Pros
Cisco is innovative and profitable. It continues to grow through acquisitions and is continually expanding its "footprint" of products and services. It is considered by some to be one of the best places to work. It offers an exceedingly diverse workforce population in terms of nationalities (primarily Asian and Indian); the compensation and benefits are competitive; there are learning and development opportunities.
Cons
Although the company talks about work/life balance, there is an expectation of 24/7 availability, Not surprisingly, there is an extremely heavy emphasis on the use of techology for all purposes (meetings, communication, getting the job done) such that there is limited support offered by people. Each employee is expected to be self-supporting in all areas, including administrative. There is an inordinate number of meetings during which much is discussed but often with little definitive outcome. Participants like to discuss past accomplishments. Finally, as one would expect, the size and decentralized aspect of the company make it difficult to identify and navigate among departments and people. Thus, it takes longer than necessary to accomplish relatively small tasks and can be very frustrating.