in SV for over 25 years now. I have never once seen anyone discriminating on caste. Having said that, I know of a couple of a people who have either completely avoided using their last names or took up new last names. I haven't seen it happening personally but people are still taking precautions to not get persecuted.

Re: Trapped in Silicon Valley’s hidden caste system

#379

Post by hef19898 »

pyuser583 wrote: post #348
beebmam wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's called a conflict of interest, and anyone who has a conflict of interest in a given business situation should absolutely be removed from making any decisions around that conflict of interest (and they should be more than forthcoming about those conflicts of interest). Standards of Business Practice 101.

Interviewing someone from an opposite “frictioned background” is not considered a conflict of interest in law or ethics. “Conflict of interest” is when someone has a clearly defined interest, usually in something of value, that opposes the interests of someone they have a duty towards. In ethnic prejudice, there’s no clearly defined interest. I know this sounds pedantic. But when a conflict of interest arises, the ne…

Maybe not in the legal sense of conflict of interest, a kind of conflict of interest non the less.

Re: Trapped in Silicon Valley’s hidden caste system

#380

Post by random314 »

stuxnet79 wrote: post #345
cameronh90 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a correct way to ask about your family background/ ethnicity/whatever? For context, I am a white English-seeming (but not actually) person in London. I never ask, as I don't want to offend, however I am often quite curious. Not because I doubt anyone's claim to being British - most British Indians are likely more British than I am. Usually, I just want to talk about food, ask if you've been to India, hear yo…

As a visible minority who has lived in a western country for more than 2 decades I bristle every time I'm asked this question. The majority of the time it isn't asked from a place of genuine curiosity but as a way of boxing you in and "other"ing you. I shouldn't need to justify my existence to you just because my skin color stands out. Also restricting your exploration to just food topics doesn't make you curious or…

As a visible minority myself, I think you are being way too abrasive and nasty.
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