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Comment by strikelaserclaw | Hacker News Reader

I personally think Indians are very good at institutional politics in the western world compared to other groups, hence why they rise to prominent positions in established organizations.

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Can you explain what makes them good at it?

I’m guessing be a grade A yes-man has a lot to do with it.

In my experience many Indians are very career oriented (mean that with no criticism). Ie they focus on promotions, career advancements, power consolidation, and not as much on work as the end goal in itself. Again, not criticizing, just an observation. In some cases I wish I was more career oriented too.

"they focus on promotions, career advancements, power consolidation, and not as much on work as the end goal in itself."

If true, that behavior in anyone should be criticized. This sounds to me like "gaming the system."

I disagree. This is just a different relationship with work - not better and not worse. Being focused on career advancements doesn’t make them (sorry for generalizing again) worse engineers or worse colleagues. Eg I don’t care about my IC level and enjoy coding, someone else cares more about their IC level and enjoys coding. Why should I care?

Can you explain how focusing on "power consolidation" and not as much on the actual work makes someone a good colleague?

> Indians are very good at institutional politics

Yes. It's the how that gets me. Who needs problem solving when you can just bury them.

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