Cisco reviews

No regular raises since 2001 - it is possible to get "equity adjustments" but very difficult. Even top performers tend to go a year or two between these "adjustments." In terms of salary, loyalty is not rewarded - it is very common for Cisco to hire externally at higher pay grades than the internal people who have been there for a long time - and the external hires do not necessarily have more experience overall.

Too many politics; Low recognition and rewards to top performers; Performance reviews are operated in a black box and ratings are based on relationship with the mgrs; Too many dead woods, especially in the senior mgr and director levels; Few promotions for engineers but a lot of promotions and rewards to those dead wood mgrs/directors; Very slow career advancement; Lack of innovations; Senior mgrs/directors can always survive even projects were canceled because of their poor management;