Cisco

Cisco as a company is very good. They have excellent facilities, decent pay, and hikes that are better compared to other companies of similar size. There are also a lot of training opportunities, a WFH option, and internal movements are easy, etc.

Cisco (at least Cisco India) is not a single company but a group of companies due to many acquisitions. You will see different cultures and processes between teams. Some teams are very bad and completely unprofessional. You must check the team & manager you are joining; is it a Cisco-developed product or bought from outside, etc.

As the company is getting bigger, it needs more people and so it is compromising on the quality of those people. So, it all depends on the team and the manager for how your work will go.

Some teams are just working as a service to the Cisco US team. All decisions are taken from there, and the team here is simply working for them, just like in a service company.

Some products can have an outsourced team in service companies like Infosys, TCS, HCL, etc. Those teams will work hard. If your manager is not good, he will start comparing you with them. He will even think of replacing you with an additional resource in that team to get more work for a lesser price.

Based on my experience with the team, I will give only one star for the company, but otherwise, 3 or 4 stars.

As part of growing your business, you are doing a lot of acquisitions. Fine, but please spend some effort to ensure that they are getting blended into Cisco culture.

If you are hiring a manager from outside (especially from service companies), give them at least a week's training about Cisco culture rather than spoiling it and their team.

Keep randomly checking with employees about how the new manager and new team are doing, etc.