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I'm an Indian immigrant working in a large Bay Area Tech company and caste is definitely a thing. At another tech company I worked at the CTO and everyone under

I'm an Indian immigrant working in a large Bay Area Tech company and caste is definitely a thing. At another tech company I worked at the CTO and everyone under him i.e 4/6 VPs was Brahmin. An anecdote - I tried to get a position in the CTO organization and the first question his underling asked me was my full name. Now, corporate email already has your first and last name but he was fishing for my "caste" name. He also wanted to know were my parents were from. Now it's possible he wanted to find some common ground, but for people who are not from the upper castes and part of the inner circle. You don't know, if this question is going to be used to give you less preferential treatment. I'm not saying the majority of upper caste folks discriminate, in fact I got my first job due to someone who was upper caste referring me. But there definitely are some bad apples. Based on my off the cuff discussion with other Indians, they've definitely noticed preferential treatment within Brahmins and certain upper castes especially when they make up the vast majority of the workforce (80%+)

xxxyz 4y ago
How did you know upper management caste? I find quite a few Indians have been using their fathers name as their lastname. Did you go by caste or color of skin to make the determination.
- thwy_castech 4y ago
  In this particular case I knew because we're all from the same state. The Brahmins from the state wear a sacred thread, and on occasions will smear ash on their foreheads in a particular pattern. One would wear the thread visibly outside his shirt. You can also know based on the last name, skin tone (very light compared to other South indians) and office gossip fills in the rest. One of the VPs mentioned his caste in an after hours drinks party once, I was amused but not shocked.
  - snovv_crash 4y ago
    Just curious, what stops Indians from faking a different caste? Wear the thread, smear the ash, get a name change, use sunblock if you'll be in the sun, and suddenly by choice you are a Brahmin? What am I missing?

xxxyz 4y ago

How did you know upper management caste? I find quite a few Indians have been using their fathers name as their lastname. Did you go by caste or color of skin to make the determination.

thwy_castech 4y ago
In this particular case I knew because we're all from the same state. The Brahmins from the state wear a sacred thread, and on occasions will smear ash on their foreheads in a particular pattern. One would wear the thread visibly outside his shirt. You can also know based on the last name, skin tone (very light compared to other South indians) and office gossip fills in the rest. One of the VPs mentioned his caste in an after hours drinks party once, I was amused but not shocked.
- snovv_crash 4y ago
  Just curious, what stops Indians from faking a different caste? Wear the thread, smear the ash, get a name change, use sunblock if you'll be in the sun, and suddenly by choice you are a Brahmin? What am I missing?