Pros
* Excellent company culture - everyone is extremely (and genuinely) friendly * Technical aptitude of coworkers is second to none - you will learn something new every single day working here. * Benefits are great, especially for blue badges (full time employees) * On-site gym and health center is extremely convenient * Somewhat flexible WFH arrangements, depending on team, job role and manager permission * It is extremely easy to find an expert or answer for any question you may have - networking with people is almost more important than the networking technology. * Three different on-site cafes (in RTP) have amazing food and are very convenient, but a bit overpriced. Lines are extremely long at opening, and they've done nothing to reduce lines/increase capacity/better manage the flow of people. * Campus is beautiful and well-maintained. Improvements to the buildings, indoor and out, are a refreshing change. * Volunteer opportunities are everywhere, with 40 hours of paid volunteer time off. * Paid certifications and training are awesome and allow you to advance your skills, but are hard to take advantage of when the teams are so small/overworked. * Senior management doesn't feel like they are too good to talk to you, even if it's just in the break room, but they are pretty hard to get a one-on-one with.
Cons
* Advancement is slow and dependent on arbitrary metrics that workers have no visibility into * I've been in my position 2 years without a single formal review of my abilities. * The politics are absurd at times - you have to worry about hurting peoples' feelings, as Cisco is very "feel-good". * Upper management throws around tons of buzzwords but seems to be completely disconnected from the struggles of the troops on the ground. This may be true of all large companies, though. * Cisco is "open", but unless you've been there 10-15 years and have no fear of losing your job, most people will not raise the questions/concerns they have in open/public forums. * "Escalations" are absurd - everyone is quick to CC the next highest manager, and everyone gets in a tizzy over incidents, but nothing changes. It's cyclical. * There are lots of employee-lead organizations, but unless you're in a non-technical role (sales, marketing, HR, finance), you really don't have time to join them, especially when you are expected to work after-hours and weekends. * Cisco severely underpays its' workers, which is why turnover is so high.
