SHOCKING: Indian man becomes US citizen, now drives Uber, reason is…

An Indian-American technology professional, who spent more than 15 years working in the United States, is now working as an Uber driver after being laid off from Cognizant. Ronald Netawat shared the Uber driver’s tale on X.

Viral Post: Ronald Netawat, founder of a San Francisco-based startup, shared a story of an Indian-born US citizen who is driving cab service Uber after he was fired from his job. Netawat was shocked when he booked an Uber ride and a swanky Tesla arrived to pick him up. When he started a conversation with the Uber driver, the driver, who was in his late 40s, revealed that he was an Indian and arrived in the United States 20 years ago. During the conversation, the driver told Netawat that he built a nice career in the tech industry but was recently fired by Cognizant, forcing him to drive a cab.

A Shocking Take Of A Driver – From Apple to Uber

Ronald Netawat, Founding Research Engineer at Antim Labs, shared a post on X, sharing the story of the Uber driver who came to pick him. As per Netawat, the driver had 25 years of experience in project management.

The unnamed Indian driver arrived in US back in 2007 on an H-1B visa. Here he worked in several big companies like – Verizon and Apple, became CTO of an IT company, he even obtained US citizenship after spending 15 years in the country. But his life took a drastic turn when the man was laid off by Cognizant, forcing him to drive a cab.

Instead of hunting for another job, the Indian-American man decided to drive a cab.

Ronald Netawat wrote on X, “SF is insane. Took an Uber. a blue Tesla Model Y. Indian driver, late 40s. 25 years of PM experience, ex-Apple, Verizon, and a CTO of an IT company. Came to USA in 2007 on an H-1B and became a citizen after 15 years. Got laid off by Cognizant as a PM, and now drives an Uber.”

pic.twitter.com/eKILG4SZUY

— eigenron (@eigenron) November 13, 2025

He also shared screenshots of the driver’s LinkedIn profile.

Unending Debate Over H-1B Visa

The post immediately went viral, sparking an online debate on the H-1B visa, which allows skilled professionals of other countries to temporarily live and work in the United States. The visa program has made several headlines and has come under increasing scrutiny recently over people of other countries taking away jobs from Americans.

• “Exactly the kind of people H1b was not intended for. From mediocre college, body shop experience, ‘manager’, chucked out because they finally discovered he couldn’t code,” a user wrote.
• “Going by his LinkedIn it seems like he did not write or understand any code. He probably shouldn’t have been a high skilled/high income tech employee in the first place, in this case the layoff & subsequent career change was just market correcting the zirp era mistakes,” another user commented.
• “Brother, he drives an uber because he likes it. With that resume and work experience he has to be good financially,” another user wrote.