No Benefits To Working at Cognizant - Senior Java Developer Cognizant Employee Review

1.0
Mar 3, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

They won't bother you as long as you are billing

Cons

No effort towards finding a new position. Pointless overly complex technical interviews by Cognizant staff for new assignments. I had one guy ask me how the keys to a hash map are stored internally. Seriously? This was a Cognizant guy screening me for a position with a new client. The hiring managers act like they are doing you a favor by interviewing you. And their systems for tracking leads are typical of the rest of Cognizant's systems; they are borderline usable. It felt like they were written by a first year comp sci major doing an internship at Compuserve or something. It was actually easier to find a new gig using LinkedIn. The experience was much more efficient and user friendly. More on their internal systems: they are horrible. If I was ever asked to teach a workshop in bad system design all I would have to do is use Cognizant's internal systems as examples. They are so bad it would almost be comical if your livelihood didn't depend on them. The experience got much worse after Ravi was hired as CEO and turned the company into a clone of Infosys. Only consider working here if you are a recent graduate from Bangalore Tech or something

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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