Cisco

It seemed like there were lots of benefits, to the point of it being difficult to be aware of or manage them all.

Cisco is a large company and old for the tech industry, and I feel like both of those showed in the negatives. Lots of policies, lots of old corporate systems and processes that we were theoretically supposed to know how to use, and a feeling of detachment, of being several levels down in a 70,000+ node tree.

Some things hadn't changed in years or decades, but there were also (from my perspective) unnecessary and disruptive changes while I was there; big changes in both health and retirement benefits providers within one year.

The experience of being an employee at Cisco seemed to involve a lot of complexity that had more to do with the company's size and age than with my work or what I wanted from a job, and I would have preferred a simpler employee experience where I could focus on getting actual work done.