I have a pending offer from Cisco for the software engineer position. I am a fresh college graduate (and I am not from India). I am on student visa so being laid off sounds extremely scary for me. I have read many of the posts here. It seems the LR targets more experienced and more senior employees. But I also heard in order to balance out the LR, Cisco will pick some new hires so no one can sue it for discrimination.
Thanks!
Now we are curious which company you value more.
@RrnVbcY-4vbv I chose to take another offer, thanks!
Now we are curious which company you value more.
If you have another offer take it. At one point in time I lead University recruiting as the Engineering Lead for one of our top schools. I personally knew of several top students that were less than 1 year at Cisco that were impacted by lay-offs and I heard of many more.
Yes, I have another offer and I decided to take another one. Thank you for being really helpful!
If you have another offer take it. At one point in time I lead University recruiting as the Engineering Lead for one of our top schools. I personally knew of several top students that were less than 1 year at Cisco that were impacted by lay-offs and I heard of many more.
Those that think that lay-offs are about performance, or performance against salary have never been on the other side where determinations are made.
If you are a new college hire your likelihood of being impacted in the first round of layoffs that happen after you are hired is lower than it is if you have been there for a year. However, with each year of that passes the likelihood you will be impacted increases dramatically.
If you are not Indian then stay away, otherwise get ready to be backstab.
Also watch out for "stealth layoffs", the company will periodically eliminate some departments quietly. Turns out laying off thousands of people is bad PR
One needs only to stroll down Tasman and McCarthy Boulevard to see where Cisco is headed.
So many Cisco buildings now occupied by younger companies. Most of site three (lettered buildings) is gone. Even more Cisco logos unceremoniously stripped from other buildings.
Cisco is either falling back or in full retreat.
To every one who has commented
Thank you for the honest words and they helped me a lot in making this decision. Many of you not only gave me suggestions about Cisco, but also ones that apply to any career choices. I can't answer too many details about myself as I am sure the HR will read this as well. I am sure these comments will also help future new hires on their decisions. Clearly I have made the decision :)
With all the re-orgs and layoffs, the project you work on might quickly disappear. Another thing to watch out for is the hiring manager lying about the project.
A simple question:
Would you work at ANY company where your performance is not annually evaluated ?
Soul-Crusher
A new grad and already on the Layoff. Not a good start :) I've had the pleasure to work with a bunch of EICs and what they lack in experience, they make up for in appetite and general interest. You'll meet plenty of people in Cisco doing a phone it in performance, be they seasoned or EIC.
The advice goes works for any company. It's important to consider where you see yourself in 2-5 years. Are you an engineer that sees themselves more in the field, more in the area of coordination or specializing in SW. I know most engineers dread that question, in interviews, but its worthwhile to consider it, as will Cisco help toward that end goal or hinder it. Think of this like chess, you gotta consider your strategy beyond 1 move.
Also, consider the type of engineer you are. Are you a HW or SW person. If you're SW, I'd advise regardless to steer well clear of Cisco and I've not as yet come across anyone whos knows anything about SW, much less building great teams. That being said, Cisco is massive and maybe, just maybe theres a stellar SW team out there, so consider the team, what you'll be doing. Where are your team located? Are they in Morgan Hill and Pleasanton, in which you'll never see them? Or are they a tight knit group, who collaborate(not via Webex or Jabber garbage) and do you see yourself getting better in their company. What about the field they work in, does this interest you? What about yourself, do you value benefits and stability or making a difference and being a net contributor?
Truly most of these questions apply regardless of Cisco and you can always be LR'ed almost everywhere, the only difference is the length of the process to do so and the comfort of the parachute. You're at the start of your career, the world is your oyster, embrace it!
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-cisco-arbitration-20170118-story.html
I disagree with the rule of 1st year college graduate does not get laid off, in our group, 3 new college hires were laid off, one is less than 3 months coming fresh into the college hire program. sound astonishing...yet true..
If you are already thinking like this you why accept the job?
I'm an elderly engineer (LOL!) and I have to say, despite the bit of snark below, most of the replies here are fairly near the truth.
You will get a year break. Even if they lay off your whole department, they'll find a place for you. I've seen that happen.
We elderly are slightly affected more due mostly to pay. Easier to cut numbers with us. But yeah, all age brackets can go in a layoff.
But, ultimately, why would you want to work at cicso? Be careful, it better be the right kind of job. And as someone below said, maintenance of a 20 year old product isn't it. Leave that to us elderly.
Only choose Cisco if the offer includes a project that is very interesting to you and that will give you an opportunity to grow your market skill sets. Don't accept any position in test, customer support, or product maintenance. Pick the job that gives you the most high quality experience the fastest.
The quality of the experience you gain early in your career will greatly impact the trajectory of your lifetime employment opportunities. Whatever you select, plan to switch jobs within the first two years. Don't stand still and wait for opportunities to come to you. Take chances. Aggressively hunt to grow your experience.
Cisco engineering is not what it used to be. Cisco employee quality has dropped over the years causing the recruitment community to scrutinize alumni carefully. Cisco on your resume is now a reputation risk, but it could be worth it for a good project.
In any engineering job in the US layoffs are always a risk. Keep learning new things and keep your skill set current (stay away from maintenance and old technologies). If you do this then you will be fine if/when you are impacted by a layoff. Engineering jobs are always easy to find for aggressive, highly skilled engineers. Don't get stale working on old Cisco technologies. This is a career death sentence.
Man this is not the place to get balanced advice. All posts are negative (see, so is mine). The only people posting here are depressive whiners. Although to be fair you also get people like me who find the whinging quite funny. Take the salary whilst slagging off the company.. mainly yanks to be fair.
Have another job lined up within 10 months, and do not expect any quality work experience.
Cisco does not have performance reviews, stating layoffs have anything to do with performance is foolish. Promotions & layoffs are 100% determined by who you know.
Cover up some financial irregularities of your VP? ... Promotion
Cover up a failed strategic initiative? ... Raise
Ignore an employee being harassed by a manager? ... Raise
The culture of Cisco is all about plausible deniability. No paper trails
That's really helpful. Thank you for the reply. I current have another offer not from the Silicon Valley and that company certainly doesn't have this regular layoff issue. I am thinking which one is better for me.
There is an unwritten law that nobody gets laid off in their first year at Cisco. That's the time given to new hires to proof themselves.
Some BUs are doing good and there are very minor layoffs. Other BUs do bad and the layoffs are significant from time to time.
This focus on the elderly is garbage. If you are elderly, then you are a senior engineer with a high salary. If your performance is below what a) your grade level implies and b) your salary is, then you will be laid off. The same applies to more recent hires: their grade level and salary are low, but if their performance is below the implied expectations, then they will be laid off, too (not within the first, year).
After a lay off, you are still formally employed for, I believe, 3 months. In this time, you can look for a new position without affecting your student visa/H1.
Welcome to Silicon Valley.