There’s been no salary increase for a while, and I never get any real feedback from my manager. I’m always the one singled out to answer tough questions in meetings, while my ideas get ignored. On top of that, they’ve stopped giving me new challenges or projects. It seems to all add up to one thing - that they’re phasing me out.
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It kinda depends on where you are in your career. If you are less than 50 years old, then definitely run for cover. If you are in your mid-50's then this might be completely normal (for Cisco), and I would not read too much into it. Once they feel you are "locked in" - unlikely to get a lot of offers due to age, kids in college, etc, they will do the minimum to keep you around. Raises will be minimal (if any), despite of your performance. As mentioned, you can last for years in this situation, so you could just de-prioritize work and focus on financial/physical health. Note: this is not the same as "coasting", but once you get close to financial independence, coasting is certainly an option as you wait for the layoff package to give you a boost as you leave.
Could this be legitimately from su-king at a role? Honest question because I seen this before. Not saying OP falls in this category but something that should be considered.
Your leadership may not be singling you out. They just don't have a plan for you or anyone else under them. Regardless you need to be planning your exit strategy yesterday. How many internal roles have you applied for ? Get going!!
I was engineering director, LR’ed in late 2018, found a far better role and company after 6 months and am back here after seeing really great colleagues LR’ed themselves a few weeks ago. This company hasn’t changed and will not change. Take what you can get from it and always have an exit plan…because you are just a line on an HR spreadsheet at the end of the day
When managers talk about doing more with less, this is part of what they mean. I've seen some managers do this to show their "superiors" that they can successfully exploit their staff and others do this to push people out. Both are a mix of malice and incompetence.
Finance is doing the same, trying to offshore as many jobs as possible. Cheaper to have you quit.
Some leaders aren't great at what they do. If you're not enjoying the current management layer, make a move. No reason to stick with something that su-ks.
you can exist for years in this state at Cisco
This team is not where you could survive for long. Find another internal role before it’s too late. A good manager will mentor your career, a bad one let it get destroyed, sometimes slowly. Take care of yourself my friend. Been there, done that.
“Land on your feet, not your face”. Words of wisdom to live by. Thank you
Your intuition is telling you something.
Listen to it and put together an exit plan for yourself, before they really start making your life there not only miserable, but unbearable.
Once it's at the point where you're being blatantly sabotaged (especially by management and not just peers), it's only going to get worse, where they PIP you or play other petty games to force you out.
Focus your energy on getting a new job for yourself at a different company.
Dedicate a specific chunk of time daily in your off-hours if you can't do it during the work day, but really get going on it and stick with it as if you were currently unemployed. Set daily attainable goals for yourself in your quest for a new gig (10 resumes sent out a day, and/or 5 reach-outs to outside contacts per day, etc.) Treat this search as your new assignment for yoursef, for your life's forward motion.
You want to actively extricate yourself, not just passively sit there wondering and waiting for toxic management to continue playing games before finally giving you the boot.
Take care of yourself, first - because no one else is going to do that for you.
Land on your feet, not your face.