People skills matter! My new manager was great in his old role, but he was also an a--hole with zero people skills. Now he's our manager. He knows the technical side, but working with people is a complete mystery to him. Scattered communication, yelling, giving mixed messages, all of it has become normal. We're basically coaching the person who's supposed to guide us, and it's getting tiring pretending everything is fine.
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Grade 10 mangers are the worst fu-ktards. DEI re--rds illegal immigrants. Total di-kheads.
Absolutely
- Reputation and Public Trust
A company’s credibility is built on trust. When an employee has ties to criminals, abusive individuals, or harmful networks, it can raise concerns about the company’s judgment and reliability. Media, clients, or the public may view the association as a failure in vetting or an acceptance of unethical behaviour.
Conflict With Core Values
Modern organizations emphasise values such as integrity, accountability, safety, and respect. Any link to wrongdoing—whether through direct involvement, collusion, or enabling abusive behaviour—undermines those principles. Companies must show they uphold their values consistently, including through personnel decisions.Internal Culture and Safety
Employees may feel unsafe or uncomfortable working with someone associated with criminal or abusive behaviour. It can reduce morale, hinder collaboration, and potentially expose the company to HR or legal challenges if the behaviour escalates.Legal and Compliance Risk
Even indirect associations with criminal activity can raise red flags for regulatory bodies or business partners. If an employee’s conduct suggests possible complicity, negligence, or a failure to report harmful behaviour, the company could face compliance audits or liability concerns.
- Client and Partner Relationships
Partners may reconsider doing business with an organization that appears to tolerate unethical associations. It can lead to contract losses, strained relationships, or scrutiny from stakeholders.
Much like the question of why would an EA be promoted to a manager in public sector sales when they're married to an ex-Cisco employee who is a convicted (as in jail time) abuser?
Odd thing to do for PR Toronto Ontario if it gets out don't you think? Given Cisco is about human rights and all.
@rj seems to be one of the “fu-ktards”.
No, I'm competent but by no means a genius and worked at competent companies delivering release after release after release on time and on budget. I went through a lot of code I developed in critical paths years after signing off on it and it wasn't changed because it did the job sufficiently the first time. The larger systems architectures I led were solid for many generations as well.
I also worked on all four major routing and switching operating systems at Cisco and I know where the bodies are buried, including the 11 digit cost over time attempting to fix defects found by customers. I've also been a customer of Cisco for more than 30 years and it's been massive problems throughout. The software quality at Cisco is extremely poor, and again, few of you know enough to know that or why it's extremely poor.
@bj
"this has been the case for many many many years. It is never about your technical chops. Once you are a Grade11 all promotions beyond that are based on how good you are at su-king up and selling BS. Same for the management equivalent at Sr Manager and above"
100%. That's why I never made it beyond grade 11.....I couldn't sell BS. I tried a few times and had to call timeout and bail....it was too disgusting. I also believed in working "for" my customers....shame on me. But I sleep good at night and don't miss it.
@ra It's a "layoff" website....duh. Most of us are here because we were kicked to the curb for no reason and have alot of anger to vent (and also to relish in the continued dysfunction at Cisco).
@rj seems to be one of the “fu-ktards”.
@rj way too many PowerPoint jockeys. And highly paid managers who do 101 level presentations and crumble as soon as they are asked for practical examples, clearly the people talking about the work need to be less visible relative to those doing the work.
I was glad to see a consultant in IT paid for thought leadership get ripped apart.
Both re: AI
At no other employer have I known senior technical people so looked down upon...
At no other employer have I known senior technical people so profoundly incompetent. The saddest part is how few people know enough to recognize this.
...by total fu-ktards of managers...
They are the incompetent technical people who at least knew to capitalize on their skills in BS. When projects overrun in time by years and in budget by a factor of dozens? Just say "it was far harder than anyone could have imagined!" and everyone gets a bonus. Companies without Cisco's margins cannot afford to keep failing like this.
"when I was at Cisco" - if you don't currently work here WTF are you on this board. Get over it - move on.
How many layers of Cisco management are coming/sharing the same culture as G2? Don't dream the promotion will be based on skills, not even in the engineering team.
This place has made me so jaded. I think I have the worst career trajectory and I’m just so burnt out now. I should have left a long time ago.
when I was at CISCO, I saw many times (in development), a person was not good at designing/coding/hands-on, then the manager tired the person on "something else - cited that the person was interested in doing more project management and team management work". Some of them you can see they have connections with higher up but some of them just strictly due to team manager did not know how to use them and didn't want to take the trouble to manage out the non-fit. The results? incompetent line managers and useless positions created. This was CISCO,
Cisco routinely promotes competence technical folks to make them incompetent and use-less before showing the LR door. Standard practice as there is no technical ladder to keep going up. Principal Architect/Engineers are just glorified sales guys.
A good SE does not a good manager make.
A manager with technical skills at Cisco? I call shenanigans.
@g2 this is on a special disco fast track, from grade 10 to vp in janitorial services.
@g0 how are grade 10 managers even a thing? there are up to grade 11 and 12 ICs, a grade 10 manager must be so far down the org chart theyre managing the toilet cleaners
Grade 10 mangers are the worst. Low intellect fu-ktards dreaming of becoming vps. 😂
At least your manager is technical. I’m from CX, part of CSS team, my manager and director are so useless, they provide no help whatsoever. I’m constantly reminded to be technical, which I don’t intend to be, if the management is so incompetent.
My manager doesn’t even look at our code or PRs, like ever…. 😂
Disco managers are incompetent and corrupt.
If you are looking at disco management you see a field of di-ks.
"good people don't want to be middle managers. Middle managers don't want to be good people" mo--n post with a bunch of mo--n likes. Think about it if you can. The largest number of bad people is actually the ICs. I guarantee there are less bad managers than bad ICs at cisco.
At no other employer have I known senior technical people so looked down upon and patronized like at Cisco by total fu-ktards of managers who are in a political game and posting BS on Linked-In.
People who slip into management like that are usually promoted into that slot because the company is trying to retain them, rather than let them top out in their old position. So you have a Technical Manager, shut up, put on your big boy pants and deal with it. You won't work for the cream of the crop every time you turn around, especially now - you work at Cisco, remember?
We are Cisco where the absolute worst who have no tech skills and no prospects outside are promoted to managers and kept around for job safety
this has been the case for many many many years. It is never about your technical chops. Once you are a Grade11 all promotions beyond that are based on how good you are at su-king up and selling BS. Same for the management equivalent at Sr Manager and above
The ones get managed out by the terrible managers above them.
good people don't want to be middle managers. Middle managers don't want to be good people.
hello! welcome to every company, military, non-profit...