Once a Titan called Odecee, now a Dodo Bird called Cognizant - Senior Software Engineer Cognizant Employee Review

1.0
19 July 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You get a computer and mobile phone, although they will be hand-me-downs as they will not allow people leaving to purchase their laptops and will redeploy hardware were possible. You will be using a second hand Macbook Pro 15". At the time, they gave a paid day off on your birthday, a legacy from the Odecee days but I don't think it will last much longer as it sets a precedent for the rest of the global operations.

Cons

You will get no tools to do your job. USB-C dongles are next to impossible to acquire, It took me a year to get an IntelliJ License. A lot of lunchtime back to base tech presentations get canceled, but when they do run, you get very average sandwiches that you would never purchase yourself and hence not worth giving up a lunch break for. No career path. You will see all your new friends leave for better jobs. Pay is nothing special. You will not be valued as an individual, you are just a commodity.

Explore other reviews about Cognizant

5.0
27 May 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
5 June 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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