Cisco - A great place to work, room for improvement provides opportunity
Pros
Cisco encourages networking in every sense of the word. You are encouraged to collaborate and seek visibility, many employees can even work from home or in a remote office. Managers are generally open minded and encourage asking tough questions and challenging the status quo. Management from the top down are adamant that all groups down the ladder develop and execute a VSE (vision, strategy, execution), this really helps provide focus. Cisco offers competitive compensation and bonus based on company performance and employee level. Small bonuses (and letter) are given for employees who perform a duty out of their ordinary duties, this can be motivating for many people. Furthermore, there is a sense that achievement and hard work is rewarded. Extra perks include free drinks, free gym, using Cisco technology, and access to Cisco facilities globally. Working from home is not uncommon and Cisco is known as a top place to work for mothers. Finally, there are many smart and friendly people at Cisco. It is extremely easy to network with people who share similar interests as you (sports, ethnicity, etc).
Cons
Cisco is no longer a growth company and is focused on sustaining measured growth, therefore it has become a bureaucracy where new ideas and changes must navigate through red tape. Cisco's size has created inefficiencies in certain practices which make it difficult to determine who is responsible for what, and what the proper processes are. The Cisco learning curve is rather steep when first joining Cisco. New employees are faced with a myriad of IT and HR obstacles in the first month of employment. The positive to this, is that people who joined within the last year are still considered new. As in any big company, you have to fight for visibility and prove your value add. No one will sing your praise for you and every year under performers will see the door. Cisco, from the top down, is obsessed with measuring things, employees are measured on there performance and sometimes people focus more on there metric than doing there job.