Work Experience Review

We spent a total of 4 days at Cisco, two of these 4 days were in our individual assigned departments and the other two we were all together as one big group doing activities. In the activities, we did both a Robot Sumo activity which involved creating and fighting our robots, and a Dragons Den activity in which we had to come up with a new idea or even build on an existing one with the theme of Safety and incorporating IoT (Internet of Things).

I didn't gain any qualifications, however I did learn some new skills. These involved: team working as we had to work well in teams for all the activities we did together as a group; networking, as we spent much time with our professionals in the chosen or assigned departments, in my case IT. I also learnt technical knowledge, as we learnt much about Agile Methodology and Software Development and many other roles within Cisco's Social Collaboration Team.

I enjoyed the programme very much, it was such an amazing experience and my only wish is that it lasted longer. The application process was simple and easy, and the programme was constantly interactive and engaging. Everyone learnt new things and we especially found out a lot about real life work, which is very different to learning of things in theory.

The programme was very well organised and structured, everyone knew what was going on at all times, and we even received a breakdown by every half an hour for the days spent with our Department, so there was no point at which we were clueless or unsure as to what we should have been doing or where we should have been.

I learnt a fair amount about the company and the culture. Myself and some other work experience workers were given tours around the business and introduced to certain departments and such. It was nice to get some information about the history of Cisco and the main goals/aims of the company.

As i learnt a fair amount from having a tour around the business and some background information it helped me with looking at my future and whether or not i would like a career with Cisco or not. I feel as though the work was varied and I spoke to a lot of people about possible career paths with Cisco as well.

We were not paid for the work experience as it was such a short week, however people who had to travel longer distances were offered support in terms of their travel costs and their actual journey to and from the various locations (e.g. Central London, Reading). It was not necessary for the time of our duration to have been paid.

We took part in a departmental team social event one of the lunchtimes which we spent with the Social Collaboration team, and that was a great experience as they made us feel valued and an important part of the group. There was not much time for any additional activities due to the short length of the Work Experience programme, but if it was longer we may have had the opportunity to take part in more.

Yes

Cisco is so lively and exciting and inviting, unlike the commonly held misconception of such a big, global, professional company. The people are down to earth and very easy to talk to, and at Cisco it seems that they regard interpersonal skills and team working abilities over raw academics, which makes the experience much more relaxed.

Go for it! Take all the opportunities you can, apply to all the roles you can, try new things and meet new people because it will all be worth it. Additionally, it just looks very good to have such a highly regarded company on your CV, since Cisco is such a big name, especially in the world of technology.