Musk's "Great Purge" caused shock
"Musk purged executives of Indian origin!" On April 27, a piece of news sparked heated discussions in Silicon Valley and even the national technology circle.
According to internal sources, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has quietly conducted a "purge" of Indian-origin executives in the past few months. Dozens of executives have been affected, forced to leave or marginalized.
This really makes a group of Indian-origin technologists feel "flesh pain". They have asked whether Musk's actions are suspected of "racial discrimination"? After all, Indians are the "mainstay" of Silicon Valley!
The rampaging Indian code farmer class
According to statistics, there are as many as 300,000 software engineers of Indian origin working in Silicon Valley alone, accounting for about a quarter of the entire Silicon Valley code farmers. If you connect with foreign workers from Chinese mainland and other Asian descent, foreign coders have become the main force in Silicon Valley.
Looking back at the history of Silicon Valley, its prosperity was not based solely on local talent. In fact, since the 90s of the 20th century, Silicon Valley has provided huge human support with the help of a large number of Indian and Chinese programmers. At that time, the irony was even jokingly said that it was impossible to kill the "Indian miscellaneous man".
Especially 15 years ago, venture capitalists such as Soros put forward the concept of "gathering talents", and Indians further seized the commanding heights of Silicon Valley with their solid professional education and low cost.
Now, a group of Indian-origin executives have emerged as benchmarks in Silicon Valley. Google, Microsoft, Oracle and other tech giants are all Indian-born bigwigs.
However, just when they were fruitful, they were hit hard by Musk.
The high-ranking Indians were hit hard
According to sources, the Indian-origin executives who were "purged" by Musk for no reason can be described as household names.
Among them is Tesla's former hero RajR, who is the chief engineer of Tesla's battery system. At the same time, KRD, SpaceX's senior vice president of operations, is also among the "sufferers".
And the GZS team, which plays an important role in SpaceX's Starlink program, has been hit hard. There are videos showing that their group was subjected to "special treatment" at the gate of the company.
Although it is rare for a first-tier company like Tesla to see Indian-origin executives "purged", Musk's reason for doing so is not "groundless".
Judging from internal rumors, Musk does have a lot of criticism about Indian-origin executives. On more than one occasion, he has publicly criticized Indians for their "fearless" and "unrealistic" style of doing things.
Musk even bluntly said that since some Indian-origin executives intervened in the company's operations, the project progress could no longer catch up with the plan. Whenever progress is difficult, these "Indian top students" do nothing and throw the responsibility on the lower-level Indian employees.
"We must prevent Indian familialism from spreading to companies. Musk said, "Otherwise, this traditional habit will ruin the corporate culture sooner or later." "
This kind of tough rhetoric more or less reveals Musk's inner "colored glasses" for Indians. However, he did say that he did not mean to discriminate against employees of Indian origin. He simply asks the company's employees to "be productive, regardless of skin color."
Employees are fighting among themselves
Investigating the reasons for this, Musk's dissatisfaction with Indian-origin executives, in addition to their work attitude, is more reported by internal employees.
According to Tesla insiders, with the rapid expansion of Musk's company, a large number of Indian employees have been recruited, and an atmosphere of "camp separation" has gradually emerged in the company.
On the one hand, many Indian employees like to "form cliques" and engage in familialism. They are accustomed to plugging in friends and family and then monopolizing the line of business for outsourcing.
Once Indians occupy a large number of jobs, they will intensify their efforts to obstruct the work of local employees, which will seriously affect the efficiency of the company.
On the other hand, there are also many Indian employees who simply "sell" company secrets in an attempt to pursue their own interests. For example, SpaceX's KRD has been accused of stealing and leaking confidential information about the Starlink program.
The victims were more likely to be non-Indian employees. They have been subjected to all kinds of personal attacks and ostracism, deprived of promotion opportunities, and their living conditions have become more and more deplorable.
As a result, batches of accusations and real-name reports poured into Musk's office. Musk, as the helmsman, naturally cannot sit idly by and watch this infighting ferment.
The truth is very high, and Uncle will not let him go
There is no doubt that Musk's big move can be described as setting off a wave of "de-Indianization" in Silicon Valley.
Objectively speaking, Indian employees do have some problems with work attitudes and cultural differences. Originating from the tribal culture of India, they place too much emphasis on personal relationships and neglect discipline.
Many tech companies have complained that hiring Indian-born employees often comes with huge overhead costs. Not only does it hinder internal integration, but it also susceptible to slackness and corruption.
Whether this represents the "inferiority of the whole Indian" is obviously not so arbitrary. After all, Indians have also contributed significantly to the Silicon Valley tech scene. For SpaceX's rocket technology alone, the credit of Narayan, the "father of astronautics" in India, is undeniable.
Therefore, Musk's "sweeping" operation is not a "catch" for all Indians. I believe that as long as Indian employees can follow the rules and work diligently, they can still gain a foothold in Musk's company.
Of course, under the trend of "de-Indianization", Silicon Valley may soon form a new talent pattern dominated by Europe and the United States.
The new generation of Silicon Valley has surfaced
Although Musk's "purge" operation has caused Indians to suffer, they still occupy the dominant position in Silicon Valley and it is difficult to completely replace them in the short term.
However, under this wave of de-Indianization, a new force is being nurtured in the Silicon Valley tech scene. They include native whites in Europe and the United States, other Asian immigrants, and even "returnees" from Chinese mainland.
These new generations of tech talent are beginning to compete in Silicon Valley, gradually replacing Indians in some fields. For example, cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing are mostly dominated by white Europeans and Americans; The Internet, security software and other subdivisions are the home of China's high-end talents.
One of the most eye-catching is Musk's SpaceX. It is reported that after the departure of KRD and other executives, the main force of SpaceX's Starlink project is now "dominated by Chinese".
Mr. Huang, a computer Ph.D. student from Zhejiang, is the "trader" of the Starlink command center. The internal photos that leaked out of his hand showed that the entire Starlink control room staff were mostly Asian faces.
"In the past, it was still the 'Indian brothers' who were in the majority. Mr. Huang said, "Now that the 'China Pass' has come together, our atmosphere will be much better." "
He is quite satisfied with the work style of this group of newcomers. They are quick to get started and decisive, which is not at all like the braggadocio of the previous Indian-origin employees.
These returnees are not only capable of learning, but also highly innovative. For example, a group of technicians have created their own starlink detection system and successfully solved several world problems.
"If Starlink is going to succeed, it depends on you 'turtles'!" Musk is full of praise.
In the field of artificial intelligence, a young Harvard scholar, John Rajetz, is eye-catching. With the help of deep learning algorithms, this white guy has successfully overcome a number of problems in the AI world.
Musk praised his achievements on social media, and the two formed a revolutionary friendship as a result. Many Silicon Valley veterans are even more confident in Rajetz's future.
"Indians have limited cultivation, and I am afraid that such a high-end intellectual activity as AI is really not worthy of them. An old coder said.
With Musk's determination to purge Indian-origin employees, it will surely accelerate the replacement of new and old tech talents in Silicon Valley. At that time, perhaps the technology industry, including Musk, will get rid of the "baggage" of Indian culture and enter a new era.