One Company, Many Careers – how Cisco helped Dominik prioritize work-life balance
3 min read
Over the years, Cisco has practised #internalmobility promotion, encouraging employees to move and develop within the company. Cisco is all about retaining and supporting top talent to pursue their passion. Under the motto #OneCompanyManyCareers, we will be sharing the success stories of our employees throughout the whole year!
This week’s story is about Dominik, Systems Architect in Cisco Poland Sales team.
Q: Tell us what has been your career journey at Cisco so far?
A: I joined Cisco in 2014 as a Consulting Engineer for Professional Services in Customer Experience team, where I worked for 5 years supporting various projects. During that time I moved to a different business area – from communications to contact center. My experience led me to wider Cisco projects where I met managers and customers from other countries. It was a very vivid and exciting time for me!
At some point, I understood project life wasn’t for me anymore – international travelling became exhausting, and the nature of my work required me to communicate with customers mainly through communication tools, while I preferred “traditional” real-life meetings in the office, whether Cisco or customers’. I wanted to move into a more stable local role. My manager was very understanding and supported my search for a new role, he wanted me to enjoy my everyday job, and to do something that I’m passionate about. At that point, I found a role in Sales, where I passed all the recruitment steps and started in 2019.
Q: What or Who inspired you for the change?
A: During my first weeks, I met one of the Leaders from UK who gave me probably the best advice I could have received at the time – “build your network ASAP”. Back then, I didn’t know what exactly that meant and how to approach it. So, I started getting involved in extra activities, finding groups of mutual interests through Connected Poland. Naturally, my network started growing.
Q: What was your biggest learning through the transition?
A: Sales wasn’t the obvious choice. Actually, it was a total coincidence. I was looking for a role in my home city, Warsaw, the manager and the whole team were all local. It sounded perfect. There wasn’t a big change of responsibilities because, in my opinion, the roles in Cisco are interconnected – back in PS I’ve worked in a similar scope. At the same time, I still had to learn how to cooperate with clients in a new way, how to listen differently, how to be more agile in reacting to customers’ needs.
Back in 2019 before starting in Sales I was burned out and many people would have probably left had they felt the same. I decided to stay, because I truly believe in the benefits we have here. Flexible working hours – Cisco doesn’t practice micromanagement and only cares about task completion rather than the number of hours put in your work. Access to global specialists and experts – not only in the business area but also the support programs for employees in case they need psychological, legal or financial help. Cisco is also all about innovation – you work with the latest technology trends. Cisco’s offices encourage collaboration through open spaces, fun rooms with games, white- and interactive boards, and privacy rooms you can use just for yourself if you need to focus. Not to mention our hybrid work policy that allows employees and teams to choose where they want to work from to be the most effective.
Q: What advice would you give to those who are thinking about a change but are still hesitant?
A: If you are thinking about changing job because of the burn-out – think your decision through very carefully. Talk to your network of contacts about opportunities they know about, Cisco is a gigantic company and there are so many possibilities you may not even know about. Take a look at leaders who have been in Cisco for many years – they often changed departments and can be an inspiration of how to change your career. Cisco will always encourage your development and change but you have to take the matter into your own hands.
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2 Comments
Inspiring story!
Great story, thanks Dominik 🙂