Pathetic company to work for - Associate Director Cognizant Employee Review

1.0
May 16, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I haven't noticed anything good as I spent only 1 year there

Cons

Not sure where to start with but let me start from hiring, 1.I asked for director position but the recruiter told me that the role has opened for Associate director role only but after I agreed with the offer they asked me to apply to a role which has a mention of "Tower Director" . When I question them, I didnt received any response but as I already decided to join them, i went ahead and joined 2. Post joining I was eager to start taking care of the role I discussed but then to my shock I noticed I had been put into a role which is way different than what I was interviewed for. When I raised this point, I didn't receive any satisfactory response from the stakeholders. It's a challenge in cognizant to get support in such cases from both Leaders and HR and seems it's a regular practice which is being followed. 3. I spent a few months and though I managed to build rapport with clients I was not happy with the role as it was not the type of work which will help me grow. I started talking to my leadership for a change in program and then I was told that I cannot be released before 1 year and that's cognizant policy. How come making someone work in a role which he/she was not interviewed for and does not use their skill set properly makes sense? It seems cognizant is more focused on putting bodies in their engagement rather than helping people grow professionally 4.You cannot have visibility of relevant work unless you come out of your existing engagement. Also even after coming out they will try within the same practice first , irrespective of the mismatch . I was told to find a matching engagement of my own first and then go to the open pool. Why? If I dont know of any such engagement and go to an open pool, I will be given 3 weeks time to find a suitable one at any location and if I dont move into any billable role, I will be asked to leave in another 2 weeks. That's where I realized that Cognizant is not at all a good place to work for as they lack transparency, professionalism and ethics. Also, they change policies to hurt people who are leaving them. I noticed after leaving that, they have only paid for 5 days of unused PTO instead for all the days. The reason is, they changed their policy with immediate effect and there was no communication sent to people who are leaving. Whereas the programs are requesting people to give notice to help them out. So , cognizant is billing customers for the time and also exploiting people who are helping them but not paying them their earned leaves. If you do not have any ambition or looking for a professional environment or growth related aspiration then go for cognizant.

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
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.

3
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