This has been a big problem in Silicon Valley. My first-hand experience has been in some of the older, "blue-chip" tech and networking companies like Cisco, Aruba, Juniper, etc.

I'm Indian American in my 30s -- one of the rare elusive Bay Area natives -- my parents have been in the states since the 1970s.

Both Engineering and Management in the companies I've worked at have been mostly South Asian Indians who have immigrated from India, not born here.

Management's modus operandi has typically been to only hire other Indians who are here on H1B visas or other work visas (or their Indian friends). Why? Well, the folks who are here on visas who have eventually settled down, taken out a million dollar mortgage, and enrolled their [Indian American-born] kids in local schools are essentially hostages -- captive workers who have learned not to speak up or stir the boat and to never protest for fear of punishment. They've rightfully tried to put down roots and they don't want to risk losing them.

I've witnessed hiring processes essentially being a good old boys club, tied to all forms of discrimination based on gender, race, caste, religion, and language. In my personal career, I've essentially been stonewalled and politicked and harassed because I'm not "Indian" enough -- I'm "American" after all. Meetings where managers joked that they should hire another Kannada-speaker, or meetings that were in Hindi only despite non-Indians being in the room.

Typically in all-Indian teams here in the Bay Area, I've been the only one to speak up and to be the lone voice of dissent. No matter how many facts or data or research you bring up, if you're the only one dissenting, you're looked at as crazy; management squashes your voice and ultimately makes major short and long-term mistakes because everyone else was afraid to tell the emperor [raja?] that he has no clothes.

I've witnessed tens of millions of dollars wasted in R&D and at least $100m in lost sales because our Indian management chain has been an echo chamber of "yes men" and friends and "good old boys" who never hold each other accountable and bide their time for their RSUs to vest.

And what's funny is that the only teams I've actually been able to get meaningful work done has been with "minority" teams, led by white American or European managers, who themselves face an uphill political battle against the Indian teams.

Lastly, the other fight I've gotten in trouble with has been advocating for women engineers. I've witnessed so many senior, experienced women engineers be given dead-end projects or grunt-work, versus new male hires straight out of school getting the best projects (for which they are under-qualified for). Repeatedly. I've brought it up to management and as expected, nothing changes.

With 10+ years of experience, every team I've worked with that had an Indian manager has essentially thrown my work in the trash, reprimanded me, put me up for performance issues, and/or eventually laid me off.

It's been a nightmare. I'm tired. Exhausted. Whenever I think of all the time I've wasted because of the inane politics, it brings me to tears. This is most certainly not now my parents raised me, nor how they adopted and integrated themselves into the American Dream. I am constantly ashamed that the caste system, racism, and sexism in the Indian demographics of tech are so alive and well in the New World, where they should have been shed and discarded so long ago.

P.S. Throwaway since my real account has my real real name and I'm currently knee-deep in a job search. Wish me luck!