Lack of respect for workers and miserable atmosphere outweighs Cisco's good points as a company
Pros
It is a good place for experienced employees to self-manage their tasks and location. For sheer breadth of technology, Cisco is unmatched and that is exciting to be part of. There is plenty of money too so the company can afford to invest in many different areas, however the strategy is more to "buy innovation" rather than "build it" . The training programs are great but you have to find them and to have time to do them - which is hard given how much work Cisco constantly expects from the level 12 and below employees. Don't expect the managers to develop their employees either - they are too busy playing politics to try to get to the Director and VP level, so they won't have to work so hard themselves! ;-) Some groups allow telecommute which is seen as a huge bonus by most. Benefits expensive but OK. 4 weeks vacation/sick leave combined per year. Decent severance package.
Cons
Upper management usually seem to get the strategic vision right but there is a huge schism between upper management and the regular employees. The VP level and above is kept carefully apart from anyone who is Senior Manager level and below. There seems to be a contemptuous attitude towards the people who do the actual work from upper management that is unusual in other high tech companies for whom I have worked. Cisco is also a company that shows a lack of heart and concern for the employees - treating them as commodities to be worked hard and discarded. This comes right from the top and permeates all the way down to first and second line management. There is a coldness and unfriendliness at Cisco that is unusual for a tech company. Cisco also skates very close to illegality in the way it does layoffs. Many people who get sick, even for short term, non-chronic illnesses or have pregnancies, happen to find themselves on the "job elimination" or "limited restructuring" list (the latest euphemism for layoffs) shortly after. CAP awards for excellent performance and top ranked in other years don't matter. Someone always has to be bottom 10 and 5 each year. Not surprisingly, the percentage of women at Cisco is quite low despite the fact that the company consistently makes the "best place for women to work" list. This is most likely due to the prevalence of telecommute and the lack of gender and racial discrimination. People are constantly on edge at Cisco unless they have "protection" which means knowing the right people or having been there a long time. Having an MBA also seems to be a protection, which is amusing because some of the very worst managers/directors have MBA degrees from top schools. It is common for people with newly-minted MBA degrees to be given L1 management positions as a reward. This does not make for a nice work environment although the buildings and cafes themselves are clean, bright and pleasant. A big problem is that if you get a bad manager or Director, of which there are many, it almost impossible to move within Cisco. It is a case of "damned if you do and damned if you don't". If you stay in a bad group, you will get eliminated sooner or later because the group will be killed off but if you try to leave before, the internal job system is open and transparent, so your manager is informed that you are interviewing internally. This means that you don't just have to contend with being in a bad group but your ranking will drop to bottom 5 or 10 because you dared to try to move. This is then a sure way to lose your next bonus and to be managed out. So savvy employees only move straight after ePM/bonus time and don't announce they are leaving until they have secured the new position. However this is against company policy and many interviewing managers will not allow it. Competence, experience, innovation, hard work and technical expertise are not valued at Cisco. Only political skills are.