People are so stuck on what Cisco used to be that they can't see the forest for the tree. Yes, things have changed a lot but this is still a better place to work in the industry than 90 percent of the alternatives. Pay is still good, benefits are among the better ones, and I still do interesting work. Constant layoffs are a huge problem, I agree, and the culture has shifted, but that doesn't mean everything else is as awful as some are presenting it.
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On the software side Cisco used to be garbage and they still are. The only thing to be pined for were stock options that made millionaires out of people who should never have been employed in the first place.
Don’t cut and paste a bowl of water into an ocean and you’ll never need to boil that ocean.
"if the company provided exposure to interesting technologies"
It does. You're just complacent and lazy. Many of our softwy runs on K8s. We have cloud form-factor appliances. Have you bothered learning the underlying technologies? No? Then you're the problem.
How has the culture shifted?
I think we need engineers to come forward and demand meeting with Chuck! Only we know proper strategy and executions to turn company to innovative engine. We need to fix sales people maybe get rid because all they do is lie and create nightmares for development. They are devils and one sales lady in atlanta got two peoples on my team in trouble because they told customer truth on roadmap and feature bugs. She make complaints up to sales vp who called my boss to punish us. Sales people horrible in this company. We must review with Chuck to make Cisco technology leader and note sales sl--e woke house with serparnts waiting to bite if you tell truth to customers.
i loves cisco, me not live if no cisco.
#1 IT company, period!
Cisco is so far below industry standards it can't even be viewed as a stepping stone. The experience obtained is pretty much useless outside of the company.
I'd take below average pay if the company provided exposure to interesting technologies or projects. Powerpoints and managing up isn't desired by recruiters in 2022.
Individuals acting as if complaints are the problem, instead of working to fix the problems that are being complained about... is part of the problem.
I will be one of the first to say there are good aspects of working at Cisco. Great work/life balance (in most teams), decent pay for the work required of us (lower than some, but higher than some also), genuine consideration by most managers for thoughtful diversity and quality team connections while not getting too "woke" about it (can't say the same for the general culture being pushed by the top though), lots of PTO, good benefits.
But the systemic problems are also real and worth considering (and fixing). The political pushing of all things "woke" ESG by the top is obnoxious and hampers productivity significantly (we don't need 3 meetings a week on diversity - everyone at Cisco is pretty comfortable with diversity or they wouldn't be here). Yearly LRs have ki---d moral and gutted the experience level of teams to the point that it's people who know nothing teaching others who know nothing. The pre-meetings to the pre-meetings to the meetings all to have a pointless final meeting really need to stop (effective companies are managing these workstreams via memos and saving thousands of hours of employee resource hours).
The list could go on.
But listening to these problems and solving them needs to happen if we are ever going to move away from the mess and establish ourselves as a functional tech company before the street gets word that we don't have any high quality products any more and are resting on laurels that have for the most part - faded.
Cisco is like a sh-t sandwich. Everyone has to eat one. The only difference is that the higher you are on the chain, the more bread you get.
PS: Cisco pay is at least 25% below industry average. Probably more if you’ve been there a long time.
"So much complaining for no good reason"
Is that you Fran?
Most of the people are complaining about Cisco here because most of the issues were/are “created” by our own people. It wasn’t due to direct competitor, but the leadership and management allow the competitor to success by disinvesting in innovation and engineering. Yes, there are people in Cisco who love to work. But there are equally or more people who are frustrated or unsatisfied. This can be due to multiple reasons. We know that grass is not green on other side. But why we are complaining is because we have enough grass but stopping us watering or nurturing to get it green again. People who like to build new things, innovate, fix issues for quality, to add new feature for competitive advantage, for self-development to keep skills updated as per trend and market, merit-based promotion and compensation etc etc etc all these are real reasons an employee may face. So when we gauge employee who experienced more on the negative side then positive side is the reason for the list of complains below