Hi, I am in the process of joining Cisco after Splunk acquisition. Honestly, after reading many comments here I am not convinced if I am very excited about this move, Cisco doesn’t seem to be the “cool” vendor, just a big corporation, which is losing its culture. Any opinions?
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You should quit. Cisco is clearly not for you.
Cisco is definitely not a “cool vender”. There was a time when Cisco was the small “up and coming” tech vender with the best products and a great culture.
Now Cisco is a big corporation grinding for the balance sheet, Cisco isn’t an awful company, but it is now in the same realm as many big corporations. Cisco brought in roughly $50+ billion last year. it’s no longer nimble or “cool”.
If you want a start-up culture, you should get your resume together. If you’re only panicking, because of the layoff and what you read here. Get off sites like these. It’s always going to be “domesday” here.
Cisco is still a place where you can sustain a career. Depending on where you are in your career, you need to make the call on jumping to a “up and comer” or ride the $50B corporate machine. Either way, enjoy the ride!
If you are lucky enough to not be LR'd my suggestion is to start looking now. Network as much as possible and if you have the time upskill. Cisco has become irrelevant. It should be embarrassing to the ELT team that they are in charge of a company that is more known for there layoffs rather than any meaningful innovation. Separate yourself as soon as you can and don't look back
Welcome to Dante's Inferno
Look down and watch out for a trap door… under that you will find falling off the cliff… more obstacles if you make this far. If you need money to survive, join by all means.
As a concerned Splunk employee, consider this advice: Cisco, once a leader in technological innovation, changed its approach after embracing Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP). Instead of investing in people and innovation, they began leveraging low interest rates to acquire technology. This shift, likely familiar to Splunk employees, coincided with the departure of Cisco's founding leaders, leaving a leadership gap in networking expertise. Competitors are now capitalizing on this weakness by hiring Cisco talent. The lack of strong leadership is driving layoffs and restructuring. Consequently, skilled engineers are migrating to small and mid-size companies for better opportunities. The key takeaway for engineers is to continuously update their skills for career longevity, rather than relying on their employers for development. In today's climate, company loyalty has become increasingly rare.
A lot of your experience depends on the team, department, or BU. However these company wide changes impact everyone
Cisco was the cool vendor in the 90s. Their technology was the driving force behind the acceleration of the Internet.
Unfortunately, they've done nothing cool since then. Their leadership has milked the Internet connectivity cash cow for decades and failed to create any new growth businesses. The cash cow is now in decline.
The CEO's current narrative, that Cisco was becoming a software company, was failing organically so he spent $28B to acquire Splunk so he could say that he turned Cisco into a software company as he walked out the door.
The next several years at Cisco will be uncomfortable as the legacy business gets restructured to match declining revenue expectations. At the same time, the Splunk acquisition is going to be expected to drive significant growth to replace the lost growth in the legacy business.
Correct!!! Depending on what sector/BU/Department and what job functions that experience can go from acceptable to annoying to bad to unbearable.
However it pays you a paycheck to live and a job to come to everyday.
Consider you options because job safety or a sense of continuity has long gone.