Carmen Shirkey Collins

The fourth annual #WeAreCisco #LoveWhereYouWork contest has officially come to a close. In four years of this contest employees have posted over 10,000 pictures showing why they love working at Cisco. That’s a lotta love, people! This year alone during the contest’s six weeks employees s…

When you have a globally dispersed team, sometimes celebrating life’s moments means you have to do things a little differently. On my team, we’ve had virtual baby showers, bridal showers, new house tours, and now a WEDDING on Webex – because thanks to the cloud engineers at Cisco who build the soft…

Let’s get this out of the way. I’m Carmen, and I’m a Harry Potter nerd. When times are dark, wise Dumbledore reminds me that I need only to turn on the light (Lumos!) Professor Lupin helps me remember that even if you’re “different,” you’re important.  Hermione helps me stand in my strength knowing…

Cisco employees wear many hats (literally and figuratively – ha!) Usually your “job description” is a suggestion, as you’re often asked to help different teams in different ways throughout your career. One of the most fun “hats” each year is to be a judge for the #WeAreCisco #LoveWhereYouWork employ…

Mr. Worldwide, a.k.a. Pitbull, says his nickname came when he moved from being Mr. 305 (Miami’s area code) to performing around the world. Cisco is a lot like that. You’ll find employees everywhere around the world, in unexpected places, and in unexpected ways. I think we should trademark “Cisco Wor…

“Love what you do, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” There’s scholarly discussion about how to attribute that quote, but I am sure that I know who LIVES that quote, and that’s me and my team and my colleagues and Cisco employees around the globe. How do I know this? Because today Cisco laun…

Every year, teams get together in December to celebrate the close of another calendar year, to wind down and just have some good old fashioned team fun. There are white elephant gift exchanges, team dinners, and – a Cisconian favorite – ugly holiday sweater contests. This year will be no different.…

Each blog post on Life at Cisco usually tells the story from one employee, but this is a story that needed two viewpoints, so it’s written as a conversation – similar to ones we have every day.  Carmen: Every job requires that you wear a lot of hats. Usually, we put on our social media manager hats…

One of my favorite quotes goes something like this: Live life, not by the moments you have to breathe, but by the moments that take your breath away. It’s fitting for my team at Cisco (I work in HR for the Talent Brand Team. If you’ve read this blog or seen the @WeAreCisco social channels, that’s us…