Discussed with a group of talented people. Below is the gist from the group of talented people.
- Cisco got a proven track record of regular layoffs. Google/Meta and many other companies had layoffs, but not to the extent of what Cisco did over past two decades.
- The top management never considered engineers as a precious resource. Engineers growth is limited to what his manager thinks about him.
- Cisco, due it's toxic culture, let it's own employees create the competition for itself and ki-ling itself. It survided so far by reinveting itself by acquisitions.
So, you must never work for Cisco if you want a great career. Use and throw Cisco as Cisco always does with its employees.