Thread regarding Cisco Systems Inc. layoffs

There is no shortage of US engineers they just don't want you if your over 40 which manufactured an industry shortage. There is a shortage of young US graduate engineers for a very good reason.

I am a US engineer and I am not blind. Why would I recommend my son or daughter go to an expensive college for an engineering degree? Becoming a US engineer is a high risk gamble today. Jobs that could go new US graduates are directed to an H1B foreign engineer. Even young US engineers are losing their jobs to H1B people.

Its not about you, its not racism, its about corporations cutting costs. Quality died decades ago so they get away with it if customers cannot buy a quality product from any vendor.

I have been reading all the posts on this site... The obvious reason is that I have been LRed in Nov. In the course of the last two months I have seen a lot of venom spewed on Indians and Bangalore offices, work outsourcing etc. Boy am I glad I didn't think of migrating to the US... Ever!!! I know there is racism in the US ...but sorry for my rose tinted glasses. Gentlemen and Ladies...we are in the same boat as you. Elder. younger. Bgl. Not bgl. Fodder for some strategist planning something big every year and fattening their pockets. Let me also remind you those decision makers aren't Indians!!! So if we can objective it will help... And we Indians unfortunately still remain cattle class, cheap labour...believe you me...not pretty this side... Having calibre and mettle and still dealing with racist BS.

I am the original poster of the paragraph above. The challenges with Cisco's strategy are:

1. The best talented young people do not want to work for Cisco. The company is considered old school and they have better options;

2. It's ok to revitalize your workforce, but it needs to be done based on skills on not on scared managers getting rid of the people who are not "yes man/woman". HR has NO clue about the skills they have and managers do not care so that's why we keep seeing people who were let go coming back as blue badges or contractors;

3. There is another problem though. The great talented older people find jobs elsewhere. The ones who come back are either the ones who want to be at Cisco due to comfort/convenience (benefits, work location, flexibility) or the ones who are not the top talent;

4. There is a reason why Cisco keep paying millions of dollars to contractors from companies like Accenture or BCBG. If you let go of the older people who know how to do the work and bring new people who can't do it, things break and then you need to bring skilled people to fix it quickly. And that costs a lot.

In the end of the day, Cisco should have a proper HR strategy. But if we replace the HR leader for a cone, I don't think anyone would notice the difference...

My observation is number of red badges in bangalore campus is steeply increasing last couple years across all functions. Distribution of many outsourcing firms.

Its no longer a major cisco campus but more a holding tank where stuff moves through many hands ... when number of red badges reaches a critical mass then work is moved one hop further to their own office. Cubes have shrunk from 7 feet x 7 feet in bgl11/12 to kid sized shared tables in open bullpens hurriedly cobbled together to reduce space the BU has to pay wpr. Hordes of contractors do not even have these but work from the quiet rooms or whatever they can squirm into

The only thing not shrinking in bgl are the fat packages for the managerial class. Ceo pays them well to run the cotton and sugarcane plantation here.

@WvNdLEp-3hfm You are a complete a--. As a member of a group that was outsourced to Indian contractors (who we had to train), I can tell you that the Indian contractors immediately started screwing things up and would not listen to anybody regarding how things should work and what they were doing wrong. They were complete clowns. In additon to that we had to put up with a constant smell of BO due to the contractors wearing the same shirts/pants for weeks upon end.

the saner & competent folks in my old bgl group are busy giving external interviews. people have not much faith in internal movement opportunities - its like jumping from one frying pan to another and directors always ready to pour more hot oil and increase the flame.

old us workers should be fired as they are old and useless unlike bangalore workers

the scenario of pretty much all the original authors gone has already happened in XR and NXOS - the old R&S BUs core.

for XR they have hooked a ML engine onto topic search and thats supposed to help as newbies with half knowledge search for similar issues or clues from the past. the mail that introduced this feature also admitted it was for this reason.

in NXOS, a PE told me there are sometimes components found 15+ years old who have no owners at all!

An explicit policy of replacing older workers is what lawyers and the EEOC like to call “age discrimination”.

Nowadays, younger crew generally more flabby and weaker both in physical and mental stature. Many not capable of managing their way out of a paper bag; nevertheless are triggered by the irrelevant passing social crisis. The Cisco of the late 1990s and early 2000s is long since gone. RIP.

This new blood process is defnitely happening and has been for a number of years. I casually and informally surveyed a number of new-in-career people frm various teams. First, they are intelligent and eager to learn, which is why hiring them can be desirable. However, most of them explained in some form or another that Cisco was just a 2-3 year stop on the way to bigger and better things. So, most all of them do not see themselves long at Cisco. This could be cause for concern for the company. The experienced older people are gone, and the new talent are not necessarily long term, meaning each successive wave of new hires gets gradually less exposed to senior experience for ntil the bar is so low that the company suffers. This may already be happening in various pockets of the company now. Will management realize it too late?

A team needs combination of 30-40% seniors, 30-35% with 7-8 years of experience and 30-35% entry level to be successful.

@WvNdLEp-hcx I respectfully disagree. Younger talent are more inclined to fall into line and not question. As for skillsets... just because someone is older doesn't mean they aren't current with the latest tools and tech. Yes, there are those who lack those skills - I'm not referencing that population.

Cisco is old lady of industry. Only place for old people and visa workers.

Cisco has very low standards for their "early in career" talent. With low salaries for university hires, the company is merely looking for cheap bodies. Americans are quietly being laid off and replaced by temps, while also sending work to offices in India, Poland, or China.

The code word is “early in career” talent. We’ll see how this all goes with hiring fresh new blood. You talk about the older people being ‘entitled’ but the younger ones are becoming much worse. Older people turn up for work, don’t act precious and are grateful. Just watch as the new generation bring their “mental health issues” along with their snowflake “safe spaces” and SJW politics into the workplace.

Cisco is like Dracula/ Looking for new blood always.

Sounds like some old bitter guy was let go and got replaced by someone younger and more competent

Open up the Early Retirement program.

Where do I sign?

the only updated skill(s) you need to prosper within cisco is not technical in nature anymore.

those who dont have it dont have it - young or old

Younger people who are hungrier, with updated skills, without a chip on their shoulder, realistic expectations about the current job market, and the without the sense of entitlement of the elderly you mean?

Young people are more gullible easer to indoctrinate and not to mention much cheaper they also have the need to prove themselves, this combination is perfect to replace older more experienced and not so easily fooled employee.

This reason is where management proves its incompetence, having very low old employer retention means that there is a fundamental disagreement between the company leadership and its employees, therefore the quick dirty and cheap solution is to purge the older workers and indoctrinate new ones.

Word to management, if it smells like sh-- looks like Sh-- and fells like sh-- then most probably it is you know... sh--