I understand why longtime employees stay because routine and stability can trap you after enough years, but I genuinely don’t understand what newer hires are seeing in this place now. Most of the things that once made it attractive disappeared a long time ago, yet people still keep coming in the door somehow.
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It's a paycheck and benefits.
Simple. End of story.
For anyone coming out of college right now, he/she has to jump on any job that pay average salary. It is extremely difficult to get a job for fresh grade right now so it is not what any new hire seeing "this place" - it is the fact that majority of them now do not have any other option.
It's a check and the bills get paid. Believe it or not there is worse places. Unemployed is one of them.
I haven't seen any warts at Cisco that I haven't seen everywhere else with more than two employees. The pay is great, the benefits are solid, and there are mostly genuinely nice and intelligent people here....of all races and backgrounds. I plan to stay until they tell me to leave.
The "draw" is a paycheck. From the outside, Cisco probably appears stable. We all know what it's like once you are inside, but lots of other tech companies are likely just as bad.
Cisco does commodity work in saturated markets; the work is not demanding and this is why you see the race to Bangalore. You can't compete unless you are willing to accept food service wages.
If you are a young person, just exit this industry now, it isn't going to get any better. Remember we are in a tech bubble. When the bubble bursts the layoffs will be accompanied by company failures.
@av Exactly! People still come here because the job market is awful. It’s an easy choice when you’ve been out of work and need money. Once there’s an uptick in hiring in the job market, people may leave.
I stay because I like my team and believe in the solution. Having said that, no raise or RSUs in the last 2 reviews, has me interviewing.
New hires usually join, get some experience, and then leave for higher pay within 3 years.
We aren’t even really hiring at all in my org. Maybe some internal transfers and stuff, but pretty much zero external hiring pipeline. I feel like the culture of the larger Cisco is just complete corporate slop and everyone sees right through it. They expect everyone to bring their best when they won’t give you a raise for years. Also poor leadership just torpedos the motivation on my team at least. I really can’t wait for the market to recover so folks can gtfo.
A new hire at Cisco can learn a lot and then move on, but I think us old timers hang on, not only because it's comfortable, but because we remember the good ol' days (late 90s).
I feel demoralized with my career here. The job market isn't good. I was told joining Cisco that you get in, get your experience and certifications, grow internally or join another company in two years. Now I'm at 4 years, have multiple certifications, up skilled, and pleading to grow. Externally, employers are asking for you to have everything and the kitchen sink to even be thought of against 100+ other applicants.
Internally, so many people are saying there's freezes across the board, and mostly everyone is hanging tight. Everyone says they'll help you with a smile but the moment a call to action is needed everyone doesn't give a sh-t about you.
You can't understand why someone in Ukraine or India would be thrilled to work for a US company earning for 2-3x the competitive rate in their local economy?