Worst experience ever in my career.... - Java Developer Cognizant Employee Review

1.0
Nov 20, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great benefits and location. I earned a gov't clearance, but I don't think it's active after leaving the project.

Cons

The recruiters lied to me as well as everyone else that they hired for a project. They mentioned that we would be developing software, but we ended up doing customer/production support work. We were on an on-call rotation and most of the time, we couldn't even fix the problems because of their horrible politics and systems altogether. Not to mention they actually moved me to a different group that were using older mainframe technologies. The whole reason I took the job in the first place was to avoid that and it gave me more reason to finally leave the place along with all the other many people who had left the project. The management was so flawed and even threatened to fire people just for taking short breaks in the lunch room. I even heard a case where an employee was assaulted by one of the managers, but also heard he lost his job eventually.

Explore other reviews about Cognizant

5.0
May 27, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good projects, challenging work, lots to learn

Cons

The way the bench status is structured

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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