Capgemini — A repulsive, disgraceful company with a toxic culture - Senior Software Engineer Capgemini Employee Review

Got a job offer from Capgemini? If you’re unemployed, bills are piling up, and you’ve got no real prospects, my advice is: TAKE IT! Take it, but keep looking for another job! Let me give you some context. I spent 10 years working as a freelancer in short mobile contracts — most of the time 1 month, rarely more than 3 — which gave me the opportunity to work for at least 30 companies in the UK. Capgemini was by far the worst. The absolute worst! To work at this company, every morning you should look in the mirror, spit in your own face, and then start your day. That’s the level. It’s a really bad company, with an extremely toxic, rigid culture — a bloated giant crushed under its own weight. I was part of Blue Harvest in the Financial Services division in the UK ; basically an “elite group” inside Capgemini, a very selective team they called distinct engineers. My multifaceted profile makes me an AI Architect, Software Engineer, Data Engineer, Integration Developer, and Platform Engineer. I already had AI experience before joining Capgemini and hold several certifications. And yet, despite having a strong, multi-functional background, during the 10 months I spent at Capgemini, I worked only 6 weeks ; simply because they couldn’t find a way to use me ; All the time I lost opportunities to the cheap offshore team. If Capgemini were the US Navy, Blue Harvest would be Top Gun. The best of the best in a company with over 400k employees. Well, that’s what it was supposed to be... In practice? Utterly mediocre people. The ones who get the highest salaries aren’t the sharpest minds, nor the most skilled engineers — they’re the ones with the gift of speech, the masters of rhetoric, the ones who can talk pretty and fake authority. Their only real “talent” is in their throat, not in their brain. That’s the type of “distinct engineer” Capgemini celebrates. That’s why I never identified with Blue Harvest. Because I’m the real deal ; the kind of professional who’s been quoted dozens of times in the press as a reference in the field. I’m not some smooth-talking suit. Being a Senior Engineer in BH/FS/UK automatically made me expensive. It’s not that I didn’t do well in client interviews ; the truth is I never even got the chance. Sales always prioritized offshore resources because they were cheaper. I never even got in front of the client because of my hourly rate. Capgemini’s business model is a lot like car rentals. Maybe you booked a cheap Fiat 500, but when you got there they handed you a Mustang, saying no Fiats were available and the upgrade was “courtesy.” We were the Mustangs. Offshore folks were the Fiat 500s. And just like in the rental business, keeping a car idle costs money ; sometimes more than the daily rental itself because the park bay are expensive and eventually they don't have available slots. The result? People sitting on the bench for 3, 4, even 8 months, collecting a salary and bleeding money for the company because Capgemini refused to negotiate better rates with clients - And thsi cause the skills of the associates to get in rust as well, so bad for the creer, very harmfull. They could’ve at least used that downtime to upskill people. Example: someone sat on the bench for 8 months, while I landed a 6-week project with a great client. That person could’ve been assigned ; even for free — and would’ve walked away with hands-on experience in AI, machine learning, agentic automations, and other cutting-edge areas. That’s how badly managed this company is. The truth is, Blue Harvest itself is a mistake. Nobody wants it, nobody asked for it, nobody needs a group of so-called “distinct engineers.” In those 10 months, not once did I see a client request one of us as a “premium resource.” The only times we got staffed was when clients didn’t care about costs and just paid without thinking. BH is a relic that might have made sense in the 90s. Today it’s completely pointless. Now you might be thinking: “Wait, you basically got paid for 9 months without working, and you’re complaining? Shouldn’t you be celebrating? That must’ve been amazing! You’re so ungrateful.” Wrong! Sitting on the bench drives you insane and as I said can leads your skills to the rust. It’s crystal clear that bench managers are instructed to bully the people sitting idle. Take all the company’s toxicity and multiply it by 5 ; that’s the bench. You’re treated like pure expense ; nothing else. And it doesn’t matter if it’s not your fault, or if offshore is cheaper. The goal is to make you quit voluntarily. It’s recurring to see associates lose their mind, freak out, run away and resign. You’re treated like a criminal, beaten down daily by guards with batons if you are on the bench. Speaking of toxicity... The people. In toxic environments, the only way to succeed is to embrace the toxicity. So yes, most people were awful. The company is overflowing with directors, and every single one of them thinks they’re your boss. They don’t hesitate to humiliate you, to treat you like garbage, and they expect you to kiss their boots because of their hierarquical position. A serious, well-managed company operates on a vertical hierarchy: you report to your direct manager, period. At Capgemini, it’s like the army ; if someone outranks you, you salute and take whatever humiliation they decide to dish out. And it happens constantly. The company is utterly incapable of living by its own values. During onboarding they tell you harassment is a red line and that if you’re harassed — no matter how far up the chain the perpetrator is ; you should report it to HR and action will be taken. Well, I was violently harassed, left shaken for two days with high blood pressure. I reported it. HR initially seemed supportive, said I was right — and then did nothing. I followed up with emails. Result? CRICKETS! Their giant slogan in the lobby reads: Get the future you want... A nice message that supposedly says employees can choose their own careers and futures. Really? I was advised to work with programming languages I had no interest in. I was even told to relocate to another country just to serve them. And the cherry on top: one director told me outright that I would work on projects based on Capgemini’s choices, and that I had no right to decide my own career. The same director, in another grotesque episode, told me I should “act like a dog digging through trash cans and grab whatever scraps I find.” That’s the level of human degradation in this place. This same director once made me travel from my city to London, spending a good amount of money on train tickets, just because his buddy — another director from Holland — was in town and needed company for a happy hour and beers. And speaking of jokes... this company that wants to position itself as a leader in AI literally blocks its employees from using AI!!! hahahahaha. Not only are you banned from using LLMs and chatbots, but even AI-related blogs are blocked by their security system!!! ahahahaha. Yet everyone is expected to “master AI.” It’s like a football coach saying it’s mandatory to win the championship, but training with a ball is strictly forbidden. You can’t even play FIFA on PlayStation !!! ahuahuahuahuahuahua. In the end, after that disgusting “dog digging in trash” episode, I decided to look for another job. How long do you think it took for an experienced AI Architect to find one? Two damn hours. While I was being pressured to relocate, to learn Java, and fed other stupid suggestions, the local market was desperately looking for people like me.