Cisco is THE VERY BEST and #1 Company to work for
Pros
Cisco offers tremendous career and growth opportunities and a very collaborative environment. John Chamber's strong leadership fosters innovation and is also reflected by Sr. Management. It is exciting to work for a company that has been financially stable and has been extremely successful and growing for the past decade. Cisco also employs some of the smartest people and working here offers the opportunity to meet them and widen one's own horizon. There are an unlimited number of ways to engage yourself in initiatives and programs either within or even outside the work environment such as Green Initiatives, Volunteer activities and other community services. In summary, I think Cisco is the very best place to work for in today's high-tech industry due to its technology and market leadership, innovation and strong brand.
Cons
Due to its collaborative environment, there are generally too many meetings one has to attend during the day which makes it challenging to find enough time to get the actual work done and being productive. In addition, Cisco is a workplace that requires constant availability through being always connected to email, IM, smartphones etc. which leads to an extremely high level of disruption. Decision making processes can take quite a while because so many people across all different organizations and theatres need to be involved. Another challenge is prioritization of projects as there are often too many for one person to handle.