Thread regarding Cisco Systems Inc. layoffs

I am so relieved I got off that ship.

Over 20 years ago, Cisco's stock options were used as an excuse to avoid paying the market rate for its top 10% employees.

However, there was no corresponding shift in compensation structure, and eventually stock options were reserved exclusively for the highest-performing students.

AND reaching the top 10% of the workforce is no longer a priority. To be frank, the vast majority of recent college grads I've encountered in my job search have been either unable to work a full day or require significant supervision and handholding. Also, they yelled that, because they sucked their thumb, they should be paid more. Human Resources didn't give a hoot.

I am so relieved I got off that ship.

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @OP+1jGHf0Wr
Comment! It's anonymous!

4 replies (most recent on top)

Tldr- 13 reject, 2 offers

I hope my story will help others who are interviewing and also give some insight in current job market.

My plan was to start interviewing with trial companies and be ready for real companies. But the plan went up in smoke due to the hiring freeze everywhere.

Rejected after phone screen -

  1. Verily - Interview went ok. No response. Both recruiters fired.
  2. LinkedIn - LC hard. Solved. Messed up follow up questions.
  3. Door dash - LC hard. Was able to solve and run the code. Needed 1 hint.
  4. Shopify - Rejected after "life story" round.
  5. Rippling - Perfect interview and rejected.

Onsite -

  1. Goat - Rejected after on-site. Simple interview.
  2. Thousand eyes - rejected after on-site. 1 LC hard.
  3. Indeed - Very long interview. 5 interviews. 2-3 were 1.5 hrs long. Mix of lc hard and medium
  4. Amazon - banned for 2 years.
  5. FB - Onsite cancelled. Phone screen was 1 med + 1 hard.
  6. Uber - On-site cancelled.
  7. Twilio - Onsite cancelled midway after completing 2 rounds 🤣
  8. Sofi - Still waiting them to schedule onsite. Recruiter emails once every 2 weeks saying "blah" position is closed and now he is scheduling for "blah"
  9. Coupang - Senior offer. 350k + 35 sign on. Declined
  10. OCI - one round had Java based questions. Offer 310k + 40 sign on. Declined.

Almost every company asked at least one LC hard.

Prep :
30 LC in last 3-6 months. ~250 3 years back.
1 hr of LP before Amazon interview.
4-5 chapters of Alex Xu system design.

Self review:
Good at solving and explaining coding questions.

Good at design, bad at "design Facebook" in 20-30 mins. My design becomes - I can use this but it won't work for this so I need to do this but it won't work for that and so on.

Bad at behavior/LP rounds.

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @3opl+1jGHf0Wr

timing and luck!

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @3elh+1jGHf0Wr

clearly you still have some unfinished business since your posting here. move on with your life dude.

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @1czd+1jGHf0Wr

Times have changed in tech jobs; permanent decrease in pay across the board. Now tech is a worldwide commodity skill. You won't get rich here.

The below was typical for most mid-level individual contributors 20 years ago.

In 2000, my offer letter included 7,500 options.

Picked up another 2,500 usually every year.

Then RSUs kicked in around 2007 I think.

Then the RSUs became less and less.

Then nothing.

I, very thankfully, was able to cash out. Cisco was good to me. I was very fortunate; right place, right time.

I don't think that cycle will ever occur again for me, anywhere I go.

by One of the lucky
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Post ID: @ybd+1jGHf0Wr

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