Cisco Systems – “Cisco is ok for learning how to fight and survive within a corporate war zone.”

Pros

If you want a company with a good brand, market share and status, Cisco is a good one. Good opportunities for working remote. Good to have 1-2 years of Cisco experience on your resume, then look for a firm that you'd want to work at.

Cons

Cisco has either bought or driven most competitors into the ground resulting in no urgency around providing quality products. No transparency into the promotion process, it works as a good old boy network. Aside from a few token women VPs, there are no career advancement opportunites for women. Management does not listen to employees - their egos are so large, they either know it all already or they are too busy fighting internal territorial battles. If you want a company exploding with arrogance, this is the right one.

Advice to Senior Management

One day there will be other companies that provide the same end results with products/services - customers will remember all of the poor quality products they had to put up with, as well as the complexities in doing business with Cisco and will leave in a hurry.