Pros
Cisco is a great place to work if you truly believe in the vision, have a true passion for the technology and are in it for the long-haul. It's a place you can thrive in if you're able to work with little to no supervision, are willing to go above and beyond your day job in order to "push the ball forward" and can thrive in a hyper-competitive environment with a bunch of A-type personalities. I enjoy working here and consider it my best experience to date. Having done various roles within Cisco and worked in different functions, I can say that you truly have an opportunity to grow and advance your career; destiny is in your hands if you can produce.
Cons
If you just treat Cisco as a job, then this isn't a great place for you as they don't pay well, their compensation isn't up to speed and you work your tail off with little to no recognition. Supreme results are just the "ticket to the dance" and to truly thrive you need to put in 150% in order to stand out from the rest of the crowd. Working in a large company has its pros and cons, and with 65000 people, its only going to get more spread out, thin and as we expand into new markets and technologies, we need to trust the the people we hire are pushing just as hard as we are. I'm not sure people are coasting, but there are people in Cisco who seem to have their jobs because they were in the right place at the right time. I wouldn't mind seeing some of the old guard go so we can step up and have our chance in the spotlight. But this is few and far in between; we just have to wait our turn. It has a big company feel and things happen at a much slower pace. I hear we're becoming process-heavy and this has caused complaints within the ranks. I would like to see us turn on a dime much faster, put out releases at a faster pace still balance that with quality. I've had a chances to interact with the CEO on down and some people are extremely arrogant (as I am, so why am I complaining), but this is what you get when you hire the best of the best. There are certain "good jobs" that everyone seems to want and they're extremely hard to get. You have to be resourceful and think out of the box in order to land one.