Cisco leading lambs to the slaughter.

Cisco Reportedly Plans To Lay Off About 14,000 Employees, Or 20 Percent Of Its Workforce

(Reuters) - Cisco Systems Inc is laying off about 14,000 employees, representing nearly 20 percent of the network equipment maker’s global workforce, technology news site CRN reported, citing sources close to the company.
San Jose, California-based Cisco is expected to announce the cuts within the next few weeks, the report said, as the company transitions from its hardware roots into a software-centric organization.

Ugh.

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danny069

No loyalty anymore, why not train those who do not have those "software-centric" skills rather than disposing of them?

Iristheangel

I suspect it won't be that high. Reuters is basically quoting CRN which is quoting "sources" and basing that number off a Wall Street Analyst's prediction in January. Here's the CRN article: Sources: Massive Layoffs Coming At Cisco - Page: 1 | CRN

At the moment it's news quoting news quoting "sources." Not to say it won't be true or there won't be layoffsbut I suspect the 14,000 number is more sensationalism and clickbait. Time will tell.

sj4088

I've gotten several emails from recruiters looking for systems engineers for Cisco. The problem is it's a 1 year contract that will be reviewed every three months. Good luck getting anyone good like that. Most of the best systems engineers are in permanent roles. They aren't about to leave for that.

TeKniques

Yesterday at work I was minding my business when one of the network engineers came over and asked "hey can you talk to the Cisco guys for a minute?"

Having no idea what they wanted I went over and it was one of their Account Managers and System Engineers. They began talking my ear off on how they (Cisco) have "changed" as a company and are now moving toward the software side, especially with security. I got the Sourcefire and Lancope acquisition sales pitch. Guess they really want to jump on the software security bandwagon. Seems like a new vendor pops up every day with the latest and greatest toolset.

DPG

I figured something was coming when I started to get an uptick in resumes from Cisco employees (not that I can afford a single one of them). The cash needed for stock buybacks and dividend increases has to come from somewhere.

It could be complete BS and we all know how the media likes to race to conclusions.

Good luck to those that may be affected.

DPG

Turns out it will only be 7% (5,500 will be axed).

Iristheangel

As I said above, it didn't make sense to be cutting 20%. Stock is at a high, lot of BUs making money, etc. Usually when these things happen, it's reallocating budgets and people, not reducing headcount in the end.

networker050184

The industry is changing and so will the big players to match!

chrisone

stay safe #it-security

DPG

I find IT security to be extremely frustrating but CCNA Security here we come!

chrisone

DPG wrote: »

I find IT security to be extremely frustrating but CCNA Security here we come!

imagine business owners with fear about losing money how frustrated they feel lol.....

fmitawaps

Less reason now to kill yourself studying for the CCIE in hopes of an eventual Cisco job, they will lay off the biggest salary people first and make do with CCNP's.

Iristheangel

fmitawaps wrote: »

Less reason now to kill yourself studying for the CCIE in hopes of an eventual Cisco job, they will lay off the biggest salary people first and make do with CCNP's.

This is definitely incorrect. Typically when these things happen, it's BUs and other parts of the business that are going out the door or not getting R&D budget or looking to convert contractors. If they were looking to get rid of "high salary people first," they wouldn't have skipped entire segments of the company: https://twitter.com/JoelEsler/status/766010719548637188

Typically when these things happen, they're a readjustment or reallocation of the same funds to something else. Like Networker said, companies have to change to stay ahead. Cisco isn't selling ACE load balancers, MARS, Linksys, etc or there might be an industry shift in a certain market to change so R&D and people in the original BU might need to be eliminated. That spot for that BU might go away but they might apply for another section of the company and take a job there or go somewhere else if their skills aren't a fit. This is business.

DPG

Iristheangel wrote:

This is business.

A very difficult concept for some to understand.

ccie14023

fmitawaps wrote: »

Less reason now to kill yourself studying for the CCIE in hopes of an eventual Cisco job, they will lay off the biggest salary people first and make do with CCNP's.

I tend to agree with Iristheangel. Of course we are both somewhat biased as we both hold CCIE's, but her assessment is correct. I've been through numerous layoffs at Cisco, Juniper, and a Gold partner and generally what you describe is not what happens. In fact, people with higher skill levels tend to be retained. Management uses layoffs to thin out lower performing personnel and business units. Whatever happens with Cisco and the industry, in general you are better off being more credentialed, experienced, and qualified. Sorry folks, don't stop studying. (Now watch me get a pink slip tomorrow...)

UnixGuy

Dejavu from 2011 or 2008, when Sun Microsystems laid off people....Not saying this will happen with Cisco but who knows.

Technology is a business enabler, and it evolves to do more with less. If Cisco doesn't evolve, it will be left behind. I don't think they want to be left behind.....

Legacy User

Thats the reality with working with huge enterprises like that. Management makes cut backs to adjust the budget to make the numbers work and "restructure" which involves people losing there jobs. Thats just how it goes.

dmoore44

Iristheangel wrote: »

Typically when these things happen, they're a readjustment or reallocation of the same funds to something else...

To provide a bit more illumination... Whenever a large company grows via M&A, they will eventually realize that they're employing more people than they need to meet their business objectives, which is to say, whenever a company is merged with another, there's going to be an eventual reduction in headcount (HP/HPE, IBM, etc...). Most of the time those reductions will come in the form of support and back office staff (how many finance, contracts, and sales organizations does a company need?) as well as offshore support (if you already have an offshore call center, merge the staff and find a labor/output equilibrium).

Just take a look at Cisco acquisitions history, there's some fairly notable names that have been brought in to the Cisco family over the past few years (Lancope, OpenDNS, Sourcefire), so there's sure to be some duplication of capabilities there.

chmod

Cisco is trying toncover so many áreas, that is getting hard to be competitive and profitable in all of them, they realizar certain productos line is not making it or adquire a new company then they need to make adjustments to keep the company competitive, even if that means remove certain BU.

Lexluethar

Click bait - they are laying people off but not nearly that much. I've heard numbers between 1500 to 2500. I know they are putting spin on it, but i've heard it's a lot of overlap. They've done a lot of acquisitions over the past year or so and they are 'cutting the fat.'