I’ve seen a couple of comments on this lately and didn’t really get it until this week. Everything around and in Impact is pointing directly to that. And now I feel more miserable in my job than I did before, and I wasn’t sure that was possible! Oh, please, let Oct 7th set me free...
18 replies (most recent on top)
Cisco demonstratively advocates group-think. If you bring an outsider view as to improvement of processes or products, you won't last long.
The company is all about buy-backs of shares to lift the stock price, and acquisitions of companies to cover declining revenue.
Wasn't Gerri talking about this being a $60B company when she joined? That will never happen. And COVID-19 is not the reason.
This company is technically bankrupt. Enjoy.
There is a lot of cisco kool-aid drinking. It makes me sick.
Referring to it as "work-life balance" has always been silly to me. It's simply "life balance". Work, family, community, health, recreation, it's all part of life.
I used to work for IT and I had this manager who is UK-based. He is full of BS. Very condescending and arrogant guy. Also the blonde director he reports to was a big talker and very political. You can tell she doesnt know anything but because she can talk her way up, she gets promoted easily. Yes the culture is so toxic, it is the worst company I ever worked for.
On work life balance:
11 years here and I am still putting in at least 50 hours a week (just like everyone else around me).
Some groups are not as bad as this.
The work-life balance value is real and is supported by any number of good managers at Cisco.
That’s complete rubbish. I’ve never had a manager concerned about my work-life balance, at least for the last 10 years. I only ever hear from them (more than one) when something isn’t done to their timeframe. They don’t even care about all my customer work I’m doing. Be sure I didn’t get seine stupid slide set done for some exec off site or the pet project for some director without portfolio, not in my reporting chain.
Managers who care about “work life balance” don’t schedule useless meetings at 8pm on Friday.
I have been working in Cisco for more than 25 years. I see a lot of changes. Used to have a lot of caucasian engineers (almost 1/3) in the team to today almost none. In the past, we drive the industry and now we are more followers. In the past, DE and PE are well respected in the industry. Now, they are more like marketing or program manager people than technical people in the company. Used to work 12 hours a day and 6 days a week. After 2001, it becomes more a "life and work balance" company, then there comes big layoff. Since then Cisco is never the same Cisco again. Top notch don't stay long. Talkers and those know how to play politics get moved up fast. Around 2005, the talkers can still leverage the smart workers and move up. Now talkers can only leverage average engineers to build solid products. You know how solid it will be because smart workers quit or retired.
Is one of the foundational values to exploit low caste immigrants? Or how about quietly laying off full-time employees, while rehiring the same role through a temp agency without health insurance.
Have you watched a VP outsource a department to India yet? I'd guess Cisco laid off over 40,000 people this decade.
Quit if you hate it so much, all the whining on this board is disgusting.
You can fault Cisco for a lot of things, but being a corporate cult is a stretch. One of the foundational values at Cisco is "work-life balance". That means taking the time to take care of yourself, your family, and your outside interests. You even take non-PTO days off to work for nonprofits (Time2Give). The work-life balance value is real and is supported by any number of good managers at Cisco. Corporate cult? Get a grip, people.
I wouldn't hire a Cisco employee without deprogramming first. "Be proud, be humble". Cisco has much to be humble about.
The moment i started working there i realize they had a different culture, yeah the cult culture. I am glad i stopped working there a few years back.
It’s certainly been full on...
I spent 8 years living in religious institutions. I know cultish behavior when I see it. And I’m seeing more and more of it, especially in the last year or so.
I've worked in Operations, CX, Marketing, and Engineering within Cisco. Each organization spends most of their time on self-promotion. The lack of substance is rather astonishing. We pay layers of people to preach Cisco, while actually not contributing any value. It's eerily similar to scientology
I can say that in my specific bubble in cisco, it feels very family-like.. Once you step above my manager though, it's like the family you've never met.
By that article Cisco isn’t very cultish. But all the “family” bs is ridiculous.
https://hbr.org/2019/05/is-your-corporate-culture-cultish