Pros
Path to promotion is very clear. #1. Be on the Management Track. #2. Bring in revenue. Lots of it. How you do it is your business. #3. Most important: make sure your bosses know that you're doing this. i write this as a pro because this is crystal clear and if you follow it, you WILL succeed in the company. Management makes no bones about it, and the financial results are proof. There's tons of nepotism, cliques and favoritism, but in the end its about money. This is a solidly run business whose primary focus is executing projects for their clients. If you align with this goal you will succeed. Cognizant used to be a very family friendly organization. In the recent past however, that has changed with size, predictably.
Cons
- its 100k strong now, but still very centrally controlled. A handful of people make all the decisions. - Middle management is stuck in the proverbial hell, so they strike at those below. - Size is making Cognizant the next Tata. Employees were "resources" before , they're pure bodies now, so getting work done is impossible. - Technology is important only if the client thinks it is. Do not join Cognizant expecting to remain a pure technologist. Competency Centres that exist have to constantly prove the need for their existence and/or shill for new business. Cognizant is not in the business of making products. - Also, Cognizant is not a technology leader, given its business model. Till ~2002, Mainframe was the top focus, and now its Java/dotnet. it will be RoR in a few years from now - when everyone else in the tech world have moved to the next big thing, but there'll be tons of legacy apps for Cognizant to maintain. - Old employees are no longer considered useful. There's an internal mantra of Cognizant "DNA". This applies to lateral hires from the past 4 years, not the people who have stuck with the company from when it used to be small.