Ok - company - Programmer/Analyst Cognizant Employee Review

3.0
Oct 22, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I was in an internal project, i was insulated from all client pressure. They don't force you to be there at office for 8 hrs. If you finish the work you can go home. Nice saravana bhavan south indian food, bit costly though. Lot of new hires, especially ladies to see if you are bored :). GYM. Transport. Lot of fun events.

Cons

You don't get to choose the technology/platform you work with. They will force you into something. Even good computer science students with good knowledge go about doing grunt copy paste work. Poor academy training. If you are a fresher don't expect to get challenging job for first 2 years. Everything depends on your manager and project. Only programmer analysts and associates write code, other refuse to write code and say they are into *managing* people. You will see lot of "pointy haired bosses" who do not understand the nature of technical work you are doing and yet try to manage you. The work area is totally noisy, the managers will be in calls all the time. Not good for programmers. For laterals they will ask to do a lot of things, you might have done sharepoint in your past, they will ask you work in windows applications.

Explore other reviews about Cognizant

5.0
Mar 26, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Flexible work timing, work from home, best Team

Cons

Less hike, compensation, no bonus

1.0
Jun 5, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

A potential inroad into large client companies (Leave Cognizant ASAP) You aren't unemployed.

Cons

It's a body shop. Clients will view you accordingly. Contractors cannot be trusted with most tasks. You must be siloed (No room for growth) so you don't break anything. Your actual job is to fulfill gaps in the client's grunt work even if out of scope. If you don't, the hammer falls from client and Cognizant. Wages well below industry standards. 1% annual raises only exist because legally they must exist. Takes full advantage of H-1B slave system, where employees' families and homes will be thrown into a furnace if you aren't keeping Cognizant happy no matter what. Employees are complacent in their slavery. Management is just happy to get their extra crumbs and will reinforce the bad culture. C-suite is opaque. If you are familiar with India's caste system you will understand how "lessers" are treated. This also happens in a literal sense, you aren't totally safe just because you are the favored skin tone. Takes full advantage of modern white collar culture. "Your racist actions aren't actually racist if you aren't Caucasian." Expect the uphill battle to be even more steep if you're not Southeast Asian. You will hunt for your own work most of the time. Cognizant is not helpful in any regard. They exist to skim off the top and nothing else.

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