Cisco

Flexible/home working, benefits.

Work-life balance.

Depending on what part of the company you work for, your working experiences are different.

This is a highly sales-focused company. Services are a poor relation and often driven with cost reductions.

TAC is well-funded thanks to lucrative support renewals.

Cisco is far too US-focused; almost all the new VPs and SVPs are American, with American strategies that only work in the US.

Cost reduction appears to be high on the agenda, and this has impacted all aspects for a number of years now.

Morale is poor, and the People Deal they published is farcical, considering the number of layoffs they constantly keep making.

Promotions have not been communicated or transparent for a long, long time.

There is no clear or defined career ladder either; this depends on what accounts and projects you get attached to, to be honest.

Cisco appears to be trying to regenerate into a more youthful company to reduce costs but has lost a tremendous amount of industry experience and skills in doing so.

Innovation is primarily hardware-focused.

There is very poor long-term strategy or investment in Services, where financials take precedence over quality, efficiency, and innovation.

Remote workers are very remote, hardly getting to see colleagues at all for years.

I never saw my manager face-to-face for three years!

Get used to days and days sitting on Webex calls.

Cost reduction isn't everything. Stop focusing on hardware sales and start buying software which can sell services.