Born and raised in America. My extended family has been in America since late 1700s. This is to say that we are fully engrained in what "American" culture is. This is not to say I deserve anything for it, at all. Please stop here and comprehend that before moving on. I'd go as far to say that my parents' generation (boomers) were spoiled with the post ww2 era of free houses, families and money. I and many others were raised in the 90s when that showed signs of slowing down, but we were still coddled because our parents thought we'd have it as easy as them. That has obviously become untrue and they had no idea how to prepare us, though some of us got lucky. When I started my career in the early 2010's, I grew accustomed to a socially open environments where people can mostly speak their mind and challenge their managers and directors directly, even if the day to day was boring. There was no fear of major repercussions if done correctly, and managers didn't tell you what to do very directly or harshly. As I've moved up the ladder and moved into big tech, I obviously noticed the number of Indian and now Chinese nationals that are employees. Because of this opportunity to be included in other cultures, I've been a best man in a three day long Indian wedding and have many Chinese friends I visit yearly. However, they are on the younger side or second gen Americans. As of this year, a company I work at (not splunk) has had a number of white (yes) leaders fired for "organizational reasons" which essentially means a firing. The people that were put in their place are first gen Chinese nationals on the older side with much less experience than the previous managers. So much so that they would be greatly struggling if they weren't directly and obviously supporting each other through this transition. Besides the immense pressure it puts on the team to educate these new leaders in a domain they are unfamiliar with, they are also spending most of their time in the office speaking mandorin with the other three Chinese national directors in the same, larger org. Any other interactions are pretty awkward and neutral. No laughing. It's so obvious that most of the non-chinese employees (not just white) have been talking about it. It doesn't help that the directors default to referring to their Chinese subordinates for any tasks instead of anyone else (irrelevant of who ends up doing the task or who is more senior), while mixing up everyone else's names. There are also cultural issues with how the Chinese managers and directors interact with their subordinates. They do not hold one on one's for any of their employees, and only talk to the staff and senior folks. The rest are left to fend for themselves. When they do talk to the senior or staff employees, they also quickly and briefly "tell" them what to do without any context. When asked or challenged, they seem to ignore the request or response with something nonsensical. The subordinate is then put in a situation between performing that task that doesn't make sense and will make the team look bad, or encroaching on the manager and directors ideas yet again. There is very little space for anything but business, and the power shift is apparent. Why am I posting this? Because I'm looking for insight on what is going on in companies like this and if the culture shift is seen anywhere else. I'm also wondering if this behavior is normal for other countries and how to interact with these people to gain trust and a mutual respect. Like I said, I've always had non-american coworkers and enjoyed it, but I've never seen so many non-americans in leadership and the culture change it has brought. #culture #officelife #workplace #China #India #immigration
As a black North American in Tech for 25 years, I've noticed it too.
I don’t think OP was racist. He or she has better things to do than attend some klan shit. The klan shit is happening at his company by non whites.
My working experience with non native English speakers in general has been worse (I’m not white or black btw). The relationships generally feel weaker. Jokes and sarcasm never land. Extra time spent on making sure we understand each other. It’s a genuine problem
yep! and of course it's a problem. they come from vastly differerent and non-conforming cultures.
lol A white man gets to experience what it feels to be a minority 🤯
As a non white non black, I have noticed too, especially in big tech.
my (caucasian) american roots go as far back as the 1600s, to the first settlements. there are many descendants of black slaves who share this time frame. and native peoples long before me. your first point to "stop here and comprehend" isn't clear to me. what is your first point exactly? this is a sincere question, not a troll.
Every time someone says they’re American on blind they get bombarded with “No! You’re an immigrant too! Racist!” OP is trying to say “I’m as American and non-immigrant as someone can be”
😂 yeah. I am “fully engrained”. I am the true American you losers! 🥳 America is a land of immigrants, I would expect the culture to be fluid and change over time just because of that reason.
I think the problem is not culture or Chinese to be specific. You want to “educate” your manager, but the upper management might just want them to push you to execute their plan. The old generation managers were fired because they delivered too much education not execution. Just look at Meta, shareholders want good earnings, they don’t want employees who educate their executives but deliver poor results. Experience is overrated, they can pick it up in 1~2 years. My wife used to work for a company. They never cleared their bug backlog until they hired an Indian director. The guy does not care to be hated, and yes, he pushed out most white managers over the course of fixing the backlog.
Yes, that is the brutal reality of the situation. What I'm left wondering is if we made this problem or if it was an inevitability due to globalization, capitalism or just human nature.
I did my graduate school in Midwest, lots of descendants of German immigrants living there. I heard stories how their ancestors worked harder taking jobs others didn’t want and built their own society helping each others. I guess 100 years from now, decedents of Chinese and Indian would picture their ancestors the same way. So I mean it may always been like this.
Well well well… how the turn tables
I haven’t noticed this personally in my job experience but have heard similar stories. I’ve come to the realization that white Americans with money and power basically sold out the country while white liberals cheer and call people like you and me racist. This process probably started in the boomer generation but accelerated during ours. Only solution is to find a way to get rich and escape the rat race.
I get the same sense. It's also a fine line to tread because of people's emotions and focus on race (even as I did here).
This. We also no longer have free speech since 2016. And we don't know who our real bosses are, I have the feeling that since 2016 all the CEOs are just fronts.
How is Splunk? They are hiring aggressively in India Any idea about their pay Op?
Sinking ship that will drive you nuts if you're early or mid career. However, they were just acquired by Cisco and could be a good place for a father or mother to rest and vest. Hire pay than Cisco but lower than FAANG with little stock upside now. Many big tech companies are hiring aggressively in India and Europe over the past year. Many roles cannot be hired in America anymore.
Why are they hiring aggressively in India I think in number of 50-60 headcounts