Pros
Stable and ethical company. Flexibility with telecommuting, good benefits. Intelligent and passionate colleagues. Open communication. Use of technology for communicating and collaborating. Phenomenal Exec management team.
Cons
A lot of "managing up" and "kicking down" within Cisco at mid levels. Overt , selfish career ambitions of middle management (Sr Mgr to VP) that drive decisions rather than true business needs. If you are not at least a Dir level you have no "status" and no one pays attention to you, calls you back, or responds to your email. Severe lack of promotions or career advancement. The ones who get ahead are those who are best at self promotion, positioning and politicing rather than leading or inspiring. I am disappointed at the significant number of people who have advanced upwards who are "good at playing the game" but are not "good people". Way too San Jose centric - remote employees are an after thought at best. Extreme cliques and a culture of "who you know" to get things done or get ahead. Inconsistent pay for performance and advancement criteria. Performance reviews are a joke. Archaic travel process and policy. Lack of sabbatical for long term employees unless they are at exec level. Complete under utilization of indiv contributors who have years of experience. I know at least a dozen women over 50 who were forced out because their "managers" didn't know what to do with them anymore. Continuted lack of diversity despite years of trying/claiming otherwise. Huge waste of dollars spent on expensive, overpriced consultants and outside services. Inconsistent workload and hours required to do job between various groups. Some people are working 80-90 hours per week and others are working 40 hours or less a week. History of keeping inept midlevel managers by moving them laterally. Very talented people leave because there is little opportunity for them to succeed if they don't play the political game.