Pros
Reading many of the other reviews I can't agree more with the comment that as with any large company your experience will vary greatly from group to group. As a senior manager I get a bit more exposure to the behind the scenes than many of the other posters. Some of the positives: - Ability to balance work/life - From my experience the lack of work/life balance is largely self inflicted when it occurs. It's also far from universal. I have had zero problem ever with taking time off. Making my weekends my own and shutting down after I go home. Based off of the empty parking lots in Boxborough and San Jose after 6:00 at night there are many others who have the same experience. - Ability to communicate upward honestly - I'm not only encouraged but absolutely required to communicate up to my director the real state of things. He doesn't want things sugar coated he wants to know the real state of things. When there are problems he trusts me to handle them and to escalate when I need help. Then he provides it. - Attempt at a fair rating rankings process - Every attempt is made to assure that the twice a year ratings/rankings process is done fairly. In my organization every manager is required to be able to justify in detail their stack ranking of employees. We then go through a laborious process to merge the stack rankings across the managers. While from an outside perspective it can seem like people aren't being rewarded from an internal perspective the reality is we have a highly talented and competitive workforce. Most of the employees fit into the "Core" grouping. The core grouping are people that are very good at their jobs but not "excelling". - Renewed investment in College Hires. Cisco has a major initiative going on for the past 2 years to hire both interns and full-time candidates. This includes a fantastic sponsorship program for H1 students which employees them outside of the US if they don't make it through the lottery. They are employed outside the US until they can be eligible for an H3 or other means of coming back into the US. That's as good as any company can offer.
Cons
That being said Cisco isn't perfect. Far from it. Ratings Rankings - It's simple math. If you stack rank your employees you can always identify a top 10% and a bottom 5%. That doesn't mean that the bottom 5% are employees you want to get rid of or who are not good at their jobs. More than a few people focused on their careers to the exclusion of all else - Of course not only a Cisco problem but with the driven type A people we hire there are many that will stop at nothing to advance careers. Ratings Rankings at odds with teamwork - When you know you are going to be ranked against every member of your team you are not incented to make your teammate look good at your expense even if it's the right thing for the company.