Pros
Financially stable company, very smart and hardworking people, paycheck every two weeks, good benefits, some exposure to the latest technology depending on which unit you are. Good place to build experience
Cons
No innovation or excitement, too many project managers, bean counters. Lots if infighting, political struggles. Too much drama just to do an Execution Commit. Your ideas will or will not be listened to based on what your title is, not based on what they are. There is very little advancement opportunity. Employees who started at early 90s are too cocky have the grandiosity complex. Cisco was at the right place at the right time but now times of high flying stock is over. For the last 8 years, there is no meaningful raise, bonuses are going down. Hard to attract new talent. Engineers who are doing the actual work are not respected or appreciated properly. Management thinks, R&D, oh someone will do that, if not we'll have it done in India or China, I'd rather increase my visibility under the label or cross collaboration and look out for my few trusted tech leads. I know every department is different but I feel overall Cisco is on the fast track of becoming another big fat boring company like IBM.