A good place to collect a steady paycheck and count the days until retirement
Pros
-Job security (won't get fired/laid off unless you are a complete idiot...and even then, probably not) -Work life balance (4 weeks paid PTO...easy to take time off, reasonable work hours) -Convenient amenities for SJ employees (health center, gym, daycare, etc) -Decent benefits package (although healthcare costs rise every year)
Cons
-Stagnant pay (won't get a pay increase without a promo, promos are nearly impossible to come by) -Politics - It isn't what you do, its who you know and how well you can brown nose/take credit for others' work to get ahead -Consensus based culture - Too many cooks in the kitchen...everyone needs to "buy off" on initiatives; creates tremendous bottlenecks to the point of not getting anything accomplished -Turf wars amongst management - Makes it even more difficult to get ahead and get stuff accomplished -Unqualified leaders - In the mid-late 90s, when Cisco was growing rapidly, they needed to hire bodies; many were unqualified and lacked even a college degree; now these losers are in leadership positions and have power trips; will backstab to stay ahead, since they know they can't on their abilities alone -No training/development budget - Continuous learning is difficult when there's no budget at all for training/certifications and conferences/travel -Generally, old stodgy work environment - Not much camaraderie when many folks are over 50, don't want to work hard and are just collecting their paychecks