Been worried about rumored layoffs for a few weeks now, but I'm not sure if I should be. I've been with Cisco for just under two years. Does that mean I am safe, considering that most of the cuts are of people with much higher pay and benefits than mine? Or am I wrong in assuming that?
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Cisco seems very unstable with respect to managing workforce needs. An interminable cycle of hiring and layoffs is bad for any company that values stability. Seems they can't get their act together. One month it's all good, next month there's another reorg and heads are chopped. Never going back. Total mess, unstable and staff planning is non existent.
LR'ed 3 months ago and had a few minutes in between meetings so I decided to see what was going on with As Cisco Turns. Very entertaining! I have a feeling you'll come back now and then just to reminisce about how much fun it was trying to keep employed there.
I do wonder (quite seriously), if I will still be spending my free time looking up Cisco on here long after I am LR’d. I hope not. These days it is a case of ‘when’, not ‘if’, after all. It’s like a survival game counting how many you have managed to survive over the years...
No one’s immortal though!
@YHcWadW-dgz. Same with me. I had over 20 years in and got the axed.
If you’re over 50, I’d have a plan for getting out before you get shot. Came out of nowhere for me. Especially since I was in a “growth” area. I was at grade 11 w 17 years
the surviving G11s in my old group in BLR (routing) were called in 1:1 for threatening session by the director and told that henceforth, only the number of triages they did mattered not any real development work or even fixing bugs. devtest has reached stage where they cannot triage the issues they hit properly and code has reached that level of fragility.
they were told G8 are doing the work and they would valued more than expensive and "rebellious" G11 who did not take up triages as the best thing in life.
No, you are not safe. No one at Cisco is ever safe unless they are experts at politics.
The not-so-hidden goal is to eliminate older expensive engineers... However, they cannot do this directly without suffering from discrimination lawsuits - so they have to balance the scales by eliminating people under the age of 40 at the same time. From their point of view this is a win-win is it eliminates both expensive engineers and opens up easy to fill positions to meet there stated turnover goals.
LR list might be computer generated but there seems to be at least one pass for directors to save a handful of their pets. I've yet to see a director that values performance over politics, at least in CCBU.
15 years ago, Cisco was safe. Now...not so much. Even if your group is doing well, you're just a hair's breadth away from getting the notice. It happened to me five years ago; in hindsight, it stung quite a bit initially and then I realized that there was a much better world out there.
Without performance reviews at Cisco, layoffs are determined by personal relationships & diversity quotas.
@YHcWadW-dgz. You are not factoring in age. Over 50's are especially at risk. I had 20+ years in at Cisco. Group was doing great, plenty of work and I got laid off.
Had a new hire in the team, two weeks in, got LR-ed.
As history has demonstrated time and time again, no one is ever 'safe' at Cisco. Plan accordingly.
You're wrong in assuming that. If your BU is going good you'll be fine. If you're in CX then being a lower grade may help but it's still a gamble.