Pros
Ciena had a great work/life balance with perks such as telecommuting plans, flexible work hours, health club reimbursements, and company wellness plans. The benefits package was quite lucrative, and the salaries were on par with other companies in the telecommunications industry. Management had an open door policy, and employees were empowered to work autonomously to achieve their assignments. The people are great to work with and sincerely want to help you when you ask - there truly is a sense of being a huge family.
Cons
Ciena is still an organization where it is important as to who you know rather than what you know in order to advance. The internal systems are very archaic and disjoined, and a silo mentality exists within certain groups. Gary Smith and upper management really sold out Ciena during the Nortel acquisition - who purchased who? Most Nortel management remained while Ciena management will most likely soon be shown the door. Many employees were very loyal to Ciena, and put forth a tremendous amount of effort to build the organization over the years. However, now they anxiously wait for severance packages.