senior associate

project manager

manager

senior software engineer

technical lead

Cognizant Technology Solutions

Cognizant is the worst place to work for.  This place is not highly recognized, so if you can work with a highly respectable company please do so.  From my experience, it seems as though this place is male dominated; only males are given the chance to be leaders.  Female leaders, they are ignored and pushed aside.  

HR is only in India.  So if you work in North America, be prepared to only talk to India - because they are clearly qualified for US, and Canadian HR policies and law.  HR is also hard to reach not knowing how to answer any of your inquiries.

Cognizant system often is down and has been hacked.  Hard to navigate and every week associates have difficulty to input timesheets.  If you cannot input your timesheets you will not get paid - even being told that you are on salary.  If your paycheque depend on paying your bills, be prepared to pay for late fees.

Cognizant payroll - make errors every pay cheque and pay you the remainder within the next pay schedule.  No exceptions because they are unable to make any payments unless on scheduled pay dates - sounds like they are incompetent.   

Cognizant management is the worst.  No communication at all.  But when you don't communicate, you get feedback. 
Here's feedback for Management: COMMUNICATE.  If you don't understand what that means - take a course.   

What have i learned?  I learned how to be a robot, don't think.  Micromanaged - just being told what to do.

As a software developer, I have had the pleasure of working with Cognizant on several projects, and I must say that they are an excellent company to work with. Cognizant is a leading global professional services company that offers a wide range of services including consulting, digital, technology, and operations. Their team of software engineers, architects, and designers are some of the best in the industry. They possess strong analytical and problem-solving skills and are well-equipped to handle complex software development projects.

What I love about Cognizant is their agile development process, which ensures that projects are completed on time and within budget, without compromising on quality. Additionally, their culture of innovation and continuous learning provides an excellent platform for software developers to grow and enhance their skills.

If you're a software developer looking for a company that values innovation, quality, and teamwork, I highly recommend Cognizant. Their commitment to excellence and client satisfaction is unparalleled, and you'll have the opportunity to work on some exciting and challenging projects.

Cognizant is an American multinational corporation that provides custom information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services. It is headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey, United States, RETHINK, REINVENT AND REWIRE BUSINESS MODELS
Our clients today face a dual mandate: They need to drive efficiencies and productivity as they cope with market and economic pressures. At the same time, they must invest in innovation to transform their businesses and open up new horizons of opportunity

We help many of the world's leading companies address this dual mandate. We know that organizations cannot master 21st century challenges with 20th century strategies and methods. Business is being transformed by globalization, virtualization, a new generation of millenial workers and continual technology innovation.

In response to the transformative forces that define the Future of Work, Cognizant is helping clients rethink, reinvent and rewire their businesses to apply the new SMAC business technology architecture (social, mobile, analytics and cloud) to their most significant challenges and opportunities.

The company structure or format is a bizarre that I wonder how it passes the regulators in the US or Canada. A few things that i noticed are highly unethical and are root causes for the bad employee experience are the following. 

The company offers you full time permanent role at much lower rate than an incorporated contract that you could get. They offer that same short term contract with a promise of permanent offer but after the contract is over they give you a few weeks to find another job within the company and if you there were no opportunities available to you at the time then they terminate your account. 

Second weird thing is your internal manager would be another "Analyst" for the same client and he/she would have absolutely no idea about managing a staff. 

Majority of the staff come from one part of the world. They don't follow any policies on diversity or inclusion (oh yeah they do have a standing policy for that). 

Anyways, the worst employment experience I've ever had in my life. 

The organization lacks a clear project management strategy, with no proper plan to track whether projects are completed or even assigned as intended. This creates confusion and inefficiency across teams. During the hiring process, many false promises are made, giving candidates unrealistic expectations about their roles and growth opportunities.

What’s more concerning is the lack of awareness from leadership. The Director seems to have little understanding of the team’s capabilities, resulting in valuable internal resources being benched unnecessarily. At the same time, new hires are brought in to perform tasks that existing team members could handle more effectively. This not only demotivates the current staff but also reflects poor internal coordination and resource planning.

Overall, there's a serious disconnect between management decisions and on-the-ground realities, which ultimately hampers productivity and morale. There needs to be a major shift in leadership approach and transparency for any real progress.

A very strong South Indian lobby which is playing around with the system and doesn't let anyone come other than them.

People are having fake experiences coming from India though Intracompany transfers, untill then they hire local PR or Citizens. Once the person arrives from India, they will gonna fire you!! People work for a year in offshore and then are brought here by faking credentials. 

Government and organizations having them as their vendors need to review the policies so this company doesn't ruin up careers. Highly incapable people are working and making money on work permits, whereas local people are neglected. What is the justification of having 95% consisting of one of community in an abroad country, equal employment opportunities LOL. 

They hire you as a contractor through sub contracting and even subcontractor doesn't pay on time. 

They hire you temporarily, just to fulfill their headcount.

bWorking at Cognizant presents a dynamic opportunity to contribute to a global leader in digital transformation and technology services. The company’s culture is defined by a strong commitment to innovation, constantly pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in AI, cloud, and IoT to solve complex business challenges for clients. I am drawn to the collaborative and inclusive environment at Cognizant, where diverse teams from around the world come together to engineer modern businesses and improve everyday life. The emphasis on continuous learning and upskilling ensures that employees remain at the forefront of industry trends, making it an ideal place for professional growth. More than just a job, a career at Cognizant means being part of a purpose-driven organization that values integrity, client-centricity, and the power of technology to create meaningful, lasting impact in the digital era.

Mostly: 
Poor operations, poor management, non-employee centric, mean, poor mentality, exploitative attitude, 0 paternal leaves top-up, not even for mothers (govt does 55%/33%) cognizant doesnt top up a penny, 0 paternity leaves- if you became a father, Cognizant be like - doesnt matter to us. Go take your vacations that too with restriction.
If u r on a short term project which ends- u r put on bench with a timer of 35 days and then you are gone if u dont find anything. They have a mechanism where they pretend they help u find another project- but that team is incompetent/ inefficient/irrelevant. Your own network in the company can help you survive that.
All in all- feels like a british india company kinda company that hires labourers- thats the mindset. 

Rarely:
Good people, good projects, little innovation, opportunities

Feels like slipping down the maslows pyramid of needs heirarchy where u had to fight for basics.

A good place to start a career and learn. They provide lots of learning courses in-house as well as external like Udemy and certification courses.

Hard to generalize on culture because it varies by department or project management. Work-life balance also varies by project and team. However, it's full of politics and full of people from a certain part of India (seen in India, the US, and Canada).

They make it so hard to get a visa sponsorship as if they are doing a huge favor to employees. Be it an H1, L1 visa or Greencard, or a Canada work visa.

The employment terms are so transactional (similar to a small-time vendor) that if you are bringing revenue from clients then you are an employee but once the project ends it's on you to find the next project within a couple of weeks, otherwise, you will be automatically terminated.

Management (esp. for client-client relations & project management) is terrible - leading to over-demanding timelines that are not possible to be achieved. This means that developers (my position) and testers have to suffer through plenty of unpaid overtime just to accomplish mgmt's unrealistic demands.
Furthermore, your bonus is determined by a single grade given by your manager you have when you end the year. If you have a mean (understatement) boss who grades you lowly, all your effort throughout the year is rendered obsolete and your bonus will be meager; regardless of the number of projects you were involved in.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Senior associate 17 salaries reported	$104,294 per year
Project manager 12 salaries reported	$111,713 per year
Manager 8 salaries reported	$125,000 per year
Senior software engineer 7 salaries reported	$113,714 per year
Technical lead 3 salaries reported	$86,333 per year

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