Cisco Systems Reviews in Boxborough, MA

Pros

They generally treat employees well, and benefits are good.

Cons

They have been outsourcing a lot of work in the past few years.

Pros

Compensation, benefits are very good. Performance based equity. Work time is flexible. Component vendors will bend over backwards to get their product designed in. Engineering staff is top notch. Good people to work with. HW design tools are best avail.

Cons

HW engineering a dying breed at Cisco. Focus is on SW feature delivery. SJ is the center of excellence and the remote US locations are just support sites. Development teams are global - expect late night conf calls with china, india, malaysia. Internal support of design tools is weak. Layoffs have become a way of life. Morale has dwindled.

Advice to Senior Management

Give engineers confidence that their job won't be moved overseas. Show more support for US sites outside of SJ and RTP. Stop the never ending re-orgs. Learn from the smaller, focused companies that have stolen your market share. Figure out how to get the entrepreneurial spirit back into the company.

Pros

Cisco has a lot of resources and Subject Matter Experts available so that you can grow your knowledge base and be competitive. It's a great learning experience that is rarely matched in most companies.

Cons

As it is a big company, there will be a bit of red tape/bureaucracy. The politics can roadblock your career or program. Though this is apparent in all companies, Cisco does a better job on critical feedback that should help the individual's growth and awareness.

Advice to Senior Management

Cisco has to refocus and catch it's edge again as the competition is starting to thrive.

Pros

Management team is very supportive. Compensation package is good.
Documentation is well established. Cozy environment to work. Rich training
resources.

Cons

Technical is mature, no cutting-edge technical learned in daily
work..such it is hard to find a new career outside Cisco. Cisco
is adopting new strategy which is hiring more new graduates
to replace mid-level engineers

Advice to Senior Management

Technical is mature, no cutting-edge technical learned in daily
work..such it is hard to find a new career outside Cisco. Cisco
is adopting new strategy which is hiring more new graduates
to replace mid-level engineers

Pros

Relaxed and enjoyable place to work

Cons

might need work outside of work to get projects done

Advice to Senior Management

chances to move around company and try other fields out

Pros

* Good work life balance
* Treated with respect
* Good exposure to different technologies
* Good brand name in industry

Cons

* SJ based companies. Growth in other locations limited
* Lots of growth in late 90s and early 2000s - but not much in last few years. As a result, there are well compensated middle/senior managers, who don't want to move, and ill-compensated junior people with not much potential to grow
* Too much process

Advice to Senior Management

Give more growth opportunities to people outside SJ.
Decrease some of the process, and spend money on productivity increasing measures, and not just blind cost cutting

Pros

Coworkers were all wonderful people, very knowledgeable and diverse bunch.
Good pay.
Very competent CEO, respectful and approachable middle management.
Equipment was new and whenever I asked for hardware I received it

Cons

Some perks were taken away in 2009 (free drinks)
Some of the people, especially in Tech Support, work very hard, some barely take lunches or skip lunch so they can stay ahead of their cases.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep treating employees with respect, be careful of overworking some departments.

Pros

Top benefits include flex time to balance life/work, good compensation package, and a senior management team that keeps its eye on the industry and adjusts the compensation options to match the needs of its employees. The projects and departments run from stable/older technology to bleeding edge groups with a startup mentality.

A lot of innovation happening in the writing community, with a strong emphasis on alternate approaches to documentation.

Cons

Politics. It's a big company, so decisions appear arbitrary. This leads to poor tool choices and frustration dealing with a publishing system that could be considered institutionalized torture on bad days. There's also little overall respect for technical documentation. Management thinks anyone with a keyboard can write documentation, but pay no attention to the drop in quality when they shift writing to cheaper alternatives.

Advice to Senior Management

Foster better transparency in decisions. When you make the tough decisions (ie layoffs) you're failing to protect your best employees.

Pros

Flexibility and ability to work from home.

Cons

Its a satellite to the mother ship in San Jose. Opportunities are not as prevalent.

Advice to Senior Management

Communicate clearly and openly to all employees what is happening.

Pros

Cisco is a company that is leading the way for the next generation of communications. They have an excellent executive team that communicates a consistent vision down the reporting chain. During the current struggles, they are adapting -- finding ways to reduce expenses without layoffs. While there is some job loss at Cisco, I feel it is not as great as other companies.

Cisco also believes in a comprehensive compensation package, constantly checking the industry to ensure fair compensation.

Cons

During the downturn, decisions about letting folks go is not always based on performance, but geography. If at a remote CONUS site, I feel you are more exposed than if you worked in SJC.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to invest in new technologies and expanding your product portfolio.
Ensure that remote CONUS employees feel connected by maximizing communications.