Cisco

Specific to the Knoxville site, ample time off, work-life balance, brilliant colleagues, training budgets, and research time are what you would expect from a truly great company. Being part of a small group makes it feel homey and easy to settle into. As a remote office, and also an integral part of the security effort, we are shielded from the greater movements within Cisco with respect to business reorganizations, workforce reductions, etc.

It's a blank canvas. If you would like to achieve something special here, it is possible. Of course, if you would like to slowly wilt here, that is sadly also possible.

On the corporate side of things, I feel that upper management did the right thing by calling a preemptive layoff in 2013. They saw the writing on the wall and didn't hesitate. Although, they could have reorganized better; cutting 4000 and then immediately hiring 500 for new disruptive businesses is an incredible waste of talent and acquisition dollars.

We're a buzzword factory!

At a remote site, small-office politics reign.

Career advancement is almost non-existent. There are no career paths or development plans to speak of. Cronyism runs rampant during stagnant periods, which is to say, most of the time.

Salaries are less than you would find on the East Coast, not at all comparable to the Left Coast. Bonuses are necessary to make compensation acceptable, but each year it's a crapshoot whether you will get them or not.

Employees will advance faster by leaving the company and returning later.

Whatever you are doing to make employees feel appreciated and well-compensated, stop it and do the opposite, because you are doing it wrong.