Cisco

The company is huge with many different independent businesses, so it's hard to find a specific con or pro because it really depends on the business.

Security is doing fine, collaboration is okay, Enterprise is struggling, and Service Provider is shrinking every quarter.

The healthy businesses are well-run, have good people, and offer a good compensation package overall, even though the stock is stagnant. Work can be interesting if you land in the right place.

Russian roulette: The company is not growing, and for every startup they acquire (and they acquire a lot), they fire internal people. It is not a stable place at all. As stated in the "pro" section, the healthy businesses can be great, but for the struggling ones, it can be a risky place. It's hard to be loyal when you feel expendable.

Cisco's model of acquiring itself out of trouble has been working well for a long time, but it's starting to fail.

Web companies are gaining both talent and customers. What to do?

Full move to "as a service".