Thread regarding Cisco Systems Inc. layoffs

stick around and have a 2 year education plan - get updated on Opensource, AWS, Open-networking and the likes. you are going to be doing fine. DataScience talk would help as well

Tech leads from Cisco are so removed from coding that it gets hard to be successful as an IC outside (exceptions apply, but are in the minority). Move to more fungible roles within the org - software developer management or program management for example.

To all those making it an age issue, age discrimination is an independent issue. Having obsolete skills is different. Getting cozy in a terrible company is in no way related to age.

Agreed.

Cannot share too much personal info, I was laid off from Cisco right when my first year choice grad thing ended. And No, my performance was not bad. My sin was to find a job internally and remain there for few more years. After then I left on my own volition. I was in early 20s when laid off. So regardless of age discrimination, do not muddle the issue of obsolete skills. Cisco is a terrible company because it does latent discrimination, lays off all the time. Those are not directly in one's control. What is in one's control is to not let your skills rot or have an 11-4 easy going job being an ostrich thinking the music will last forever and paycheck from this rotten place will come for ever or that your resume will be looked upon as good because it has Cisco. It is the opposite. Life can be unfair and people can face sh–, but people who sit and crib and do not try to fight and claw are worse. It can get harder as one ages and everyone at some point will get old. But if one has outdated skills it is their own wrong doing.

My layoff was after years of supporting a legacy platform. I was an SME on that platform. I, along with the rest of my team, was working at becoming SMEs on the newer, replacement platform so my skills were not obsolete, at least compared to the rest of my team. But I was the oldest on my team and the only one let go and two contractors were hired to replace me shortly thereafter.

My skills certainly were good enough to land me another job quickly enough, but sometimes dealing with the pain of smaller companies that move too fast and don't have a clue what they're doing is almost as bad as working for a company that moves too slow and doesn't care about it's employees.

I am the poster 12gofvXb-3sbo
To all those making it an age issue, age discrimination is an independent issue. Having obsolete skills is different. Getting cozy in a terrible company is in no way related to age. Cannot share too much personal info, I was laid off from Cisco right when my first year choice grad thing ended. And No, my performance was not bad. My sin was to find a job internally and remain there for few more years. After then I left on my own volition. I was in early 20s when laid off. So regardless of age discrimination, do not muddle the issue of obsolete skills. Cisco is a terrible company because it does latent discrimination, lays off all the time. Those are not directly in one's control. What is in one's control is to not let your skills rot or have an 11-4 easy going job being an ostrich thinking the music will last forever and paycheck from this rotten place will come for ever or that your resume will be looked upon as good because it has Cisco. It is the opposite. Life can be unfair and people can face sh–, but people who sit and crib and do not try to fight and claw are worse. It can get harder as one ages and everyone at some point will get old. But if one has outdated skills it is their own wrong doing.

...was working in an area specifically targeted as a high priority growth area for Cisco when I got laid off. I was 50+ at the time.

And if that isn't the definition of age discrimination. Why are there lay-offs of anyone in areas specifically targeted as high priority growth areas?

I'm sick of the excuse of "It's not your age. You're too expensive, it's about the bottom line". If companies keep looking at the bottom line and get rid of anyone with 10+ yrs of experience and only hire mid-level people because they're cheaper, then what will the older generations do? EVERYONE gets older. The people taking our jobs will soon be in our shoes. And it's not about skills, it's about costs. The more your skills, the more you're worth.

If you don't get lucky enough to get to be one of the decision makers at some point, then the way things are heading you'll be unemployed and unemployable when you're 50. Yet retirement ages are going up. How are we supposed to work between 50-70 if companies don't want us even if we want to work?

Forget Cisco's culture or old technology or whatever the common complaints against Cisco are. This is becoming a problem everywhere.

@12gofvXb-3sbo What you fail to realize is that the majority of people laid off during the last few years are people of age 50+. I had 20+ in at Cisco and was working in an area specifically targeted as a high priority growth area for Cisco when I got laid off. I was 50+ at the time.

Not to offend anyone, but i was once a Cisco employee. Spent decent amount of time there, anyone who wishes to become cozy, outdated, with good paycheck or low one, will perish in SW industry. I was not that senior and even for my grade, I was lowly paid. I suffered from low self esteem. But there was one good thing, I knew that I am underpaid and that skills at Cisco is the perfect recipe to throw your years of college hard-work in drain because the tech is outdated. The scaling problem which other great tech companies deal with are more interesting and much better. If someone stayed in Cisco that long and now they wake up after milking the fat paycheck for that long and think the skills are obsolete, it is fine as capitalism will do to you what it does to anyone who is of less value. Again, this is not a personal attack, just what I have seen in life and how capitalism works. People get comfortable at Cisco if they get paid decent, and do not want to go through the rough patches of interviewing and learning new skills. Then fear sets in. People should remain awake, and on their toes in good times, not when they suspect the music to end. That place is rotten to the bone for anyone to develop good skills, those who want to stay there, will become obsolete.

Save your high salary and live frugally, the gravy train will be ending soon.

Your TC is really really high as a Cisco TL II, stay there!

Yeah, that RSU award seems really high, but regardless - and I'd give this advice to anyone on this board - if you haven't already, start banking some short-term savings.

Having 6-9-12 months' living expenses in the bank greatly expands your available choices...including walking away on your own terms.

Your comp package is excellent....I was there longer, but made less than you across the board (and like someone else said, your stock/RSU comp seems too high). Stick around, tag some training into your yearly review, and take some competitive vendors cloud training/certs.

150k in stock each year? Stay put. Let the RSUs vest. Re-invest the dividends. Just sit at your desk and learn cloud technologies. Collect paychecks while you do it.

Cruise LinkedIn, build a network of contacts outside the company.

If / when the time comes when Cisco shuts down or spins off the XR stuff, or does another SP LR, leverage your network of contacts and new skills to land somewhere.

You have a good gig going compensation-wise. Others at Cisco aren’t getting that (I was a tech lead 2 as well - I wasn’t getting that).

150k in stock each year? Stay put. Let the RSUs vest. Re-invest the dividends. Just sit at your desk and learn cloud technologies. Collect paychecks while you do it.

Cruise LinkedIn, build a network of contacts outside the company.

If / when the time comes when Cisco shuts down or spins off the XR stuff, or does another SP LR, leverage your network of contacts and new skills to land somewhere.

You have a good gig going compensation-wise. Others at Cisco aren’t getting that (I was a tech lead 2 as well - I wasn’t getting that).

I just want to know how the hell you get 100-150K in stock every year?

Dude, With that high compensation, just stay in Cisco, while doing smarthik for moving forward you career could be to different company

pretty decent total compensation for a newly promoted Technical Leader II !
I would suggest you to stay in you current position to collect the paychecks as long as you can. In the same time, do not stop learning the new technologies. By the way, what is your age? If under 45, need to work harder to learn new technology.

good luck

Here’s your pathway out (it’s similar to how I escaped):

If you work in the routing BU, you obviously have good access to the XR API definitions and tools to call those APIs. Bone up on calling those APIs with tools (Like Python and GO), if you aren’t already there from a skill set standpoint. Get a good feel for network and service automation based on API calls.

Next go train on cloud technologies... start with the largest cloud provider’s Associate Cert. Then move to the advanced network specialization cert. Pass both... update the resume... come work for me.

Routing on specialty big iron platforms is quickly becoming a thing of the past. SP routing on specialty HW platforms is already dead. It’s all gone merchant silicon.

Transition your expertise to where the market has headed. Cisco will not do this for you.

2 thoughts:

1) no matter how indispensable you are, Cisco WILL not take that into consideration when they are in a LR. They eliminate positions not people as to prevent age discrimination lawsuits. The better you are, the more, not less, of a Target you will be.

2) get in your bosses bad side - despite point one, the list can have additions to weed out those that make him look bad. Take the LR package and spend 3-4 months in a self-directed bootcamp for your next position. Just don't forget to practice whiteboard coding. It's a unique skill-set that favors fresh college grads.

Dude Cisco offers a f— ton of training. Take advantage of it. What should concern you is you've been at Cisco 14 years making 200 base and I've been at the company 8 months now after 6 years years out of college after leaving one of the Fang companies to get married. Trust me I'll be bouncing soon too.

do something to piss off your manager, get a package, take 6-12 months to concentrate on updating your skill set, get a new job.

Retire⛱.