What loathes me is the lying Cisco culture. Cisco wants employees to be loyal, yet there is NO loyalty to employees. We are not Cisco, leadership is Cisco, as we got laid off! What a game of smoke and mirrors and deception leadership plays (Sr VPs and above). It Is so sad people fall for the stuff Sr leadership says.
Bumping this just in time for another round of layoffs. @6oqa+1nUIcsM4 made a great point.
Best place to work? Ha! Fortune is clueless and must be getting paid by Cisco!
But, we are all brainwashed into thinking we are the best place to work. Not there is your story, Fortune! Go find people in LinkedIn that display their Cisco goodbye badge and interview them. Even though what they say publicly is nice, I bet they can tell you why Cisco is NOT the best place to work.
Just read this brilliant string. I was LRd in July and hallelujah! It is a huge weight off my body not having to live LR to LR. It does nothing but create a toxic atmosphere where everyone is tripping over each other to not get laid off. I had saved for this so I’m not freaked out. I decided a long time ago to boss up and be ready.
ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Cisco is loyal to no one.
Cisco is not your family.
You aren’t married to Cisco.
You only owe Cisco 8 hours of work a day. Not 12.
It’s just a job
Always prepare to be let go.
There is life after Cisco I promise.
It’s obvious Cisco is getting more and more aggressive with LRs. It is only going to get more toxic as this aggressive approach continues. Chuck and Fran now has a CFO that supports this savage approach. Take care of you and your family that’s who YOU are truly loyal to.
What a great thread! This is the first time I've been on this site, and I'm glad other see the lies I see!!!! How does Exec leadership get away with the lies they continually tell? They can't be trusted. I liked how someone said they brainwash us. They also spin things however they want them to be. This is not leadership! Face it, this is Executives focusing on making themselves rich instead of on their customers and employees.
@8iac+1oEimFyL B.S. They aren’t charismatic.
“Do research on cults. Cisco indoctrinates just like cults do. Once you hear “Best Place to Work” so many times, you start to believe it.”
Cult is a term, in most contexts pejorative, for a relatively small group which is typically led by a charismatic and self-appointed leader, who excessively controls its members, requiring unwavering devotion to a set of beliefs and practices which are considered deviant.
Chuck, Fran and team deliver on every point above.
Stop drinking the Koolaide because it is poisonous to your soul.
Fortune is clueless. They must have a business reason to spread such nonsense that Cisco could be a best place to work. Everyone lives in fear of the LR except for directors and above, and then even some if them get axed out of the blue to cut costs.
I am an old, white, straight, male, conservative. What can I do to increase my chances of receiving an LR?
Easy...send scathing comments about the ELT or management's stupid decisions to the clueless mailer. Or make comments that complain about Cisco's wokeness in Cisco check-in comments or Q&A sections.
I would and am trying to but hard in this job market and Cisco on my CV does not help, at least in the UK.
I couldn't agree more. Same here in the AsiaPac region.
What is happening now is that more and more hiring managers, HR, Talent Acquisition, and even other people out there in general have come to realize the reality of Cisco, which is now getting so notorious for being extremely toxic, just like legacy IBM, HP, or Motorola, not exciting to admit to working for.
Even my friend, who works at a pharmaceutical company, is aware of the Cisco culture.
A lot of people in the job market now know the employees of Cisco do nothing but backstab every day even though you put what you're doing at Cisco in your resume. They just don't trust whatever and how good you write in it.
I shouldn't have joined this company... I've never regretted this bad.
"Why work at a company you hate? The market is strong for A players…:leave."
I would and am trying to but hard in this job market and Cisco on my CV does not help, at least in the UK. I was hired in the SE org for an internal role and offered a grade at least one grade down than advertised on the internal portal. The "lying" nature of the local management and SED as pointed out by some is absolutely true. I am regretting accepting the role. Job wise the account SE role in the UKI is a dead end job, management is psychotic, the director runs his tightly wound show like a mafia boss and the toxicity never ends. Business is almost nonexistent. We are losing security customers right and left to PAN and Forti, DC business is getting eaten by Arista and Juniper. Juniper is also taking wifi away.
I am so frustrated at where I find myself. They are hiring at grades lower than advertised so that the SE management can save money on budget and promote himself internally. The VP is AWOL. The ELT, instead of firing individual contributors, should have a very good close look at the geos and their SE and sales teams. Question the attrition. And take positive, productive steps to bring back energy and business in the UKI.
Most of you are living in an alternate universe and should be fired due to incompetence.
You're just seeing the tip of the iceberg.
I am an old, white, straight, male, conservative. What can I do to increase my chances of receiving an LR?
I'm new to cisco and I think I've had enough. I would rather work at a no named, medium sized company that hasn't laid off in years because the leaders are far more competent. I've learned a valuable lesson that bigger isn't always better. At least there will be one less person NOT competing to work at these circuses in big tech. You guys can have it......
If you’re brave, just try getting an interview with any industry leader, Google, arrista, pan or some such. Most leaders won’t even call a cisco person back.
HR and management is clueless, so continue to work two jobs and then take the package
#LoveWhereYouWork & #BestPlaceToWork on social make me sick. What a bunch of trash. Yes, we are brainwashed into that, and I am even guilty of that, but now that I got hit in a LR when the company is doing so well and I see first-hand how badly Cisco treats folks.
I'm a Juniper employee, but follow this board on our competitors. It's quite comical. Most of you are living in an alternate universe and should be fired due to incompetence. You want to live in a world where everyone gets a ribbon. You would survive less than six months at any other networking or tech company.
These days, working at Cisco is like playing roulette. Your skills and work ethic matter little. You're simply hoping that the multiple layoffs each year don't land in your organization and impact you and your ability to support your family.
There's a better way to earn a living.
@2nyd+1oEimFyL, I think it's more like a cr-p shoot than roulette. As long as a seven doesn't come up, you're just making money every day until the seven comes along and clears the table. Take your winnings as you get them and just walk away. Cisco has been pretty good to me over the years as I've been on multiple teams w/ multiple managers over the years and only one manager has been a real di-k. While a director didn't like me, my prev manager kept me around because I was the only person who filled a specific function they needed, but when that manager left and was replaced, the new guy su-ked up to the director and made sure to cull me out first chance he got and they "suffered" through that function being unfilled for as long as they could and made sure that they filled a red badge role w/ someone who could perform that function as a secondary task. Other than that one LR due to internal politics, the other LRs have been due to budget cuts. Then when the team(s) can't meet their priorities due to staffing cuts, they end up restaffing and I get to come back after twiddling my thumbs somewhere else that I hated. Between the multiple LR's, I've pocketed 18 months of pay while working elsewhere. I know if I'm impacted yet again, I'll just find another job and pocket the next severance and then return to Cisco when a team I've worked on or with needs my particular skillset again. The nice thing about Cisco being stuck with legacy cr-p is that most younger generations don't know how it works and that keeps me marketable for Cisco roles.
"Why work at a company you hate? The market is strong for A players…:leave."
There aren't many companies in networking equipment, Cisco has a government created duopoly in North America. You either work at Cisco, Arista, or Juniper.... or create a company that is eventually sold to Cisco.
Welcome to 1970s Soviet Union, the illusion of options & choices.
"Fortune should be ashamed of themselves!!!"
Fortune is paid by these companies to rank them. If you don't understand that... I can't even
I loves Ciscos. Just I the work 2 hours in the day. Not one knowing and not one care.
I am not being cynical folks but people who feel under pressure because of the layoffs, which is a legit thing to happen to many, would do well to look elsewhere for the good of their mind and health. Otherwise you have to be a diversity hire political superstar like the SE director in our geo is before he got promoted in 2020 and got rid of all the progressive people. Ref: https://twitter.com/CiscoIcon/status/1141884679613583361
These days, working at Cisco is like playing roulette. Your skills and work ethic matter little. You're simply hoping that the multiple layoffs each year don't land in your organization and impact you and your ability to support your family.
There's a better way to earn a living.
"Why work at a company you hate? The market is strong for A players…:leave."
That's YOU who need to leave. It's high time you resigned. Your extremely long tenure at Cisco is suffering people who joined from other tech companies.
Why work at a company you hate? The market is strong for A players…:leave.
"I'm an employee out of the US, but I submitted the "Best Place to Work Survey" last week since I'd received an email. The email says that the company wants to make it even better... I was like, Don't make me laugh!"
What is better than Best? Bestes? Asbestos?
Fortune should be ashamed of themselves!!! They didn't do their homework. Nevertheless, it is the best place to work for SVPs who are getting rich, and it might be a good place as a shareholder, but it is obviously not the best place to work for most. Working at Cisco is like gambling. Roll the dice if you get to stay, and odds are against you the higher you pay unless you kiss up to a SVP or higher.
What a game of smoke and mirrors and deception leadership plays (Sr VPs and above).
If you think it's limited to Sr VPs and above you are profoundly unaware of your surroundings. Lying and stealing are at the very core of Cisco's DNA since the company's technology was first taken from Stanford without permission and runs from the top to the bottom.
I'm an employee out of the US, but I submitted the "Best Place to Work Survey" last week since I'd received an email. The email says that the company wants to make it even better... I was like, Don't make me laugh!
The fact is that this is the WORST place to work I've ever worked.
This company is unthinkably stupid and low-level, old, immature, filled with bunch of incompetent, extremely long-tenured 20-year, know-nothing managers, which have plagued the corporate culture and milieus.
Do research on cults. Cisco indoctrinates just like cults do. Once you hear “Best Place to Work” so many times, you start to believe it. Now, I’d never say that Cisco is the all-time worst place to work. But the constant fear of being laid off negates any of the other perks they provide. I mean, how could you enjoy being in a marriage if you know that your mate may leave you at any time no matter how good you treat them.
#1 place to work is a bunch of nonsense! It's all internal PR trying to get people to accept the dysfunction of Sr leadership. Think about it, a company with a culture of lying to employees and laying off people just for higher profits can't be the best place to work.
Fortune should be ashamed of themselves for getting scammed too!
Nobody is falling for it. People have to make a living so they play the game. Some believe brown nosing will save them while others take pride in booking the cheapest hotels. It's all futile. LRs are completely arbitrary and hit anyone regardless of accomplishments or skills.
You say this but, Cisco was the #1 place to work by Fortune for the third year in a row.