Thread regarding Cisco Systems Inc. layoffs

The entire corporate structure in America is broken. Executives are given Golden Parachutes to elevate the value of a company with no skin in the game. They don't care if they are successful or fail. They get their 7 or 8-figures when they leave no matter the shape the company is in. Look at IBM with Ginny. Never made a profit and some odd 28 straight quarters of lower revenue. But still received mid-9-figure earnings and lifetime benefits. Think about it. She was paid nearly $500M to make IBM a garbage company.

@1kyi+16PrZyN9
I agree with your comments about companies that fail to stay relevant and create real customer value, not Just stockholder value with constant Layoffs, buybacks and dividends. Historically customer value created financial growth which then created stock holders value but as I mentioned since 2009, this Has been broken.

Similarly I want to caution you about judging success based on recent stock price increases. Unfortunately, the gov used the 2009 playbook on steroids to fight the covid recession. This created a tech stock bubble. Be careful. I would separate Microsoft in that list because it truly changed itself. Apple, google, FB are financially strong.

The small companies in your list are questionable. They have very little competitive advantage. Be careful when you consider joining them especially based on their recent stock performance.

Agree about Susie, all smoke and mirrors, not really did anything besides rah rah dev ops, where has that gone? walks around LIVE like a prima donna, but has CR fooled.

I knew early on Susie was a fraud when she didn't return a single phone call, email, or team message from any of us in my BU about how we could create DevNet programs around our API set. If you go back and look at her history here, you'll see she's done nothing.

Agree about Susie, all smoke and mirrors, not really did anything besides rah rah dev ops, where has that gone? walks around LIVE like a prima donna, but has CR fooled.a

Did you just call Microsoft a little guy?

The tech industry is NOT in a sad state. The companies that have struggled -and continue to struggle- to create/maintain relevance (like Cisco), and are now being run by complete id–ts (like CR), are in a sad state. Tech companies, in general, are BOOMING.

• FAANG Stocks are at an all time high, and they are all hiring like crazy (I am currently interviewing with 3 of them). And the little guys are booming too:
• Crowdstrike's stock is up 120% YTD, and the are hiring like crazy.
• Zscaler has a $19B market cap, their stock has grown 200% YTD - hiring like crazy.
• Zoom has a $107B market cap, and their stock grew over 350% this year - hiring like crazy.
• Microsoft's stock has grown 100% YTD, they are hiring like crazy.
• Five9 stock has grown 100% YTD, and they are hiring.
• Twilio Stock is up 120% YTD - hiring
• Slack IPO'ed this year... they are hiring
• Salesforce is up 50% YTD - hiring

These are just a few examples of companies that have reached out to me with opportunities over the past 4 months.

There's plenty of work out there if you want it. But it's with companies that are relevant. It's not with the stodgy old behemoths of yesteryear.

sad reality of Silicon Val in general.
tons of bs-artists and little talent of value

#Truth

Truth, that. @vmv+16PrZyN9

sad reality of Silicon Val in general
tons of bs-artists and little talent of value

I did not know about Susie Wee, but I agree with everything you wrote. Cisco is a really stinking gutter. I joined it right after college and told my parents how excited I was. My sin was to stay in this garbage filth for close to 10 years. I eventually left. There has not been a single thing I miss about this company. Literally NOTHING. I pity new hires who get caught like fish in a fishnet. Some leave in a year or so, some get lazy. It is blessing in disguise when that hell hole spits you out. I am not going to judge everyone in that company but a very very high % of engineers, managers and leaders are literally worthless. Lacking in all areas - communication, people skills, tech skills. Internal job portals, even if they have tons of jobs, the quality of jobs is so rotten and such archaic tech, that now that I know the world better, I want to vomit at the thought of working on that kind of stuff. I wonder how people there spend years staying in one f—ing business unit, working on one f—ing feature on a proprietary OS. I had worked in 4 business units during my 10 year stay. Luckily, I was in decent teams. I so agree with the filthy 3% raise. It was like being a beggar at an elite level salivating, if I will get 3-4% after 1.5 years. A promotional raise was also like that at times. The HR and propaganda machine ensures rating is 4.0 at least on Glasdoor with such hollow reviews. That place needs to shrink by 30-40% to even try to grow. The culture is so toxic. If you don't want to work, u can just hide for years and BS sprint after sprint. New college kids go there to destroy their careers. I wish I had gotten a layoff package rather than quit on my own. At this point, I do not even feel pity for people who stick in that gutter complaining about it. It is one of the worst company of post dot com era to work for. And, I be damned if I am lying that having Cisco on your resume for too long is a black spot in the eyes of other companies/recruiters. Even a VP at Cisco who had once quit directly said this to me.