Cisco

Flexible schedule, very fair with family time off, above and beyond the contractual obligations.

Good opportunities if you know how to manage up. Relatively straightforward to move around between groups if you're competent.

Expect long hours; there are peaks and troughs, but it can be very long cycles. Currently working on a 3-4 year project with six-monthly release cycles, and the trough is one month out of six.

IT is very disorganized, with a disproportionate ratio of program and project managers, yet very little real planning happening. Lots of PowerPoint slides, very little execution.

Too much time in meetings.

Stop word-smithing PowerPoint slides and execute.