I received an offer to join Duo Security, which has a tremendous rating on Glassdoor. My apprehension is that Cisco recently bought the company for high $$$ value.
I value job stability for next 3-4yrs. Does anyone know how other recent acquisitions such as app dynamics, meraki and Open DNS are doing? Any thoughts on Duo?
Duo has a two year window to meet goals independently. If they succeed, their leadership team will be elevated to run overall Security. If they fail (like DU did), they are pushed out. After 2 year honeymoon, you are not safe, but you have two years of awesome for sure.
I’m sure it would be fine — until the integration is complete and Duo leadership exits. Once Cisco’s managers take over, things will spiral fast. Cisco culture is toxic in every conceivable way, and stability is a pipe dream.
When a startup is acquired by Cisco the founders and innovators leave as soon as their stock vests. Cisco replaces them with administrators and maintenance engineers. The Cisco corporate machine takes over decision making. Cisco milks the revenue while cutting costs. What might have once been an exciting technology to work on becomes drudge work.
Amazon is for adrenalin junkies, Cisco is for politicians addicted to bureaucracy.
You need good savings a solid plan B in mind to be happy at Cisco, otherwise your mental health will take a battering due to the constant changes, reorgs, and redundancies. If you can handle that it’s a fab place to work, if not you will be MISERABLE. I think being an adrenalin junkie is a must personality trait for being a good fit.
Cisco doesn't offer job stability.