Pros
- Cognizant was the first company to offer me an interview after months of applications. - Salary range discussed during recruitment.
Cons
- Bullying and harassment by management: One of the managers subjected me to ongoing mistreatment, which HR and other senior staff failed to address. Despite raising concerns, no corrective action was taken. - False accusations leading to disciplinary action: Instead of resolving the issues I faced, management initiated a formal disciplinary process against me based on fabricated claims, clearly intended to justify my dismissal rather than addressing concerns in good faith. - Poor training and misleading job expectations: The position was advertised as training experienced Android developers for Reverse Engineering roles, yet training was unstructured and insufficient, making it impossible to meet expectations without excessive extra hours. Despite this, I still maintained high accuracy rates and received positive feedback. - Rigid working hours despite contract stating flexibility: The job was advertised as offering flexible hours, even reflected in the contract, allowing for up to two hours less or more each day. However, the actual schedule was strictly enforced as 9 AM–6 PM with a mandatory lunch break from 1 PM–2 PM and required meetings at 9:30 AM and 2 PM sharp. Despite being available during these hours, consistently meeting task requirements, and even working through lunches and beyond normal hours due to the unpredictable effort required for each app, I was still falsely accused of working fewer hours. - Unreasonable demands and shifting policies: Employees were suddenly required to be in the office daily instead of once per week, with no reasonable justification. Meanwhile, the manager enforcing this rule was not held to the same standard and conducted all training remotely via Google Meet. - Hidden contract risks regarding hybrid work: The contract does not explicitly state that the role is hybrid, allowing management to suddenly justify forcing employees into daily office attendance. - Attempts to communicate concerns were ignored by managers, including a formal email detailing why I could not attend in person every day. - The manager enforcing this rule was not even working on two of the required in-office days. - Despite working in full on those days, my pay was deducted for three days without any prior warning that my work would not be accepted. - HR and management failings: Concerns raised about workplace treatment and fairness were repeatedly ignored, contributing to a toxic and unprofessional work environment. Warning to prospective applicants: A relocation allowance was offered during recruitment to relocate to Lisbon, Portugal, but under the contract, employees must repay this amount if they leave before completing a year at the company. - Harassment and toxic conditions escalated two months before I could resign with sufficient notice to avoid repayment. - Formal accusations leading to my dismissal were served just five days before I could resign. - Out of the group of four of us who joined in Lisbon in April 2023, two resigned in January due to these conditions. - At least one of these colleagues who left in January after some similar harassment was unexpectedly required to repay the allowance two months after leaving.