Through working with teams in India, and spending a lot of time there over the years, I have several Indian friends working for Capgemini and Cognizant. The opinion I put forth (and it is just my opinion :) is based on what I've observed and also what friends and colleagues have told me.

Assuming these managers you mention were also Indian, couldn't their behaviour also be part of it being a 'cultural thing'?

When we mention 'cultural thing' it labels virtually everyone from India. There is vast difference between working in outsourced companies like CTS, Indian startups/ product-based companies.

true, these managers are Indians too :) They follow the rules set by their high management, it has to be company culture set by founders.

At the end of my parent comment I did specifically say I wasn't referring to all Indians - you'd have to be an absolute cretin to label all developers from a population of 1.2 billion.

If you are not referring to all Indians, as you mentioned, where is this 'cultural thing' coming from? I'm quite confused about, what you exactly mean by saying 'cultural thing'?

Edit: you mentioned many Indian wants to be managers and dont see development as career choice, I disagree. I view the situation as, many Indians forced to follow companies culture set by founders. There is difference between the two.

Edit2: >My Indian friends who work or worked at such companies tell me this comes not just from management and the company itself, but also from a desire for the perception of prestige; to appear 'important' to their families in particular.

hmm, i think your Indian friend shared wrong info with you. Indian Families doesn't know difference between manager or tech-lead, technical architect. Most often middle class families doesn't care about the designation in IT but they do care about salary :)

My Indian friends who work or worked at such companies tell me this comes not just from management and the company itself, but also from a desire for the perception of prestige; to appear 'important' to their families in particular.

In a population of 1.2 billion, of course not everyone fully buys in to this. I've had the pleasure of working with some Indian devs who were interested and excited by development, and saw a good, non-administrative career ahead of them irregardless of what others thought of them. Of course I never have this pleasure for long - they always leave for product companies, and usually get 200% or more salary into the bargain!

> hmm, i think your Indian friend shared wrong info with you. Indian Families doesn't know difference between manager or tech-lead, technical architect

No, but they know the difference between 'manager' and 'not a manager'. It's not just one friend, it's multiple people across Capgemini and Cognizant. You make a good point about salary being important, but it's far easier and more common to become a manager at Capgemini, Cognizant etc than it is to become a good developer anywhere.

What exactly groundbreaking stuff the product-based companies are doing in India? I know that some of them are good ore average. Rest of the people who work in these product based companies do similar work as these service companies except that they are highly paid and have much less politics.