I currently work at a non-tech company looking to break into tech and am considering joining AppDynamics. Is it worth joining just to have a tech company on my resume to open doors? Or is even the most archaic of non tech companies still better than Cisco/AppD? For what it’s worth, I’m already used to big company politics and such.
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Top performers have been pushed out or left, competitors in APM space are eating AppD's lunch
More managers, fewer engineers and more confusion. Don't bother unless you negotiate an exceptional salary + package
Part of a recent acquisition here. Depends on the department but acquisitions are siloed from greater Cisco. Great experience so far.
Current AppD employee here. It is very much a ymmv situation, and heavily depends on the team you join. The entire sales team has turned over for the most part and they are rebuilding. All of the heavy hitters have left, and now there are a ton of "new to software" people. If you don't have a tech background and they are willing to hire you for a salary that you want, go for it.
Don’t worry about politics if joining AppD. Cisco acquired them in 3/2017 and they still act like they are their own company. I’d be surprised if it even says CISCO on their paycheck. They still run their own domain. Their training content is impossible to get to for employees. They rarely bother to work with other people at Cisco — they act like they’re protecting their intellectual property every time you try collaborating on something that could benefit all Cisco customers. You’re totally isolated from the rest of Cisco in there — might even be a good thing.
AppDynamics has long been re-named "A$$Dynamics" by employees at Cisco UK. Hopefully that will answer your question.
How safe are sales engineers/solution architects at AppD from layoffs?
AppD is a circus, just left a couple months ago. Many people have headed and are heading to the hills..
Yes join and evaluate while you gain the technical knowledge.
I am Ex Cisco, left a while ago after 10 years. If you want honest advice, I will sound harsh, Cisco brand is a black spot on your resume. I am exaggerating a but but even third rated recruiters at times told me that Cisco is a bad place, quality of engineers, etc. I know people will give me heat for saying it, Cisco is a stinking gutter, stay away from it or you will f— yourself. I left, and I regret not leaving earlier. The longer you stay, the more useless you will become for industry. Dont Join AppD either even if it is growing. You think you will be assimilated with welcoming arms by people who made millions and you are an outsider. It will be toxic and full of sh–. Plus Cisco is literally a GUTTER, trust me. But if you dont want to work, be the king of BS, play politics, have an 11-2 job where you get by, by just BSing, it is the best place to work. I have first hand interacted with engineers so garbage who were hired in the name of diversity from non CS BG(and that is fine if you are non CS) but they literally used to struggle with writing for loops in the start. Dont join this hell.
I have 2 main regrets
why did i join this gutter
why was i not laid off
AppD will be a growing part of Cisco since the focus of the company is software.
IMO AppD is very good (most of the teams/groups) - they are growing and that's always good. Ignore negativity on this site as it's most concentrated around our core legacy business which is rapidly shrinking in size.