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Cognizant found guilty of discriminating against non-Indian employees

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Re: Cognizant found guilty of discriminating against non-Indian employees

#411

something weird on my team is that most of them (around 40) are from the exact same province in india just seems kind of bizarre to me, like deciding to only hire people from Florida for a team in California

Indian communities in the US can often be clanish, and self-segregate to specific areas of a neighborhood or town. You can see this in action on the eastside of Lake Washington, always fun to get glared at for being at the wrong block in Samamish, or the wrong (or sometimes right) condo building in Bellevue. Do not bring a dog! You will get solid stares, does not matter how said dog behaves or what local policy is. S…

Language, region and caste are different things though. Caste is a big problem in India but very rarely a problem for discrimination in the tech/highly educated Indian circles in the US. Caste is sometimes very closely related to “culture” so it may be seen in things like weddings sometimes to though. The Seattle anti caste discrimination law was more political than practically useful.

But language is a problem and you will see people speaking the same Indian language group themselves together.

Re: Cognizant found guilty of discriminating against non-Indian employees

#412

My guess would be that a lot of non-Indians at these companies are rejected on the basis of "vibes"; which is slightly different from racism as I explain below, although it probably ends up having the same net effect as overt racism. As an Indian, I've observed that collectivism and subservience towards authority figures are taught as virtues; this obviously makes it quite easy for employers to extract unreasonable d…

I went to interview at a fortune 50 company that is primarily based in India.

It was very clear my communication style and values is drastically different.

It was a good opportunity, but one of the most frustrating encounters I’ve ever had. I’m glad the offer didn’t go anywhere.

Re: Cognizant found guilty of discriminating against non-Indian employees

#413
post #402
post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was, unfortunately, but most of it has since been (correctly) flagged.

Respectfully, I don’t think enough has been removed. As someone with Indian heritage it’s super disheartening to see plenty of comments negatively generalizing a diaspora of over 1B people. Treating anyone who presents as Indian as apart of cultural monolith is absurd. I was born and raised in the US, and have no connection to the alleged cronyism or caste-based discrimination. Many of these comments make blanket sta…

> As someone with Indian heritage it’s super disheartening to see plenty of comments negatively generalizing a diaspora of over 1B people.

The diaspora is only a few dozen million, isn't it? I don't think you want to count every Indian inside of India as being in the 'diaspora'?

Nitpick aside, I agree. (I wrote the original comment above.)

Re: Cognizant found guilty of discriminating against non-Indian employees

#414
post #54

How to fight back when you see this happening at line management level, but not yet proliferated to upper management? Indian product owner taking mostly to Indian peer developers, bypassing normal communication channels. Indians being friendly with each other and stone cold with the rest. Indians bringing Indian jokes to the table, with no outsider hoping to understand these. Indians bonding to go to Indian restauran…

> Indian jokes Now I want to hear an Indian joke.

What do you call an illogical joke about Indian food?

A naan sequitur.

Re: Cognizant found guilty of discriminating against non-Indian employees

#415
post #117
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this discrimination manifested? How do these managers know your country of origin?

Pakistani’s are almost always Muslim (due to Partition [ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_India ]), and will often act and speak differently in several telltale ways for anyone who knows what to look for. Both given and family/surnames are also often telltales. And if you think Casteism is a bitch, Pakistani/Indian (or Indian Hindu vs Indian Muslim) is a bitch and a half. Just try to apply for a visa for…

This is the most common form of racism I've personally seen in my life, for what it's worth.

The funny part is having both Indians & Pakistanis pull you aside and tell you to watch out for the other ones because "They don't shower every day." I've had that happen a few times now...

Re: Cognizant found guilty of discriminating against non-Indian employees

#416
post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I promise you it will be fine. Just pass on the gulab jamun if you value your liver.

Pass on like 90% of the stuff that has fat and sugar. It is not representative of a household Indian meal, but rather of a rare feast. If you go more regularly, a somewhat healthy meal at an Indian restaurant is: - The tandoor chicken ( not the one in gravy) - The veggie salads and/or yogurt raita - Whole wheat rotis if you can find them - Any of the vegetables that don't have a ton of cream (cauliflower is one that'…

I can’t seem to say no to a bit of gulab jamun. And saag, with or without paneer. How healthy is saag? I tell myself it’s mostly spinach but I know there is milk and milk fat in there usually I think and maybe butter?

Re: Cognizant found guilty of discriminating against non-Indian employees

#417

something weird on my team is that most of them (around 40) are from the exact same province in india just seems kind of bizarre to me, like deciding to only hire people from Florida for a team in California

Indian communities in the US can often be clanish, and self-segregate to specific areas of a neighborhood or town. You can see this in action on the eastside of Lake Washington, always fun to get glared at for being at the wrong block in Samamish, or the wrong (or sometimes right) condo building in Bellevue. Do not bring a dog! You will get solid stares, does not matter how said dog behaves or what local policy is. S…

I'm not really holding any of that against them because moving to a new country with a different culture is hard

Re: Cognizant found guilty of discriminating against non-Indian employees

#418

something weird on my team is that most of them (around 40) are from the exact same province in india just seems kind of bizarre to me, like deciding to only hire people from Florida for a team in California

Edit:

And I will say, they've shown me a great deal of hospitality

I see a lot of negative feelings in the comments here. If anyone is having negative feelings they should be directed to corporations who have artificially engineered this situation. The people involved are not to blame

Re: Cognizant found guilty of discriminating against non-Indian employees

#419

The waitlist for Indians to get a green card (i.e. second-class citizenship) is 134 years currently. By the end of this decade, it will touch 200. No regular Indian going on a work visa to the US currently has any significant scope of ever being recognized a citizen. Think of that what you will, but the list of incentives an Indian has to bother integrating into American society is rather short.

You may be right, but that has basically nothing to do with sidelining and firing non-Indians.

Re: Cognizant found guilty of discriminating against non-Indian employees

#420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> since he is far more competent in foreign policy The guy foreign leaders call the "laughing fool"? > the economy will improve. Trump's plans would cause the economy to shrink by 10% and cause 28% inflation, according to independent analysis. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/26/business/economy/trump-ec...

I don't need or even want a US president to be respected by other countries leaders. All I need is for the POTUS to not get this country involved in more foreign wars. Trump is a lapdog of Israel so he doesn't fit this bill, but what I'm saying is "foreign leaders laugh at him" falls flat. IDGAF.

Trump is planning on surrendering to Russia. (There's no other way to "end the war in a day"). That's a massive signal of weakness to America's adversaries.
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