Some have made great careers here. I know some people who worked here, retired and were very happy with their career at Cisco. However, I have only been here for two years and it is already clear to me that one can hardly expect to grow a career here anymore.
Since when did it become like that?
How did such a change happen?
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Everything has a lifecycle, including companies. Truth is most companies fail within 50 years. Best case, Cisco follows the path of IBM, HP and other legacy tech companies. Worst case it joins Sun Micro, Silicon Graphics. Nortel and most companies that reach end of life. Either way, it is no place to build a career.
Since when did it become like that?
The Spring of 2001 when it went from 48,000 employees and contractors to 35,000. The twice weekly 4pm all hands with catered food and booze disappeared, as did the largely full parking lots at midnight which became empty by 7pm. All the 911s, Ferraris and Lamborghinis were replaced with an AMC Gremlin.
As an acquisition company in a market with fewer competitors and less need to have products in every conceivable niche the work of the rank and file shifted even further to maintenance as people tried to cling to the surviving projects. Ever since that point when a big project appeared you could expect to get calls from around the world saying “our team has just been assigned this project so if you would kindly send everything to us and stop working on it…” Lying and stealing in so many contexts became the corporate culture.
How did such a change happen?
As C level executives said, the sign of failed leadership is repeated layoffs. By the 2007 collapse our site started doing quarterly layoff for many years so the correct answer seems to be “failed leadership.” The stock slide from $82 to $8 didn’t help.
If you are a non-white non- male, you have a career path. Start spewing useless cheerleading and you'll get a promotion.
Look in the mirror. Your only career limitation is yourself.
Keep your head down. Keep working. Keep collecting your paychecks. Keep doing for a long time. Retire.
Cisco relies on overpaying for acquisitions to obtain revenue growth. This results in constant layoffs and cost cutting. We are in a managed decline.