Cisco

Cisco is an industry leader in so many categories. It has a great brand name. There are immense learning opportunities. It may be a very good employer, especially when starting out fresh in your career. The executive management does a very good job communicating the company's direction and strategy to all employees.

There is an awesome benefits package with gyms and other health benefits. There are incentive programs to promote innovation and out-of-the-box thinking. The company also supports employee development by reimbursing tuition fees. They also have a dedicated facility to train employees in various skills.

It appears to be an overcrowded place. It appears that the pie is too small and too many people are trying to get a piece of it. This creates a lot of bad blood among employees. Employees are competing with each other and often conspiring against each other instead of working together as a team to stay ahead of competition from industry peers.

The engineering management would get better results if they spent some time in people management.

While the company supports career development initiatives, the opportunities are too few and rare, even though you may have the skills needed for the job. Engineering promotions below a certain level are not announced but silently updated in the directory. This doesn't help transparency.

Healthy competition among employees is good, but beyond that, Cisco needs its employees to work as a team in order to stay a leader.