Cisco is great place to learn about dysfunctional company culture, extremely poor executive ("leadership"), and yourself. It is very easy to waste your life there if you are unfortunate enough to not be laid off. You also learn about innovation theater, reverse discrimination, anti-meritocracy, and working. These should be considered advanced courses certainly important but best attempted later in your journey... after you have experienced the opposite of Cisco (a non toxic environment). I barely survived it and I had worked for many great companies poor to Cisco. It's like the proverbial frog in the pot... before you know it you are cooked. Great pay great people with regular industrial scale parties (Cisco Live etc) make it hard to exit alive.
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If you’re early in your career, accept the offer to get started and make some money but realize 2 things. One, if you overcommit to Cisco, you’ll get burned because eventually you will be fired; regardless of how good you are. For that reason, always keep your options open and be ready to transition to your next company at a moment’s notice. Secondly, what you learn while with Cisco is tainted. Everything you are hearing about politics and favoritism, poor leadership, etc., is true. In many ways you will learn how awful the corporate world can be.
19 yr Cisconian fella here. My honest $.02 here. I have been thru 4 layoffs during my 19 yrs, and each layoff was like hitting the lottery (a time to reset my life). I often felt I was a target, but I never burned bridges. I was able to resurface back to Cisco with lesser friends each time (hip-hip-hooray). Each time I left Cisco, I was able to complete all my life's to-do lists. If you are young .. and you join. My advice is.. 1. Do not buy a new car, but instead purchase a hooptie. 2. Do not buy a house without some "sweat equity". 3. Have a side hustle on the side. 4. If you are sick/unwell.. use your day(s). Take yourself a mental health day each month (go fishing, watch the Flintstones/Jetsons/Munsters/The Office). I love my Cisco, but it the dynamics have been changed. Enjoy the ride and fasten your seat-belt.
@cs+1k37temzn ---> Said it best. What was once a great company is no longer. Cisco has become too big, too top heavy, too political, with too many policies, too many procedures, too many layoffs, too much management, and way too much red tape. On the flip side, it's a steady paycheck with good benefits.
Good if you are young and seeking experience.
The Cisco from 25+ years ago, the same Cisco who once dominated and was a leader in the networking industry? That company has been long gone for several years.
Landscapes have changed. Workloads have shifted to cloud. Cisco is trying to shift into cybersecurity, observability and now AI via acquisitions. It's an old company who scrapped their R&D years ago in favor of sales and marketing.
Many on this forum remember when Cisco was mighty. From 1995-early 2000's Cisco seemed unstoppable. They provided great retirement packages and were a place everyone sought to work. Similar a FAANG in the present day.
Now, they are only a shadow of their former selves. The old timers here are legitimately upset because they remember when Cisco was a better company. Now they are just a shell of their former selves, propelled by marketing hype, annual layoffs, and the constant offshoring of jobs or eliminating jobs held by US citizens and replacing them with H1B's. Nobody dares speak out because they are silenced by NDA's required for severance packages. Be quiet, take your money and walk.
Don't plan a long career. Get your experience and move on. Or you will end up like some of the people on this forum who worked for Cisco 10+ years and find themselves laid off, middle aged, and concerned they are still marketable in the current tech market.
It depends. You need to see what's your background and what's your career goal. You need to see what kind of company Cisco is, if it matches your long term goals, then it's a great fit, otherwise not much.
lots of Cisco-bashing comments here suddenly getting mass downvotes
I wonder if Cisco HR has discovered this beacon of truth and is trying to brigade it out of existence
Cisco is now what Kodak was in the 1980s.
Cisco is named after a bridge in San Francisco and started by making computer networking equipment. Bridges, Hubs & Routers. They caught a huge updraft with the DotCom bubble and for a brief moment, 25 years ago, was the most valuable company in the world (sort of like the AI updraft that made Nvidia the current bubble darling)
They have been chasing their glory years ever since but they can never succeed. Why?
it is the same story every time. They are a network equipment seller. they make switches. everyone (except for them, apparently) only thinks of "switch" or "router" when the name Cisco comes up.
They are trying desperately to become "AI" in the mind of the consumer. just like they tried to become "Software", "Collaboration", "Cloud" in years past. Each of those efforts were late and eroded their core business (switching). Kodak sold film and film cameras. They died when they tried selling printers, digital cameras and other stuff.
Would you buy a suit from Starbucks?
Would you buy a computer from CocaCola?
Cisco keeps forgetting who they are, This time it is the G2 bespoke AI surge (literally 3 years too late) Hypesheild? AI Defence? AI,AI,AI. Now the music is stopping and even the AI Gold Rush shovel seller (Nvidia) and hypemaster (OpenAI) are showing major signs of weakness.
customers who were very happy with Cisco core competency are now frustrated when they try to buy a switch and get the "AI" hard sell. Cisco is too late (Cisco is always late)
beware of those saying "this time is different"
Bubbles burst. every. single. time.
If you can land the right job that pays well and has a good manager aka good work life balance it can be a great place to coast
Layoffs happen but you get a good severance so you just have to be constantly networking
Do not hop aboard a sinking ship, it will derail your career.
Cisco only makes the news for layoffs, never for innovation or even making tons of money. So the longer your Cisco stint on your resume, you end up getting tarred with that brush, like it or not.
Cisco employees are in a cold war with their own leaders. This happens in every failing org. Why do you want to be a part of this?
If you do join, you will be recognized only as a cost and you need to understand that someone at Cisco dreams about relocating your work to Bangalore. This isn't hyperbole, the Bangalore team is growing quickly.
Anyone who says its a great place to work is part of the problem. This place has no innovation and sense of urgency. Run as fast as you can if you are ambitious.
It’s a great resume builder at the least
Remote option is great, although no matter where you go if you’re early in career, I recommend going to the office.
Cisco is a huge company. Your manager and team will be the main factors on whether you like the job or not.
You have to realize the vibe on this website is primarily negative… go to Glassdoor for feedback
If you are in need of a job and nothing else to choose from, then there is not much of discussion here. Would you rather wait and continue to seek vs jump on something is concrete? I won't and I may continue to look even I am on-board.
If you are an EIC (Early in Career) person and looking for experience - then you need to judge on those who interviewed you and what you are going to involve (technologies wise). Chances are you will move on in 2-4 years to your next gig.
Cisco has a repetitive history of layoffs the last couple of years and tends to cut frontline employees first, not necessarily the bloated management layers. Focus on building skills you can take easily elsewhere if needed
Stay away