A colleague who recently left admitted to me at the end that having Cisco on resume did not help him much to get a better job. Moreover, he says that the fact that he stayed here longer than he had initially planned made everything much more difficult for him. I'm getting sick of this place because I'm not progressing in my career and I'm starting to wonder if there are any benefits to staying here much longer?
14 replies (most recent on top)
Working hard and overworking are different. Clearly, working for a company that doesn’t allow for personal time or a healthy lifestyle is not what anyone wants.
It’s a personal choice. Some people want to coast with a job that doesn’t ask much, yet doesn’t give much beyond a salary.
Others want to feel challenged, or that their work is making a meaningful difference, or that they are professionally growing.
Again, to each his own. However, it’s up to each of us to find the job that meets what is personally important to us.
As far as surveys, depends on how they are designed and conducted, and the dynamic behind political surveys or the spin given to their results is not in any way an indication of the value and validity of quantitative research.
"Not doing hard work has never been a top driver in employee satisfaction."
It depends heavily on how the question is worded. Example:
Q1. Would you like to work hard to make 150K a year?
Q2. Would you like to work just the right amount to make 150K a year?
Compensation might not be the #1 concern in surveys, yet everybody here keeps complaining they're not making enough. I take surveys results with a grain of salt, much like pre-election polls.
"You can just make money with no hard work."
“What's wrong with that, please enlighten us?”
I guess to each his own, however if you look at employee surveys, income (if market competitive) is seldom the number one driver of job satisfaction. The top drivers typically include adding value, feeling appreciated and rewarded, and professional growth, in study after study. A new recent addition in the top drivers is adding social good.
Not doing hard work has never been a top driver in employee satisfaction.
"You can just make money with no hard work."
What's wrong with that, please enlighten us?
See others comments and also stirring my feeling of my time here as well.
Admittedly they have changes since 1993 to current. Some was for the good and others no so. But I think the biggest shift was when Chambers stepdown and away, and hand it over to a non-op like Robbins.
They have become management heavy and still desiring to operate like a startup like they were pre-2k. While no new innovative nor technological advancement nor contribution since Chambers departure.
As for reflecting on my time here, did I overstay my time or was being laidoff an advantage?? Tough question and more difficult to answer. Did I overstay my welcome, likely so, was getting laidoff within the scope of my plans? No, but feeling bittersweet about it. My mgmt was cr---y at best and spineless. Direct manager didn't like the idea the his mgmt, peers and clients all came to me instead of him when it came to making decision for the team or related projects. But leaving has been a blessing, amen.
As for would I recommend them to a friend, NO!
Cisco is no longer what it used to be in early 2000's.
Those employees who have been at Cisco for 20 years or more are the prob.
Most people who joined Cisco outside any tech company get shocked to know the fact that it's too low a level company with a bunch of people in 20's, 30's, and early 40's with no skill or expert. They just follow instructions' from those who have been at Cisco for 20 years or more. Of course, they don't learn anything. It's a vicious circle.
The company really does need to remove those long-tenured employees first!
There is absolutely nothing to learn at Cisco. You can't expect any career growth/advancement at Cisco. If you're such motivated and passionate about it, people at Cisco would think of you as a troublemaker or a weird person. Don't even bother to speak about your previous companies or what skill/expert you have, in front of your colleagues or managers.
It's intolerably a low company. You can just make money with no hard work.
Most people, like you, blame Cisco for their lack of advancement. I’ve had many employees like this.
I didn’t downvote you but in many cases I strongly disagree. You do the 80 hours a week your manager tasks you with and if they sense you deviating from that you won’t be around long and those tasks are often not skill builders. In that sense Cisco actively works to prevent many from growing skills.
The part that is up to you is whether you realize that your career is effectively dying and do you make changes which may include changing jobs to improve your situation. Chambers’ “we’re family” speeches were the Kool-Aid that su1c1d3d many careers.
The truth is that they (you?) just don’t deserve it.
In many cases I disagree but from a different perspective than the first clause. I worked with many software engineers who were incompetent at a level I would never have been able to imagine if I hadn’t worked there and as pets of connected managers they moved up the ranks and caused real damage many times their salary. These people were objectively worse than deadwood and didn’t deserve ongoing employment not to mention the promotions. There were significantly better candidates for promotion who didn’t have the right benefactors.
I keep reading the same nonsense day after day. It doesn’t matter where you worked before. If you worked at Google for 10 years and can’t tell me how public key encryption works then you won’t get a job in my team. You’re getting hired based on your future potential. I like to think about the future because that’s where I intend to spend most of my time.
Some companies have bad name of sluggish and slow. Other businesses have negative views of people worked there. Of course, people have core knowledge which others want are still in demand but general staff from these companies, you know ...
"The truth is that they (you?) just don’t deserve it."
Have you ever witnessed a personal friend of a SVP given a role they weren't qualified for? Followed by 3 accelerated promotions without results
Or found out the unqualified new hire is the nephew of a VP? There is a Good ol' Boys club that can't fail
You may want to learn proper grammar first.
You control your own destiny, It has nothing to do with Cisco
Most people, like you, blame Cisco for their lack of advancement. I’ve had many employees like this.
The truth is that they (you?) just don’t deserve it.
Nobody can answer that question for you