I am not trying to be toxically optimistic (Cisco MO), but is it really THAT bad or is everyone here just feeding into each other's negativity? I have been at Cisco a long time and it does feel that bad to me, but trying to see if there is another perspective here?
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Anyone have more details on the crying CEO for people who haven’t been around that long?
But yes things seem to be really bad and with no way out. Networking’s share of total addressable market as well as market share dwarfs all the others like security, etc. so G2 being put in charge of everything feels very much like the entire board and ELT throwing in the towel.
I’m honestly amazed that so many people have worked at Cisco for multiple decades. Most other companies churn way faster. This was going to be a bad year anyway and the messaging was awful. But a lot of the people here are blaming DEI….that says a lot about them.
It's the nature of the crowd here. Tell them to up their skills and professional network, and always keep a foot in the interview pond in case something better comes along and it's all down votes. Feed them the HR pucky about being the top 10% who deserve lifetime employment regardless of contribution and it's all up votes. There has always been a strong disconnect with reality here.
Your literally a negative website asking if the negative comments are an echo chamber ... That's like going to dogs.com and asking if they only have puppies and if some people buy kitties
It’s definitely that bad - even if you talk with old timers from the 2000 bloodbath! The main difference is that people are not able to see a way out of this pit! In past there wasn’t the same level of competition, so the networking business could improve, but now if you lose a customer to Arista or to open source white box options, it’s almost impossible to get them back. You might okay a second or 3rd vendor fiddle for some time but that’s not going to sustain the business. Other groups like UCS are in same boat. In security we are not even among the top players, maybe we have a chance to get there but you have to displace all the leaders! The ELT ki-led AppD on their own, and Splunk might keep the boat afloat, but that’s not enough to keep the headcount or the market cap. I see news about S1 business happening so maybe things might improve in a year or so, but how many of us will be around to see that ? And if the money is for the asic or white box equivalent then what happens to all the NOS teams ? People have to answers and the future is bleak - never felt this way myself in my 10 years or so at the company
@jsw+1uqXABlc Get back on your meds.
Oh, it's definitely “that bad”. This LR is not happening in isolation — it has to be understood in the context of the living hellstorm that the ELT created ever since a certain criminal died, our CEO cried on camera, the pandemic was released, and the global authorities decided to break the world through a “reset”. Cisco’s response in this world was the posterchild of awful. This is just the icing on the cake.
While there is occasionally good info on this site, you should ignore 90% of what's posted here. It's a hugely negative sour-grapes echo chamber, for sure.
It’s positive for shareholders. Cutoff the dead wood.
I am being told by my leadership that they arent even sure i am going to be covering the same region i have covered for years.... Am i on the list or is the entire BU just absolutely clueless? TBH either answer is scary.
it's bad
https://www.thelayoff.com/post/@1hxa+1upjUU9k
What is crazy to me is that we are in the middle of Q1 and there is no new strategy whatsoever. It looks like the looming LR has put a pause on everything in my org. I have never seen anything like this before. Our Director simply told us to focus on ourselves and is taking PTO this week. I would be shocked if my entire organization doesn't get LRed. I'm ready for it ;-)
It’s same across the board whether newly hired or 20 years with this company. Narratives have changed, and the management has created a very toxic work culture that feeds on to others besides fear and being bullied.