After Cisco
- 5%Founded something18
- 14%Joined a startup49
- 24%Joined a big company84
- 57%Elsewhere
Shares of those who moved on, by their next stop.
People who leave Cisco most often go to Amazon, Google and Meta. 5% found something next. 14% go small. Median stay 2y 4m
These are the engineers in the Zelcast network and the profiles run through the Eng Scorer, not Cisco's headcount: 411 people on a map of 26,572, the No. 19 company on it by people. Updated August 20, 2026.
- People on the map
- 4111.5% of everyone on the map
- There now
- 4611% of the people here
- Moved on
- 36589% of the people here
- Median tenure
- 2y 4mmiddle half 1y 1m to 4y 1m
Put Cisco side by side with another company, every number against every number.
Came from, went to
Ribbon width is the number of people who made the move. Most arrive from Intel. Most leave for Amazon (6% of recorded departures).
34 of 312 recorded arrivals shown, 278 more from 257 other companies87 of 370 recorded departures shown, 283 more to 238 other companies
The Cisco mafia
18 of the people who left went straight to a founding role, 5% of those who moved on, half of them the same month they left. The bars are the ’15 to ’26 classes; earlier founders count in the total.
How long people stay
20%<1y
21%1-2y
32%2-4y
18%4-7y
9%7y+
282 stays with both a start and an end on the record.
Who comes and goes, by year
211612
171713
201814
262215
332316
373317
473518
475019
384120
264121
192922
211023
13824
3625
2226
joined left2026 is a partial year
2012 to 2026: 370 joined, 351 left.
Caliber
80mediantop 10%88
0Eng Scorer caliber, 411 scored99
there now 71 moved on 82. The people who left score higher than the people still there.
Titles held here
- Software Engineer128
- Software Engineer Intern105
- Senior Software Engineer29
- Software Engineer II18
- Intern11
- Software Engineer III9
- Technical Lead8
- Software Intern7
8 most common titles, by people who held them.
First job on the record for 22% of people here.
Behind the median
Everyone here with an Eng Scorer read, placed in their caliber tier.
- 2%Exceptional9 people
- 15%Strong60 people
- 35%Solid144 people
- 47%Emerging192 people
- 1%Unproven6 people
411 of the 411 people here carry an Eng Scorer tier.
Exceptional and strong are the top two of the five tiers. 69 of the 411 people here with a read sit in them, 17%. A tier is the band an Eng Scorer caliber score falls in, so this is the same measurement as the median on the caliber card, opened up.
Whether a title rose here
The level of the first title recorded here, against the last.
38%Titles that rose132 of 350 classified people
- 38%Rose132 people
- 58%Stayed level202 people
- 5%Fell16 people
350 of the 411 people here had a title that could be placed on the ladder before and after.
A title rose when the last title recorded here sits higher on the ladder than the first; for someone who recorded one title here and then left, it is measured against the first title of their next role. The ladder runs intern, junior, mid, senior, staff or manager, principal, director, VP, then founder or C-level. A title that matches no rung is left out rather than guessed, and product, program and project managers are left out entirely, being a different ladder. That leaves 350 of the 411 people here classified, and it leans towards people who have left: someone still here on a single recorded title has nothing to be measured against.
Where they studied
- UC Berkeley10.8%
- Stanford5.7%
- Georgia Tech5.2%
- UC San Diego4.7%
- Carnegie Mellon4.2%
- Purdue3.9%
- USC3.7%
- San Jose State3.5%
The 8 most listed schools among the 406 people here with a school on file.
Of the 406 people here with a school on file, 44 list UC Berkeley, 23 list Stanford and 21 list Georgia Tech. A person can list more than one school, so these overlap rather than add up.
Public work
one square is one in a hundred
40%have a public GitHub account on their profile
165 of the 411 people here whose profile was checked for public accounts. An account the check did not find reads the same as no account, so this is a floor rather than a census.
Across the 325 companies on the map that can show this figure, the median is 38%.
Where they are now
72% of the people who have worked at Cisco and list a location live in the San Francisco Bay Area today, against 47% of everyone on the map.
Cisco
Everyone on the map
- 72%SF Bay Area297 · map 47%
- 20%New York83 · map 33%
- 2%Seattle9 · map 3%
- 2%Washington DC7 · map 7%
- 1%Los Angeles5 · map 6%
- 2%Somewhere else10
All 411 people who worked at Cisco list a location, and every share here is over them.
Where they live now, from the profile as it reads today, not where they sat while they worked at Cisco: a metro here does not mean the company has an office in it. The lower strip is the same metros across the whole map, for comparison.
On the same resumes
Companies that show up most often alongside Cisco, at any point in a career.
Key facts
- 411 people on the Zelcast alumni map have worked at Cisco: 46 are there now and 365 have moved on.
- The most common next employer after Cisco is Amazon (21 people, 6% of recorded departures), followed by Google and Meta.
- The most common previous employer before Cisco is Intel (5 people), followed by Northrop Grumman and Apple.
- The median tenure at Cisco is 2y 4m (middle half 1y 1m to 4y 1m).
- Of those who moved on from Cisco, 5% went on to a founder title, 14% joined a company with 200 or fewer people, and 24% joined a company with 10,000 or more.
- The median Eng Scorer caliber of people who have worked at Cisco is 80 on the 0 to 99 scale (411 scored).
- The most common title held at Cisco is Software Engineer, then Software Engineer Intern.
- Of the 406 people here with a school on file, 44 list UC Berkeley (10.8%), then Stanford (23). A person can list more than one school, so these overlap rather than add up.
- 72% of the 411 people here who list a location live in SF Bay Area today, against 47% of everyone on the map. That is where they live now, not the office they sat in while they worked here.
- 40% of the 411 people here whose profile was checked for public accounts have a public GitHub account on it.
- Of the 350 people here whose title could be placed on a ladder both before and after, 132 rose, 202 stayed level and 16 fell.
About this data: built from 144,786 jobs across 26,572 engineers in the Zelcast network and Eng Scorer reads, updated August 20, 2026. A move counts when the next role starts within 24 months of leaving; companies with fewer than 20 people on the map are not shown, and destinations with fewer than 3 people are folded into the totals. Caliber is the Eng Scorer score.
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