What is it like to work for an Indian company?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are you hoping for in this thread? For us to list a bunch if shitty stereotypes?

+1 Do you think there's only one Indian company OP? I can post "what is it like to work for an American company?" and most people would call me an idiot for thinking such a question could be so easily answered with a single response.

[Anonymous]

I worked for an Indian company headquartered in a suburb outside of Delhi. I visited the office. It was a different set up in that I was a lead for a US client, then the Indian company secured a new larger contract, and hired me to stay on. So I had the historical information of the client. They gave me a nice increase and bonus to come work for them.

I was treated very respectfully. The company, even those outside of my assigned group worked very hard, and wanted to ensure the US client was 100% satisfied with the work. They were all very educated with advanced degrees. They worked long hours and were internally very competitive with each other. They collaborated for the client, but still played to the internal politics at headquarters. Security to get in and out of work was pretty advanced. They could not take laptops home or bring personal cell phones in. It was essentially a security protocol that I had only seen when my spouse worked at a secure DoD facility in the US.

After work they played hard as well. They all wanted me to go out and party. I had a drink at dinner but was too tired by that point to go clubbing in my 30s. There was a big drinking culture and the only coworkers who had kids were in their late 30s early 40s. It's definitely looked down upon (in that specific group, I can't speak to the culture as a whole) to have kids young before your schooling is complete, and work well established. I did not know the drinking age was so high. I think it's 25, but my memory may be off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Being a white woman in an Indian company was very difficult. It is the only time in my career where I have felt less than. (And I worked for DoD for years)

And do you have other experiences where you were in the minority race or is this it? It is definitely eye opening and very uncomfortable for white people to not be one of many, as many minorities are in many many contexts.

It’s not the white part, it’s the being woman part. It’s not a culture where they make an effort to act women are equals. In the us we have gender issues but we at least put up a show.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Indian, Korean and Japanese companies suck to work for, each for their own reasons (though Korean and Japanese are more alike vs. Indian).

Unless they are giving you a massive signing bonus (doubt it), then you should avoid.

Life is too short.

I worked for a French company with a British CEO, they are horrible as well, trying to extract the last drop of your juice for their yacht. The days were at least 11 hours long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are you hoping for in this thread? For us to list a bunch if shitty stereotypes?

+1 Do you think there's only one Indian company OP? I can post "what is it like to work for an American company?" and most people would call me an idiot for thinking such a question could be so easily answered with a single response.

That's a totally valid question. Of course, every American company isn't identical, but there are absolutely generalities you can make compared to European / British / Japanese companies (I'm not familiar with Indian companies)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I worked for an Indian company headquartered in a suburb outside of Delhi. I visited the office. It was a different set up in that I was a lead for a US client, then the Indian company secured a new larger contract, and hired me to stay on. So I had the historical information of the client. They gave me a nice increase and bonus to come work for them.

I was treated very respectfully. The company, even those outside of my assigned group worked very hard, and wanted to ensure the US client was 100% satisfied with the work. They were all very educated with advanced degrees. They worked long hours and were internally very competitive with each other. They collaborated for the client, but still played to the internal politics at headquarters. Security to get in and out of work was pretty advanced. They could not take laptops home or bring personal cell phones in. It was essentially a security protocol that I had only seen when my spouse worked at a secure DoD facility in the US.

After work they played hard as well. They all wanted me to go out and party. I had a drink at dinner but was too tired by that point to go clubbing in my 30s. There was a big drinking culture and the only coworkers who had kids were in their late 30s early 40s. It's definitely looked down upon (in that specific group, I can't speak to the culture as a whole) to have kids young before your schooling is complete, and work well established. I did not know the drinking age was so high. I think it's 25, but my memory may be off.

I will say that one stereotype is 100% accurate. The Indian IT executive bros I worked with partied hard. And almost all of them drank Johnny Walker Black, exclusively. Regardless of the firm or location, a bottle of Black was to be had. It was constant.

[Anonymous]

They get angry when you ask them to repeat themselves because you have no idea what the hell they just said in “English.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I worked for an Indian company headquartered in a suburb outside of Delhi. I visited the office. It was a different set up in that I was a lead for a US client, then the Indian company secured a new larger contract, and hired me to stay on. So I had the historical information of the client. They gave me a nice increase and bonus to come work for them.

I was treated very respectfully. The company, even those outside of my assigned group worked very hard, and wanted to ensure the US client was 100% satisfied with the work. They were all very educated with advanced degrees. They worked long hours and were internally very competitive with each other. They collaborated for the client, but still played to the internal politics at headquarters. Security to get in and out of work was pretty advanced. They could not take laptops home or bring personal cell phones in. It was essentially a security protocol that I had only seen when my spouse worked at a secure DoD facility in the US.

After work they played hard as well. They all wanted me to go out and party. I had a drink at dinner but was too tired by that point to go clubbing in my 30s. There was a big drinking culture and the only coworkers who had kids were in their late 30s early 40s. It's definitely looked down upon (in that specific group, I can't speak to the culture as a whole) to have kids young before your schooling is complete, and work well established. I did not know the drinking age was so high. I think it's 25, but my memory may be off.

I will say that one stereotype is 100% accurate. The Indian IT executive bros I worked with partied hard. And almost all of them drank Johnny Walker Black, exclusively. Regardless of the firm or location, a bottle of Black was to be had. It was constant.

Yes, it is true but Johnny Walker Black is a cheap liquor. They can do better if they know quality but a lot of them are cheap.

[Anonymous]

Super cheap! Even at our Christmas party we only were allowed one soda. Won’t ever work for an Indian-owned company again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Super cheap! Even at our Christmas party we only were allowed one soda. Won’t ever work for an Indian-owned company again.

True and they would call you over the weekend like you are their slave.

[Anonymous]

I echo some of the sentiment on here. Being an Asian woman working in the US for an Indian company made me feel like I was an outsider, and also less than, as someone else mentioned. There’s a lot of politics, claims of “no hierarchy” (not true) and that we’re all one (also not true).

I’ve been told to make connections and network, but the several times I went sponsored networking events, people are not interested in talking to me or learning about me. Even when I show I retreat I’m brushed off quickly.

HR is also a big joke since them company doesn’t quite understand the culture and how to treat employees. Obviously this is my individual experience with one company, but I’m definitely looking to go back to working with US firms.