Think twice before joining Cisco, salary and benefits are not you want to consider.
Pros
Very good and attractive salary and benefits.
Cons
Be aware of constant limited restructuring causes continuous fears of being laid off. Every single one of the five years I've been at Cisco there has been a "silent" 7 to 10 % workforce reduction. There is a culture of hiring people "suck out" that they know and then brutally lay them off. I've seen this happening so many times here at Cisco that I come to the conclusion there is a pattern behind that.. Middle management is real hell and they are afraid of their own shadows. Impossible to be promoted, unless you drop everything your doing and appease your director by chasing the shiny ball. You don't get rewarded for excelling at your daily job, its more important to kiss senior managements rear end and get your "name known". It is all about marketing yourself here. It's not what you do for or with customers all the work need to be done inside. Very political organization.