Q&A With Cisco Employees

The internal politics of hierarchy and cliques limit the ability for all employees to succeed. I would recommend bringing back performance reviews and creating open opportunities for constructive dialog as opposed to the current Team Space automated system.

I wish they would behave more like a startup. They talk a good game about it, but in reality it often doesn't work that way.

Tilted toward work.

Depends on location. Outside of San Jose you have to push a little harder to make a work-life balance.

Excellent

Be honest. If you dont know an answer, say that you arent fully sure about the answer and request to move on to the next question gracefully.

Be nice. Make sense. Don't drag things out.

Worry free, positive optimistic. Broadly speaking, there is very low stress compared other cultures.

Very supportive.

Positive

Open, friendly, supportive, demanding, fast, and top-down but changing

Open doors, provided there's no questioning

Depends on the group and whether or not you are remote or in the office. Huge remote culture so sometimes those folks can feel isolated depending on the group. If you are in office, it depends on which. Such a large acquisition company that people are sometimes naturally segmented. And being so large, you don't always feel connected to the company itself but more so your team.

Fast, easy, friendly

Tough, multiple interviews, pretty long

I didn't interview as I was part of an acquisition team but having seen it on the other side, it seemed very clinical and cold.

We have promotions?

merit, time in role, references and opportunity

I don't think at the Executive level but probably at the smaller levels.

As long as there are no specific shift requirements, very flexible

Moderate, it depends on the needs of the customer. If you have to come in early and leave early for a project or vice versa, we typically do what needs to be done to keep the customers happy and maintain Cisco's brand while not burning our people out.

Very flexible location and schedule

They told me, A customer calls and asks you to describe to them and document how to staple together two pieces of paper, what would you do? This was right before they asked me how long did I think it would take to become a manager. Totally threw me off.

I was asked how I would align multiple teams working on multiple products around a common vision. Whoa!

If you have multiple teams with multiple product visions working on a single product formed after a merger, how would you align them around a single vision?

30 minutes to an hour, typically.

A couple of hours

Mine was about 2 hours. Your mileage may very

My interview was intense and to the point with little wasted time. The interviews I give are the same, I want to know and see how a candidate does under pressure because while certs and degrees are great, you also need to be able to think on your feet. I think everyone else interviews pretty much the same way.

Quick and easy. Maybe too easy!

The interview was a pretty straightforward process. A portfolio review followed by a whiteboarding design challenge.

Working on real problems that people face every day, and knowing I’ve made a difference in people’s lives: our users, and the people who rely on their work & our product.

Culture and people.

Dealing with customers, making a difference

Very. My teammates have a commitment to excellence on top of their fast work pace

Challenged everyday with something new.

A lot by being given multiple assignments and same time to deal with those and focus on the outcome

People people, in the design department. Or super-talented savants. Hard to tell sometimes

Type A personalities do not do well. People with drive who collaborate well will thrive.

Networking is king

Yuppie. Open and hip like a startup

Open Workspace. Flexible office space.

Open space, people keep moving around

It’s common to see nonwhite employees, but there is surprising uniformity among the minorities represented here.

Cisco is an extremely diverse company on all facets. Race, Age, Gender etc...

Quite compared to other companies

Cloud is growing fast, Video is having challenges

Depends on the day. I would say that transparency and communication across all of the teams is lacking. There are also a lot of people who have been there a long time so they don't know anything about the current market.

Hardware business is struggling and software, services is growing the fastest

Flexible with at least a month notice.

Pretty fair with notice. Sick days are not separate

Excellent. PTO can be used for sick or time off. Average about 6.1 hours per pay period, about 12 hours a month. You can NOT go over 280. You can also go -40 Negative if needed. The only other company I know that has a better plan is SaS.

Maybe

A lot.

Yes but not in TAC/Support. Those are known as BIC positions and you have to have a health issue to be approved. Many PM positions are remote however. Cisco does have a remote policy that is pretty good. Remote for any form of support requires the approval of the manager, director and VP on an ongoing basis.

ranges from denim and hoodies to slacks and button downs, depends on whether meeting with customers that day

Varies depending on role, location. Ranges from casual to business casual to business attire. For engineering, typically dress code is very casual. Sales and marketing business casual or smart business.

Dogs in the workplace policy allows people to bring dogs to certain sites. Certain breeds restricted, must have a good demeanor.

Accepted in some offices.

dependant upon team and action needed to support

With a thorough fairness.

In many cases, technical ones

Questions regarding sub-netting for entry level engineers. Each Manager has their own style and things they look for, so this is difficult to answer.

The pay is competitive, but a good amount of your compensation is locked up in semi-annual bonuses that you aren't eligible for until after a year of service

Competitive. Part of your salary is locked up in the bonus