Make of that what you will, but it’s getting harder not to notice certain patterns.
21 replies (most recent on top)
@OP It's not ageism. It's cost per/head. They can hire two - 25 yr olds for the cost of one 50 yr old. At the end of the day, it feels the same to the people impacted. But it's still not ageism.
The recent cuts are all about age (I'm 55-60) and grade if you look at the required by law disclosure statistics. Performance and skills were not a part of the decision. I was in the top connected recognition for Q3, my internal customers were happy and went beyond heavily using various Circuit LLM prompts to a Claude desktop license (which Claude is awesome) to automate. I contributed to achieving those Q3 record results. It didn't matter, I was just a line on the spreadsheet to reduce in the end.
Plus they did this with no notice so I feel if anyone took on a recent financial obligation versus waiting because we had some notice.
I've been here 20+ years and the last 5 have been the most toxic. Complete loss of respect for the company and the bullsh-t the ELT spews. If you will still be working there keep in mind the target on your back, just a matter of time before you will be next.
Could there be a correlation between age and resistance to using AI ?
It is very common to take out older employees and those with more stock options, yet Legal is the masters at hiding that and getting away with it. Did you ever notice we have very few retirement parties any more?? We shoot our more senior employees in the back instead of honoring them! So, so, sad, but the ELT will say how much they care and pretend none of this ever happened. Remember the day about 5 years ago the ELT team had a party as the "#1 Place to Work" and then LRed people the next day? They obviously knew!!! It is more than wrong, it is sick!
Cisco Legal should be held accountable and give everyone that was LRed over the last 10 years who were >50 at least their stock options back!!!
Cisco practices blatant age discrimination but they are very good at it. Meaning they lay off just enough young fodder to not lose a class action lawsuit. I had a pretty good run, 25+ years before they laid me off and LITERALLY "replaced" me with 2 H1B 25 year olds before I was even gone. Wait, I though I was doing great but my job was just eliminated, lol. Good luck with the H1B's.
If you're over 50, you're marked for age related layoff. If your director likes you, then a long run is still possible. But sooner or later, no one will stand up for you regardless of performance and the fact you're fodder comes home to roost.
I was laid off in 2006 (eventually made my way back to Cisco) and took the ER (51) in 2020. It was stressful at those times, but looking back, I would say both events were positives for me. Best of luck to those affected.
@ae
That's always good advice to follow. In tech it should be heeded no matter the company worked for or age of employee.
My spouse was laid off by Cisco around 2003 and went to work for a competitor. Cisco rehired him. I don't know if I'd characterize myself as positive, I truly was sweating bullets for the past couple of weeks.
@b2 G8 are not paid that much. In your mid-50s, you should be at least a G10, if not G11. Promotions to G10 are fairly routine, with a little harder to G11. G12 and beyond you typically need to be a top performer.
My layoff group included 2 G13 and 2 G12 - all over 55, and long tenure.
mid 50's here, gone today. probably making too much for them as G8 in CA. politics were very bad anyway, glad to have spent 6 years doing something important.. all of my team that were near or over 50 were gone last year....only newbee or lower pay people left to be kicked around by them
I was laid off last year at around 60. I had 20+ years at Cisco, and almost all the impacted people in our team were 55+. Severance came to almost 1 year, between separation payment and RSU acceleration. I had a nice, paid 2 month vacation (notification to last day is 60 days, and we were not allowed back in office except to get your stuff, and possibly interview for internal roles), and got another job at a higher title and salary, as did my other colleagues. I guess I was actually unemployed for maybe 6 weeks, but that was mainly because I held off interviewing, and after the job offer, took another 2 weeks negotiating better terms (got another 10%).
There is life on the other side! Reach out to former colleagues at other companies. All the best.
The pattern is looking for trends based on a small sample size and lack of empirical data. Humans naturally recognize patterns. People don't understand statistics.
@ad
All due respect..my guess is that your spouse has never been laid off in their career.
On the one hand, it's good that you are so positive.
On the other, I have watched many (literally dozens) of respected colleagues, people that were stellar leaders, decades at the company, absolutely rocked to their core when they were laid off.
My advice would be (and you probably already are)..Save at least 20% and always network. You never know when you will need a former collegues help.
My spouse is 56, 16 years at Cisco, has received a big promotion and unprecedented raise in the past 6 months. I think it depends heavily on what area you're in and your willingness to continually advance your career.
I think some of this unfortunately has to do with tenure and pay - if you've been at cisco for 15+ years, you're likely making more than many or most around you. If you are a g11 or higher on any of they payscales you are at the top 10% of non execs in the company and likely have the tenure and age to go along with it - they'd rather hire 2 grade 8s for the same price.
50 too. I guess my days are numbered
Long time Tech Industry veteran here. I worked at Cisco many years ago, left for a competitor.
I also have felt the pain of layoffs (the last time I was in my 60's.)
If you are over 40, start planning..the 'too old for tech' clock has started
Over 50, hopefully you are networking, saving $ and have an eye on what companies will hire folks with gray around the temples. There are still some in Tech that willl.
Over 60, and you will likely only be able to get a Contractor gig unless you are an executive or c-suite level.
Either way for all 3 examples above..the best advice I have is save at least 20% (401K and if over 60 range split between 401k and Roth).
Age discrimination in our industry is a sad fact..and it is 100% a fact!
Sorry this is happening to anyone especially now.
Good Luck to all.
if you are over 50, you cannot expect to stay in Cisco for any long time, you need figure out your own backup plan if you have not done yet.
which BU were you in ?
+1 over 50 here.
Long time Cisco employee in my 60s. Just laid off.