Pros: Opportunity to learn great technology, well recognized and a leader in everything it does.

Cons: Too big to be nimble. Not so well paying as it is thought of from the outside. Too much management centric.

Pros: I have no doubt there are some good groups in Cisco. The key is to get hired into just those where politics is at a minimum and there is more focus on the engineering itself. Now pray you are not involuntarily transferred to some other group due to a reorg. Working from home is not a problem, and they have very flexible work hours as long as one is delivering. The work can be interesting.

Cons: When I started at Cisco a long time ago, it was a really fun place to work. We used to be busy with actual technical projects and customer-driven features that actually made sense. My peers and manager were also good and more focused on the technical aspects than on just getting ahead in the hierarchy. Re-orgs are an integral part of Cisco, and I soon found myself in less-than-ideal company. I ended up working for worse and worse managers. There were many cliques which managers seemed to encourage. If you did the technical work expected of you and did not question the order, you were okay. In the end, visibility, how you managed upward, and politicking worked much better than actually doing the engineering work well. We sometimes buy equipment for the labs just so the budget doesn't go to waste; the equipment lies in the labs unused. Talkers are preferred over doers. Peers/leads were more interested in looking good (i.e., not being contradicted) than actually making good technical decisions.

Pros: In my experience, a bonus plus salary is pretty tough to match at competitors. There's a great work/family balance, and working remotely is generally allowed (but I never tried to abuse it). In general, the work is interesting and furthers my career as a software engineer.

Cons: Sometimes I feel as if my work assignments are not as "meaty" as I would like. At other companies, I've had a broader scope and responsibility. It's not always the case; I think it varies from group to group and even manager to manager. Promotions can be tough to come by (at least for grade 10 and above), and are largely dictated by your level of visibility and playing politics.