Cisco Systems Reviews

Pros

Great place to learn about networking; especially if you are interested in Cisco Certifications. There are tons of very knowledgeable people in their fields who are happy to help.

Cons

For this particular location I was too far away from family which impacted me negatively; almost lost someone special to me.

Advice to Senior Management

Give more credit to employee when they have done a good job. Get to know your employee better; we are not robots.

Pros

You work with a lot of smart and motivated people.
You can influence product dev/features, marketing, and execution.
Salary and benefits are exceptional.
Access to bleeding edge technology and information.
Empowered - but less than in the past.

Cons

Too much bureaucracy now that Cisco is a larger company.
It is a social environment - most of the time you get things done because you are friends with someone. Accountability is lacking at several levels above sales.
Stagnation in middle management.
Too much middle management.
Not enough equity and promotional pools to treat top performers adequately.

Advice to Senior Management

Reduce the bureaucracy , thin out middle management, invest more equity to treat the performers.

Continue to press the innovation envelope.

Focus on integration and product quality.

Pros

Good work and recog from mid-level managers and my direct manager. Work is self starting, freedom to go and pursue initiatives I feel benefits our clients.

Cons

Red tape, easy to get overlooked if not always giving extra effort, sometimes overworked in services (not sure about engineering divisions). Easy for others to "cruise" but also easy to stand out if you put in the effort.

Advice to Senior Management

Good direct level and mid-level mgrs. More direct messaging from executives (face to face or in-person meetings).

Pros

Great salary & growth potential, awesome culture, in most cases there is a Teleworker option, family- oriented company, very little micro-management

Cons

You'll work long hard hours most days, times were better a decade ago at Cisco (compensation, benefits, stocks, etc), you can become just a number in a large company if you don't make a significant mark

Advice to Senior Management

Update compensation plans to be more even more competitive with our industry peers,

Pros

Hard working employees focused on getting job done in collaborative fashion
Good communication and transparency from senior leadership
Opportunities for challenging and interesting work projects
Employees treated with respect; Company shows strong interest in employee welfare/well being

Cons

Big and complex company makes cross functional decision making difficult and slows execution
Ongoing organizational structure churn has created unnecessary distraction

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to reinforce focus on accountability and streamline decision making processes to speed up issue resolution and execution
Stabilize organizational structure

Pros

Flexible, Agile and promotes collaborative approach.
Transparency between employee and leadership team

Cons

Due to the size of the company, Pace of the career progress growth is slow

Pros

1 Balance of work and life.
2 Decent working environment and casual culture.

Cons

1 Slow and conservative decision.
2 Not exciting.

Advice to Senior Management

Be more advanture and rapid in product and feature development.

Pros

Good benefits
Flexible work options
Nice people

Cons

Near impossible to get promotions

Advice to Senior Management

Promote within or you'll continue to lose great employees.

Pros

Excellent Leadership
Family environment
Solid Benefits Package
Top Engineers
Fast paced, exciting place to work
Great People

Cons

Career growth can be limited in certain situations
Compensation is low compared to the industry standards

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your employees. A great deal can be learned from the people that are working in the field everyday.

Pros

Market leader always pursuing innovation
Smart people
Opportunity to grow and experience many facets of the organization....no pigeon holing
Flexibility in work arrangements... Telecommuting
Cutting edge productivity tools and technology made available to all employees
Fast paced and broad scope of responsibilities

Cons

Average to lower comp than peer companies
Very large organization....pockets of deep bureaucracy
Takes time to establish connections to navigate politics