Advice for early in career here? Seeing lots of chatter about layoffs and it’s really discouraging to feel like Cisco is not a place I could grow my job. How would I know if I’m on the chopping block?
18 replies (most recent on top)
@af you never learn things
Ya and nobody will hire ex cisco unless you know someone
@cq whole depts. You got it. Ie. PMO, Marketing, Sales.
This is not the place it was 10 years ago.
I've seen no evidence Cisco is any different than it was 20 years ago. Management was abusive, hardware was consolidating, software on all the major routing and switching operating systems was complete garbage and layoffs were often quarterly. If anything I haven't heard of wage freezes in ages so in that regard it has improved.
OP wants to know if there is any opportunity to grow without specifying what kind of work they do. When I've pointed out that Cisco does some top notch hardware people here noted that if you weren't in a critical team on a major project hardware can be a dead end. I never saw anything in software that wasn't a dead end where everyone up through the Technical Leader ranks spent most of their time bug fixing and the Principal Engineers weren't even competent enough to do bug fixes, plagiarizing bits into nonsensical white papers. Cisco has many other business functions so OP should be asking for insight relative to the work they're actually doing.
If you work at Cisco, or at any tech company really, everyone is on the chopping block.
My advice is to be open to new learning opportunities, detours, and flexible to shifting your skill set.
It's not a matter of if, but when your job role is no longer needed.
The fact you are asking this question is your answer.
If you are nontechnical, non revenue generating and/or nonbillable - your role will be obsolete in the next few years
Like others have said you will never know. There are a few positions which are 100% LR proof like CEO, CIO, CFO, etc. So if you are in one of them then get off this platform. If you are not, then get off this platform because all posts are either "Layoffs tomorrow?", or "H1b bad" or "why is my IPF low".
I have seen teams which had over abundance of critical pre and post sales work on their plate either moved to differemt roles or LR'd. I have seen entire TAC teams who were the corner stone of the product LR'd and equal capacity hired elsewhere. I have seen product sales team ki-l it at consistently making above 100% of their goal and moved to a differemt role without their concent. I have seen them create a critical role just to ki-l it and suffer revenue loss and then bring it back. All of this points to the leadership changes. New leader comes in and has to show unique value to the team. So they try something drastic. Doesnt matter if it was done before and failed/succeeded. Just something newer than 12 months because after 6-12months they themselves will be gone.
@aa You will never know when you are axed. You can have perfect delivery, praise "Cisco" values, but one day a layoff info will leak and then people or whole departments will suddenly disappear...
Your first step should be to avoid this place at all costs. It's toxic and most of it is cow manure.
@bk Cisco paid to get that rating. 'nuff said.
I posted a helpful reply with some practical advice a few hours ago and the post was deleted. What gives?
Advice #1 - get off this board asap. Only the unemployed low performers hang out here. Save yourself.
Advice #2 - CSCO is the number 1 place to work in tech.
Any other questions?
I love how the sane responses here get the down votes. So many of you are crazy. Seriously, get help.
There are no guarantees, but while you're at Cisco, learn what you can and do your best. Work experience is good for your next career move, and the pay and benefits are generally good at Cisco. Don't listen to all the negative feedback from the naysayers here. There are a lot of disgruntled employees on this forum but not everyone at the company is unhappy.
Cisco should never be the first company you should work at. Because you seldom learn things here and if you learn, you don't learn fast enough. Lots of politics here too, and your future prospects get ruined too.
There are no guarantees. However, Cisco is not looking to get rid of young and careers, particularly if you are in places like Atlanta and RTP. Regardless, you definitely need to consider a company like Cisco to be a step along your career joint journey and not a final destination. Don't listen to the crazies here who will tell you that Cisco doesn't look good on your resume. It does.
Get out while you can. Cisco will destroy you. This is not the place it was 10 years ago. There are far better companies to work for.
I’m a leader at Cisco and my advice is to simply Don’t think and focus on the positive outcomes that you can deliver. Layoffs happens yearly in all industries and companies. This is where building internal resilience and your personal network