[kamaal]

>>It explained a lot of the dynamics I had already observed, like why one of the best engineers in the place had never been promoted

Its not just promotions. It manifests every where. Job interviews, bonus payouts, onsite foreign work opportunities.

If you are a part of a minority group you are expected to be just too awesome compared to your peer groups to even qualify for basic things.

The whole system works in a way that you have to continually outperform your peer group to even qualify working at the current levels. When people say the system is merit based(It's not), they basically mean its a ruthless culling process where even small missteps from a minority person could mean the person losing years.