US-Based Techie Praises Indian Colleagues, Counters Stereotypes: "They're All Pretty Sharp"

John Freeman, a New York-based software engineer at Citadel, countered another user who tried to malign Indian professionals with racist stereotypes. In a blunt response, Freeman said that "they're [Indians] all pretty sharp" and "super friendly". Freeman's remarks come amid discussions on diversity and inclusion in the tech industry. He emphasises the strong work ethic and intellectual capabilities of Indians, highlighting their valuable contributions to the industry.

The post Freeman responded to was by an account named Brotherhood. In the post, it was claimed that Indians treated every task as 'urgent', even if it wasn't. "One class of Indian incompetence that rarely gets talked about is 'Everything is P1 urgent priority' guy," the post read.

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"I used to be part of a global implementation team a long time ago when I was a wagie at a large well-known tech org. We'd triage projects and assess when they could be reasonably rolled out within deployment pipelines. There was always - and I mean always - one Indian guy whose pet project was P1 super-urgent must-be-delivered yesterday. Luckily we had a change control meeting where a case had to be made for why your work was priority."

See the post here:

Let's talk about Indian competence. My team lead is Indian. My boss is Indian. His boss, who hired both of us, is Indian. His boss, the CTO, is Indian. They're all pretty sharp! They know this business inside and out. They work well with others. Everyone is super friendly. They… https://t.co/CjyrH60BXl

— John Freeman (@thejohnfreeman) January 31, 2026

In response, Freeman said, "Let's talk about Indian competence. My team lead is Indian. My boss is Indian. His boss, who hired both of us, is Indian. His boss, the CTO, is Indian. They're all pretty sharp! They know this business inside and out. They work well with others. Everyone is super friendly. They all speak English very well."

"I've been here a year and never met an 'everything is P1 urgent priority' guy, of any race. My last boss at my last company was Indian and he was pretty good too. If everyone you run into at your company is incompetent, then maybe your company just hires incompetents," he added.

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Social Media Reactions

Freeman's comments have sparked praise for promoting awareness and appreciation of diverse talent. The post reached over 414,600 users. Nearly 5,000 liked it, and dozens commented on it. 

"John, one way I look at this is that you have joined and stayed on Twitter long enough to trust you. Other guys are behaving in the latest pattern of Indian hate and making up stuff. Or using one off experience for spreading hate. I have myself worked for Indian, US, German and Japanese leadership, so I can say most leaders are quite similar. Indian leaders can be demanding at times, but the incompetence part is impossible at top level. You can't get away with that," one user wrote in the comment section.

"That's a sharp & proof-heavy response," another user wrote.

A third user called it "perfect response".