Thread regarding Cisco Systems Inc. layoffs

Cisco is all about reducing costs at the expense of experience ..... The current model and strategy with the latest LR this summer so many talented engineers and management with higher grade levels eliminated where they are replacing those individuals with little to no experience who will take an entry level pay and grade level with a H1B visa in hand. The fallacy here is it just becomes a matter of time when the entire model blows up in their face when upper management realizes all the foreign workers from India they import into the company does not help Cisco's long term success. Cisco will also have a very hard time recruiting new talent with experience when they realize there are no benefits around salary increases and stock awards after you have proven your merit because its all about cost containment.

Does anyone else find it hard to believe that all young supposedly smart people want to move to San Francisco and Seattle ? I mean geez, if you are coming out of college in debt and then moving there you are hitting rents at $4000 ! Really ? At what point will companies figure out there are more places to have tech centers ? No wonder middle America voted Trump- they are totally left out.

My mother ( a programmer) was laid off when she turned 60 a decade ago and I told her at the time I predicted that the age of discriminatory layoffs continue to trend lower and would occur when I reached 50 , and I was RIGHT ! The new 60 is 50 !

I just turned 60 and was caught in the LR in August. I don't know of anyone who was LR'ed who is younger than 40.

@1ldw too true. I've had people express amazement that I'm so up on many facets of the Internet because I'm in my mid-50's. I mean, who do you think built the damned thing?

-ldw... what a great way of looking at it! Unfortunately short sightedness on managements part is incurable.

I'm also in my 50s and got cut. The funny thing is: Cisco cut me when I'm at the most flexible position in my career. I can travel at a moment's notice, anytime. I can work 24x7 if required. And I did all these things and was well respected. But I was old (which is also silly.....50s isn't old, and most of us in our 50s in the tech world helped define the internet and web from the beginning, so we are far from obsolete in technology or social media). Just plain stupid thinking in the Valley/tech world these days.

Amen.

I'm one of those who thought I had it figured out. I would come to work and learned the job to the point I can say I mastered it. I made sure to keep to myself and God forbid I share any of my secrets with anyone even if I knew I could help. Everyone looked at me as the one with ALL the answers when there was a problem. I also made sure to save all my money and didn't waste it on silly things. I never worried about layoffs because I knew how valuable I was to the company but I did watch several people lose their jobs I felt bad for some specially the ones who were responsible and had kids that depended on them. Years went by and I kept doing my everyday work with no problems. Last August I was let go for no apparent reason just part of the LR. After 22 years of service and countless managers and many excoworkers I finally got hit for the only thing I didn't prepare for old age. Yes I am fine as far as financial stability but after 2 months of just reminiscing about my past and how much I gave to my career I realize how much I missed in the game of life. No watch no thank you for your service just a cold I'm sorry. Now I'm in my 50s lonely thinking my savings were going to be my happiness but it's really not. How I miss my co-workers who would come to talk to me even when I was not in the mood to chat with them because I was too busy with work. Even some would go out of their way and talk about work but in reality they just wanted to just hang out. I'm not saying go waste your money but what I'm saying is don't get caught up in your 9 to 5 and let life pass you by. Getting old s---s and being lonely is even worse. In my next job if I decide to work again I will do my best to help more the people not just the process and be more understanding and more selfless. If you're in your 20s or 30s with a good paying job I was there too and all I can tell you is yes work hard but live your life and be kind because the years fly and you can not go back and one day you will be showed the door and realize how it was not worth it.

You mean move to younger and dumber workers to work them so they can look 55 at 35. If you're a young worker don't get offended look at it this way, some of these execs have kids old enough to work at Cisco but they know how they would get worked for peanuts. Think about it you think Johnny couldn't get his family members a job here if this is such a great company to work? Yet they don't mind if we get a whole family of H1s working late at night and on weekends. Once you're old enough to question them you're too old for this company or almost any fortune company in the valley. Just food for thought.

The OP is right that more developers are available in the Silicon Valley. However, smart ones don't join Cisco or immediately leave after a year or two when they figure out what is going on. Ironically new hires are almost 100% Indians. The VP or Director is a friend or family member of their own. These guys can lie without blinking their eyes. Then some new engineers are nearly computer illerate. It is a common observation that in the recent round of LR, many seasoned and talent engineers / managers were let go. Nepotism and favoritism attribute to how business is conducted now.

That might well be true OP but our office in Europe of a few hundred people working on new software projects were effected by LR's too and we lost 5 very talented Engineers. I think nobody was safe from LR this time around.