‘They’re all pretty sharp’: American software engineer backs Indian colleagues amid online abuse 

A US-based software engineer at hedge fund Citadel has publicly defended his Indian colleagues after a racially charged rant targeting Indian professionals surfaced on X (formally twitter), pushing back against stereotypes about workplace competence. 

John Freeman, a software engineer at Citadel, said many of the leaders he works with are Indian and praised their professionalism, technical expertise, and collaborative work culture. Responding to an X post that labelled Indian professionals as disruptive and habitually incompetent, Freeman wrote, “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,” Freeman said. He added that his colleagues “know this business inside and out,” work well with others, and communicate clearly. “Everyone is super friendly. They all speak English very well,” he wrote. 

Freeman also dismissed a recurring stereotype mentioned in the original post — that Indian professionals exaggerate urgency at work. “I’ve been here a year and never met an ‘everything is P1 urgent priority’ guy, of any race,” he said, noting that his previous Indian manager at another company was also “pretty good.” He concluded by saying that if someone consistently encounters incompetence at their workplace, “maybe your company just hires incompetents.” 

The comments were made in response to an X post that accused Indian colleagues of assigning unjustified “P1 super-urgent” labels to tasks and using intimidation rather than process or data. The post also referenced Madhu Gottumukkala, the Indian-origin acting director of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). 

Gottumukkala recently drew attention after a Politico report revealed that he had uploaded a sensitive document to ChatGPT, triggering an internal inquiry by the Department of Homeland Security. The report clarified that Gottumukkala had received prior permission to use the AI chatbot. 

Freeman’s defence comes at a time of heightened anxiety for Indian professionals in the US, particularly those on H-1B visas. Increased scrutiny of foreign workers, tighter immigration pathways, and a proposed $100,000 fee for new H-1B applications under President Donald Trump’s policy framework have intensified debate around the role of Indian talent in the American tech ecosystem. 

Who is Madhu Gottumukkala? 

Madhu Gottumukkala currently serves as Acting Director and Deputy Director of CISA, the agency tasked with safeguarding the cyber and physical infrastructure critical to US national security. 

Before joining CISA, he was Commissioner and Chief Information Officer of South Dakota’s Bureau of Information and Technology, where he oversaw statewide IT systems and cybersecurity operations. With more than 24 years of experience across government and the private sector, Gottumukkala also serves on the advisory committee of Dakota State University’s College of Business and Information Systems. 

Born in India, Gottumukkala earned his undergraduate engineering degree from Andhra University before moving to the US. He holds a PhD in Information Systems from Dakota State University, an MBA from the University of Dallas, and a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Arlington.