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Cisco's not too shabby

Senior Software Engineer
Former Employee
Worked at Cisco for 20 years
April 20, 2018
4.0
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEO
Pros

Great people to work with. Benefits are top-notch, including tuition reimbursement for degree seekers.

Provides for continuous learning by providing company-sponsored Pluralsight/CodeSchool and Safari accounts. Internal training opportunities (Cisco on Cisco, if you will) are also available.

Cons

Budget, budget, budget. While all of the above opportunities exist, having the budget to take an internal class or getting management to approve the time (and possible travel) to attend the class is difficult.

Getting equipment takes some planning and justification out the ass, a quarter or more in advance. (Note that the Pluralsight & Safari accounts are almost automatically approved; I believe there is a significant corporate/quantity discount).

Getting promoted beyond "the middle" can take a long time.

Products are developed, in my experience, in a vacuum devoid of customer input.

Advice to Management

Thin out the middle management herd. Progressive pronouncements from the C-suite are great, but they don't survive the middle management blockade unless someone is actively, visibly driving it. Then the "yes men" will fall in line.

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