Cisco

I would recommend this job for rapid learning and then leaving for another company. This is what TAC is known for as well.

There are a lot of learning opportunities, with certificates being paid for.

It offers fast growth, which is somehow a must though.

There is a good compensation package and office space.

• A lot of graduates in this "top" technical team - Cisco TAC, answering the most difficult customer questions.

• Escalation teams/developers mostly based in Asia (not local), hired from outside with no experience. Very few engineers with experience.

• Senior people usually leave or migrate to less stressful teams (solutions support, teams with much less load).

• Nature of the job is stressful. Tons of cases, and headcount doesn't reflect the number of cases. Management's hands are tied up due to budget.

• Smiling faces are on Team Leads and Tech Leads only, who don't take cases.

• Life-work balance can be impossible if you want to "grow".

• The life-span of a TAC engineer is very short (50% of teams have less than 2 years).

• TAC job becomes more and more difficult with "release-as-soon-as-possible" to catch the innovation wave. New products must be very unstable.