A former Microsoft principal software engineer has alleged on Reddit that Indian managers are systematically replacing American employees with Indians, raising concerns about workplace dynamics at the tech giant. The Reddit post titled, “My manager sabotaged my project,” struck a chord with many users.
The engineer, who compared their level to senior or staff engineers at other companies, shared their experience of being laid off despite strong performance and project delivery.
Project Delivery Turned Into Performance Coaching
According to the post, the engineer was assigned a project with a promised promotion upon successful completion. They collaborated with another engineer, referred to as Eric, along with product managers and designers. However, three months into development, Eric was suddenly reassigned to another “higher priority” task, and was replaced by an Indian engineer.
Despite regular meetings and detailed planning, progress slowed significantly. “I voiced up but was told priority/rampup/etc,” the engineer said. Two months later, they were placed on performance coaching due to alleged gaps in communication and execution. “I interviewed outside and landed a job. Eric told me his manager collaborated with my manager to get ride of me,” the engineer wrote, calling the situation disheartening.
Other Tech Workers Share Similar Experiences
The post triggered a wave of responses from other Reddit users who said they had encountered similar challenges in the tech industry. One redditor commented, “I just quit at Microsoft, 5 years of pain, working extra hours with people that were not coworkers. That was a race for idk what. I hurt myself one day after being oncall 24 h for 2 weeks, covering my manager vacation (he didn’t say anything about it until he left, so it was totally unexpected), I had calls every night, the deprivation of sleep plus years of streets just ended badly. Now, I even can’t open a laptop without have a panic attack, idk what I will do for living but those years were the worse. Don’t feel bad for leaving a terrible company, they don’t deserve our pain.”
Another user shared, “At my last company, the senior vice president was indian. She fired all non Indian top managers and replaced them with Indians. That is today’s reality that you all need to accept.”
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