Thread regarding Cisco Systems Inc. layoffs

How many principal engineers at CIsco

Can someone search the directory and tell me how many principal engineers Cisco got?

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| 2841 views | | 21 replies (last May 11, 2025) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+1jtr4yh7b

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I have seen PEs that do not know STDIO...

Many colleges and universities don't use C in undergraduate programs so for some it's something they only learn after graduation.

I'm talking bigger picture things you need to do the systems work before you get to coding that can be explained in ways most young children can grasp, like the computer science concept called the Pigeonhole principle or its engineering equivalent "you can't fit 1000lbs of dried p00p in a 5lb bag." This is just one item in a very long list.

If you've done large scale complex systems for a career you should have learned it's not enough to learn first principles but to spend a lifetime refining how you apply them to ever increasingly larger and more complex systems. Cisco's metrics strongly punish this behavior which is why even if people at any level come in with some skills those skills quickly die and people just stop thinking and shoot from the hip.

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Post ID: @p4+1jtr4yh7b
I'm talking about first principles stuff which hasn't changed in decades

I have seen PEs that do not know STDIO(in DC BU)... do you even have computer degree? oh you are an IIT with non-computer background but have lots of buddies in Cisco and good for Cisco Job and eligible for working visa because you are better than any USA trash? what the he-l.. only god can fix this company.

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Post ID: @nj+1jtr4yh7b
could never work or completely failing

wonder how those PEs get there?
Hired/Promoted(real power) by other G13 parasite(Dir/SrDir/VP)?

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Post ID: @kc+1jtr4yh7b
I have not seen any PE at Cisco make decent contribution to cause that much loss...

Many single decisions have choked teams by either trying to do something that obviously could never work or completely failing to specify and/or design in obviously necessary features up front which are extremely expensive to correct for later causing the number of bodies on projects to skyrocket and end dates to slip significantly resulting in project budgets being exceeded by factors of dozens and overall programs to be late by years if they weren't outright cancelled. Like avalanches they're really hard to stop once everything starts failing.

Looking well beyond individual decisions, a while back Cisco was spending the vast majority of its development budget on bug fixing which at the time didn't require many years to cross the ten billion barrier, and Cisco has been failing at that for decades. Add to that acquisitions which total well over a hundred billion not even adjusting for inflation and I doubt most at Cisco really grasp the costs of Cisco's inability to do development.

...most of them i have seen either do nothing...

I wish!

...or steal credit from others...

I've seen stealing of more than credit.

...or do a work of a software level 4 engineer.

I saw no computer science, software engineering, programming language, data structures, operating system, systems, domain, etc... skills which means they couldn't perform at any level from Engineer 1 to PE, and I worked with a lot of PEs at Cisco. I'm not talking about weird esoteric knowledge about the latest developments, I'm talking about first principles stuff which hasn't changed in decades, and it's not just that they don't know but are unable to learn.

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Post ID: @gt+1jtr4yh7b
debating skills

or make bunch of useless patents to become Distinguished engineer

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Post ID: @fq+1jtr4yh7b
PE is a political position at Cisco

right, need debating skills like most IIT's have and deliver nothing !!

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Post ID: @fk+1jtr4yh7b

PE is a political position at Cisco. Lots of BS, PPT and brown nose required.

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Post ID: @fh+1jtr4yh7b
PE makes individual mistakes that have costs starting in the tens of millions each

I have not seen any PE at Cisco make decent contribution to cause that much loss, most of them i have seen either do nothing or steal credit from others or do a work of a software level 4 engineer.

Olden days PE is different from now a days PE (same for TL).

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Post ID: @en+1jtr4yh7b
singleton PE does not do much damage to Cisco...

When a singleton PE makes individual mistakes that have costs starting in the tens of millions each, far more than anything they contribute to offset that, they do much damage to Cisco.

...Directors... they literally have super powers in Cisco w.r.t hiring and firing...

Hence the astounding incompetence of every PE I worked with at Cisco. Just remember the Cisco pledge of allegiance, "it was far more difficult than anyone could have predicted!" despite formally written and reviewed documentation from others at the beginning of projects explaining exactly how and why the chosen approaches would fail.

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Post ID: @e7+1jtr4yh7b

@OP
seems outsider/ex-Cisco.. ?? are you researching something??

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Post ID: @d9+1jtr4yh7b

@d4

singleton PE does not do much damage to Cisco, at most hog couple of extra bucks.. (in billion$ its a drop in bucket).. Its the people with power in same grade level like Directors... they literally have super powers in Cisco w.r.t hiring and firing...

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Post ID: @d6+1jtr4yh7b

Comining two threads, average G13 and above gets $500k.

Total G13 R&D: 500k x 3000 = $1.5B

Test 37k engineers R &D expense $8B - $1.5B/37k = $175k per engineer.

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Post ID: @d4+1jtr4yh7b

worst is useless/egoistic Directors (G13) at same level, they do more damage than singleton PE. Like hiring buddies and promoting buddies...bla.bla.bla...

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Post ID: @d1+1jtr4yh7b

SBG has too many and they add absolutely no value to the business. They all are powerpoint making machines and no one understands what they are talking about. And they are also experts at bullying others.

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Post ID: @c3+1jtr4yh7b
Step 1: Total Cisco Employees
Cisco has ~90,400 employees as of July 27, 2024
Step 2: % of Employees at ‘Principal’ Level
Estimated between 2% and 4% hold the title “Principal”
Low estimate: 2% × 90,400 = ~1,808
High estimate: 4% × 90,400 = ~3,616
Step 3: Cross-check with H1B Data
~1,000 H1B hires in 2024
~1% had “Principal” in title → ~10
Assume 20% of Principals are external hires
→ Total new Principals in 2024 ≈ 10 ÷ 0.20 = ~50
This aligns with thousands of existing Principals if 50 are added annually
Final Estimate
Estimated number of Principal-level employees at Cisco: between ~1,800 and ~3,600
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Post ID: @bh+1jtr4yh7b

You can see the H1B hires for 2024 here: @OP+1jtrytecv or https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1jtrytecv

there is about 1000 hires on that list.

There is about 1% with 'principal' title.

You can assume that 20% at that level are external hires, the rest are promos.

I'd guess that 2% to 4% is at the 'principal' level.

May be off a bit but that's probably the order of magnitude.

Figure out the # of emp from below to calculate the final estimate...

================

You asked:

go to cisco's 10k and tell me the number of employees

ChatGPT said:

As of July 27, 2024, Cisco Systems employed approximately 90,400 people globally, including all acquisitions made by that date.
This reflects an increase from approximately 84,900 employees reported at the end of fiscal year 2023.
However, in 2024, Cisco announced two rounds of layoffs, each affecting about 4,000 employees, as part of a strategic shift toward higher-growth areas like cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.
These workforce reductions may not yet be fully reflected in the reported employee count.
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Post ID: @bg+1jtr4yh7b

you missed a zero, its 90000

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Post ID: @aq+1jtr4yh7b

I’m seeing over 9000 in the directory. HTH.

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Post ID: @ap+1jtr4yh7b

they have been outsourced to india

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Post ID: @ac+1jtr4yh7b

Too many, and everyone totally worthless.

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Post ID: @aa+1jtr4yh7b

Sir, this is a complaints department...

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Post ID: @a9+1jtr4yh7b

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