Thread regarding Cisco Systems Inc. layoffs

"Azure or AWS, but they also want Docker, Kubernetes, Redis, Hadoop, Python, Jenkins, CI/CD, etc. While I'm familiar with all of it, and fairly functional in all of it, I'm a master of none of it."

==> of course you aren't! Do you realize how vast is the span of these technologies? Nobody on earth is a master in all those domains. Heck, find me a master in Python to start with. I'm pretty darn good with Python, but I surely ain't gonna call myself a master. The point is can you make all of these technologies work together to form a cohesive, useful solution. You can probably strike out Hadoop and Redis, they don't really belong on your DevOps-oriented list. If you can do that, your knowledge is good enough. Good enough wins all the time.

While I'm familiar with all of it, and fairly functional in all of it, I'm a master of none of it.

And it’s likely impossible. The last time I was expert across a complete software ecosystem was in about 1985. But back then, the documentation for the o/s, file system, database (as it was), languages and development tools took only two shelves in a bookcase.

I'd imagine this depends on where you want to work next, and what you'd like to do there! There is no ONE next thing in IT. There are dozens of next things, but you can't realistically master all of them. Look at the product catalog of Azure or GCP or AWS. It's so vast that one can't possibly pretend to understand it all. You haven't specified what it is you currently work on.

And therein lies the problem. I'm in IT and companies are expecting IT workers to be jack's of all trades whereas Cisco siloed everyone into functions: storage, networking, database, sys admin, etc.

The companies I'm talking to want cloud experience with either Azure or AWS, but they also want Docker, Kubernetes, Redis, Hadoop, Python, Jenkins, CI/CD, etc.

While I'm familiar with all of it, and fairly functional in all of it, I'm a master of none of it.

"I'm wondering WHAT the next thing is so that I learn it instead of wasting my time learning a skill that no one wants."

I'd imagine this depends on where you want to work next, and what you'd like to do there! There is no ONE next thing in IT. There are dozens of next things, but you can't realistically master all of them. Look at the product catalog of Azure or GCP or AWS. It's so vast that one can't possibly pretend to understand it all. You haven't specified what it is you currently work on.

God, please fu----g read.

Yes, I possess the skills my client needs right now. I'm not wondering how to make sure whatever I'm learning next is going to become a thing, I'm wondering WHAT the next thing is so that I learn it instead of wasting my time learning a skill that no one wants.

I'm trying not to stagnate with dying skills. Cisco has always been slow to adopt new stuff. He-l, even if they adopt newer technology, they move so slow to upgrade it and keep it current. I know for a fact, from a consultant with my company who is working at Cisco, that the on-premise cloud management systems are running on versions that are end-of-life because they can't upgrade them as the vendor releases newer versions.

Imagine interviewing for your next job after being a Cisco and the interviewer asks if you're familiar with XYZ and asks you for an example command you'd use to complete some task in XYZ and your answer is a deprecated command from a version that's been EOL for multiple years and they're on the current version.

I don't know about you, but if I can't use something on a daily basis, I forget the specifics. Need a server migrated, sure I can do that. But if all I have in my environment is obsolete sh-t, then I'm not going to remember the newer, easier way of doing things because I'm stuck doing it the harder, more complicated way.

If you’re a contractor, then skills development is your problem. If you want to be trained to help with your job as an EMPLOYEE of Cisco, it’s still your problem, but Cisco helps.

For fu-k's sake, you guys are still focusing on the literal. YES, skills development is MY problem. And I DON"T need help w/ my job as an EMPLOYEE of Cisco, as Cisco is slow to adopt new technology.

The OP asked what gaps Cisco employees experienced when they LEFT Cisco. I commented on my time AS A CISCO EMPLOYEE and how Cisco's silos affected me WHEN I LEFT. NOW I'm a contractor, I didn't say I was a contractor back AT Cisco, but if I was, my comments still apply.

The comments all seem to be "just go use Udemy". If you're at Cisco, who is slow to adopt new processes and technology, how do you know what other companies are doing and what's the hot new skills you need to learn so you can take the Udemy courses?

Damn.

Because you're a contractor, you were hired on the premises that you possess skills Cisco needs right now. Professional development is your responsibility, much like it is with any contractor of any trade really. You're wondering how to make sure whatever it is you're learning next is going to become a thing. Nobody knows what the future holds. You can make educated guesses, use intuition collected throughout years of experience and with a bit of luck you might strike the right chord, but there's simply no guarantee. Steve Ballmer predicted the iPhone was going to be a huge failure. Business Week said Japanese cars stood no chance in the US. Nortel thought nothing of IP telephony. Bill Gates thought Google wasn't going to last more than a couple of years. And I guess our good old John Chambers himself didn't much of public cloud either. The list goes on and on.

The secret answer to your question was in this piece of information:
_I'm a contractor at this time_
If you’re a contractor, then skills development is your problem. If you want to be trained to help with your job as an EMPLOYEE of Cisco, it’s still your problem, but Cisco helps.

Stop focusing on "git". That was only an example. I know how to use Git and I can find examples on the Internet for how to undo mistakes, etc.

My point was more of how do I learn the next tool that comes along, especially if as usual Cisco is late in adopting it's usage. Imagine it's 2005 and Git is first released, there's not years of questions and answers regarding it's usage, there's no blogs about how to do this or that using Git, etc.

Anyone can bumble around a use a new tool, but until the "best practices" have been determined and shared as best practices you're not making the best uses of these tools.

You don’t need to pay for a class… just Google “how to use git”…

--> for crying out loud, do you really have to be spoon-fed all the time? Get a Cisco Udemy subscription and attend a Git class or two for Pete's sake.

I'm a contractor at this time. I don't have access to Udemy at this time. So, no, I don't have to be spoon-fed. If, or when, I get converted again, I'll be able to use it. But, when I was an employee, managers had to approve training $'s so you couldn't attend a class or two unless it directly applied to your job.

"Where/when/how do I get to learn the tool that replaces CVS, SVN, and Git?" --> for crying out loud, do you really have to be spoon-fed all the time? Get a Cisco Udemy subscription and attend a Git class or two for Pete's sake.

I'm probably not a good example of the typical Cisco employee as I'm not a network engineer, I don't do software development or hardware development, know about radio antennas, etc.

I was an application admin for an industry wide tool that's used at every high tech company. Because Cisco is siloed where you have a networking team, a storage team, a web server team, a database team, application support teams, a backup team, etc., I wasn't as exposed to a lot of technologies that impacted my application.

Sure, my application used a database on the backend. It needed backups. There were sometimes firewall rules that needed to be created or updated. I had to work with the storage team and the sys admins to ensure that the application's requirements were met for performance. Working w/ all those teams meant that I knew what needed to be done, but not HOW to do most of the things I had to open cases with other teams to get done.

When I left Cisco, it was tough at a company because they were not siloed and one team had to do all that stuff. There were people on the team who were better in some areas than others, and I managed to mentor them on the application and it's requirements while learning from them how to setup RAID storage, create databases and modify database permissions, as well as setting up database monitoring. I learned a lot about AWS while there. Unfortunately, there just wasn't enough people with enough deep experience with any given area of this stuff and they didn't do well during an economic slowdown and they cut a lot of staff with a cr---y severance package, so I found a new job and quit before getting cut. I ended up back at Cisco where I was better able to use my greater experience with databases, networking, storage, etc.

I had another non-Cisco job between Cisco gigs and the company was switching from one industry tool to a competitor's tool and no one at the company had any experience with it, but they hired a full team of people who were SME's with similar tools and was willing to give the team two years "to figure it out" and "make it work". It was a fun two years and once we got it up and working, they downsized the team to the bare minimum to "keep it running" so I had to find a new gig.

What I find difficult at Cisco is learning new technology or skills. Sure, if you're a developer, you can work with new languages or new features that get added, but it's the completely new stuff you don't get to learn or play with.

As a software developer, for instance, the current generation of graduates are comfortable with Git, GitHub or GitLab, because that's what's taught in college. But as recently as 5 yrs ago, Cisco was mostly stuck using an expensive proprietary source code tool and all the new incoming developers didn't have a clue how to use it because they were used to Git. Where/when/how do I get to learn the tool that replaces CVS, SVN, and Git?

@yyz+1cyG8jly, I don't think a lack of skills/training is your issue. I think it's reading comprehension. The OP asked it you have problems with gaps in knowledge at new companies and you respond with broken English & no punctuation talking about the skills you don't have AT Cisco.

I feel for you. Good luck in your career anywhere.

Yes I have it! I doesn’t have any training etc and I need to perform the role. Customer look up at you cuz u are the SME of the product. It’s constant stress and there are no one beside to ask