When you combine being overworked with having to balance toxic politics and deal with your manager's incompetence, it's no wonder I'm exhausted every single day before noon. Not even the weekend is enough for me to properly recover from the constant mental and emotional grind. Is there a secret on how to deal with something like this?
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Answer to our question is, you are experiencing burn out. And you cannot sustain in this mode.
It's simple leave for another group inside Cisco or find another company based on your contacts which has relatively better work environment.
Although be mindful there is nothing like prefect setup out there.. every company has it's gaps, but that said, Cisco has gotten crazier over the years with it's bureaucracy and people with inflated egos. You will find several paper-pusher managers that lack domain knowledge nor do they make any effort to skill themselves, and just thrive in the system managing upstream, leading to poor decision making on their part, ultimately causes a poor work experience for all.
Based on my experience, the psychopaths with zero empathy thrive at Cisco. If you aren't wired like that corporate america just might not be for you.
Climbing the ladder at Cisco is all about exploiting people... whether that's employees, co-workers, immigrants, or vendors
The mental gymnastics when you have no idea what you are supposed to be doing is exhausting. Feel like the goal posts are being constantly moved.
I feel the same way and wonder what's wrong with me. But beginning to realize it's not me
I told my mgr to fcuk off. Don't send me any more work till I finish what I have on hand. This was via a phone call. Then I hang up. He called me the next day and apologized. Nowadays before he assigns me a new task, he asks if I have free bandwidth, to which I reply, very busy now, try other team members. I have been doing nothing for the past 3 months and I still get paid.
You guys need to grow some ba--s and stand up to your mgr.
I feel the same way - it's called burnout (or being burned out). There is no escape from it while working at Cisco.
There's no secret. Its the way Cisco is, and its NOT NORMAL. What we experience, isn't normal, it's very dysfunctional and unhealthy. I just finished about 2 yrs of working 12hr days...every day. I was just telling my boss Im spending a lot of time sleeping these days because after two years, I need to catch up. Working at home with my husband, he's WAY less stressed and has normal working hours. He takes a nap during the day and plays golf during the week. WFH, has made his balance much better. I watch him and go...what the he-l and I doing???????
I was exactly the same, it wasn’t only when I was LR’d late last year did I realise how bad it was. Having 2months off between jobs (you’ll get another job!) helped me greatly so in a weird way Cisco did me a favour. If you’re not getting LR’d I would leave. It’s not worth sacrificing your mental and physical health for a paycheque. Cisco really doesn’t have a plan to address mental health even though they claim to have. The only lever they use is LR.
Leave the company. I did after 20 years and although I miss some things about Cisco, I am so glad I dont have those feelings anymore that you describe.
You need to take some extended time off and do some soul searching. If your situation is at this point you need to find either another role that provides a better environment or leave. You deserve better. There is no secret other than taking control of your situation.