Supportive management but limited growth opportunities within the department
Pros
Management style tends to be very people forward. Expectations are clear. Tons of opportunities for special projects and stretch assignments across many categories. Department seems to spend money almost exclusively to reinvest in talent with trainings etc. if you ever want to try something, the general response is to go for it. Cisco overall: incredible benefits, really excellent networking opportunities, and overall I've found most people to be interesting and well rounded outside of their professional lives. I don't believe Cisco is the sort of company that regularly expects long hours outside of special circumstances.
Cons
Constantly changing department priorities, forever being told to do more with less, inconsistent experience across managers/teams, very limited growth potential within the department. Not a lot of upward trajectory. Many "promotions" in name only happening currently because of a lack of budget. Cisco overall: the C suite are honestly idiots. It's shocking the kind of out of touch stuff they say on our company calls. DEI has been significantly rolled back despite internal promises otherwise. The entire company is traumatized from the constant layoff cycle.