Indian manager on H-1B opens up about bias and growing resentment at work: 'I feel hated for things I didn’t do'

An Indian tech manager in the United States has expressed his frustration after feeling unfairly judged and resented for stereotypes associated with Indian professionals in the industry. In an anonymous post on the workplace discussion platform Blind titled “I’m an Indian manager and I feel hated for things I didn’t do,” the user shared that he came to the US on an H1B visa, worked his way up from level L5 to L7, and has always believed in fairness and merit.

The manager wrote that he has mentored colleagues from various backgrounds, hired based on talent, and never considered race, caste or nationality when making professional decisions. Yet, he now finds himself dealing with growing hostility toward Indians in tech spaces, both online and at work.

“Recently, I see so much anger toward Indians in tech. Online, people say we only hire our own, or that we bring the caste system here. It breaks me because I’ve spent my whole career trying to do the opposite,” he wrote.

The manager admitted to feeling isolated despite years in the US. “I moved to the US to belong but still feel like I live in India as my social circle is mostly Indians,” he said, adding that he wonders if he was “too naive” in believing that hard work and fairness would be enough. “I don’t know when being Indian in tech turned into something people resent,” he concluded.

The post has sparked a discussion online. Reacting to the post, one user wrote, “I would never work for a H1B manager. They will never stand up for you and throw you under the bus to protect their job and status. You might be a good one but I can’t take that chance. Incentives are too perverse. I’ve never seen a H1B manager who wasn’t completely docile and a slavish.”

“I am a US citizen never on H1B but Indian origin.I am angry at what this flood of low skill uncivilized H1Bs have done to the industry and our reputation. 20 years ago, Indians were respected. Now, we are hated. Why? Because of H1B scammers flooding in who cannot behave themselves and make us all look bad. So no one feels sorry for H1Bs. I have worked very hard too, but H1Bs make it hard for US citizens, so no sympathy,” commented another.

“I think the WITCH companies have tarnished the image on Indians leave alone destroying green card opportunities for genuine Indian candidates who have done masters in the US,” wrote a third user.

“Ignore the racist comments you see online. It's sad to see the general state of racism against Indian people,” said another.

I spent 17 years in the valley.

When I started, it wasn’t unusual to see young families from schools like Ole Miss, relocated to work for companies like Intel & Cisco.

When I left, nothing but street shitters. I’d drive home next to Cisco, I’d find the H4 wives with their anchor babies surrounding the mail area.

Run every last one of them out on a chutney-greased rail.

Trump & MAGA will get a huge midterm election push by cutting off the visas & sending the street shitters home.

“Stupid”? Thanks!

“....these new arrivals, impoverished, unskilled, and Catholic, immediately confronted an ancient enemy, the Protestant Scotch-Irish, longtime resident in Philadelphia, proud of their “in” status, mostly skilled workers, and ready, eager, and able to renew the political, economic, social, and religious feuds of the old country. During the 1830s they had organized an Orange Society for that express purpose.”

Elizabeth M. Geffen, “Violence in Pennsylvania in the 1840s and 1850s.” Pennsylvania History

“During the 1830s in rural areas of the U.S., riots for control of job sites broke out among rival labour teams which were from different parts of Ireland, as well as riots between Irish and local American work teams which competed for construction jobs.”

Prince, Carl E. (1985). “The Great ‘Riot Year’: Jacksonian Democracy and Patterns of Violence in 1834”. Journal of the Early Republic.

“The audio recording, “Immigrant Laborers in the Early 20th Century,” describes how West Virginia coal operators fired union laborers and gave the jobs to Irish, Italian and African-American workers because, “[the] coal company owned them.” This competition heightened class tensions and, at the turn of the century, Irish Americans were often antagonized by organizations such as the American Protective Association (APA) and the Ku Klux Klan.”

“Joining the Workforce,” Library of Congress

“....And in the opinion of many Americans, those British landlords were not sending their best people. These people were not like the industrious, Protestant Scotch-Irish immigrants who came to America in large numbers during the colonial era, fought in the Continental Army and tamed the frontier. These people were not only poor, unskilled refugees huddled in rickety tenements. Even worse, they were Catholic.

“The Irish filled the most menial and dangerous jobs, often at low pay. They cut canals. They dug trenches for water and sewer pipes. They laid rail lines. They cleaned houses. They slaved in textile mills. They worked as stevedores, stable workers and blacksmiths. Not only did working-class Americans see the cheaper laborers taking their jobs, some of the Irish refugees even took up arms against their new homeland during the Mexican-American War.

“When America Despised the Irish: The 19th Century’s Refugee Crisis,” History.com

“The Irish immigrants were most certainly not welcomed to America with open arms—quite to the contrary, they were accused of being dirty, vermin-ridden, and diseased. They were called criminals, rapists, and followers of a suspicious foreign religion and a foreign leader. People who had been in the U.S. longer said the Irish were taking jobs from American citizens.”

“The Irish Experience,” National Archive Foundation

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