Thread regarding Cisco Systems Inc. layoffs

Cisco’s biggest threat to innovation to innovation is internal politics and organizational culture, which doesn’t accept failure and/or doesn’t accept ideas from the outside, and/or cannot change. The senior managers and directors within the Security Business Group are particularly guilty of this problem. The desire to collapse everything into a single methodology and common automation framework outweigh the benefits of innovation, quality, and employee satisfaction. At the end of the day, senior management simply want to have all the projects meeting the same outdated release criteria even if it means reducing the amount of testing or dropping critical bugs to severity 3 so their project shows good health. If you report the unethical business practices, then you’re not aligned with the rest of management and you’ve made yourself a target for the next round of layoffs.

Who'd even want a promotion in these circumstances? The higher your job grade, the higher your salary, the more responsibility you personally carry trying to navigate through this sh--storm. There's a bigger target on your back come the next layoff cycle. The money's not worth it.

HR have told us that they don't need to promote people because our group's retention is good enough. Obviously this is sinking in, because we are now losing a lot of people.

it's been changed from ELT to ETL.

Extract

Transform

Let go

LOL.. wait wait. Cisco is still a good place for middle-managers who are seeking to become Directors. Awesome place to sell their BS.

I got the package on 11/3. Still here till 12/3. My Director realizes now there is nobody left to take my work forward and what I did WAS really important.

I am sad to leave my co-workers and good friends behind. Have went as far as interviewing for other positions here and I'm 95% sure I will get an offer for one next week. Not taking it. I'm done.

The pattern of layoffs is exhausting, morale is low, middle management is as useless as ever, raises and promotions for the common folk are increasingly rare and I have no faith in or understanding of the strategic direction.

For now, it just feels like a ship steaming at full speed toward the rocks. Instead of the bridge changing the wheelman as they realize danger is ahead, they instead repeatedly throw an oarsman over the side and keep proclaiming victory is near.

For all of you left, good luck and I hope this all turns out well for you.

I oddly feel like one of the lucky ones.

No more RSUs = no more working late , no more checking email when at home , no more coming in on weekends, no more going extra effort. Cisco is now a job not a career.