Is Ciena a good company to work for?

Ciena has an overall rating of 4.1 out of 5, based on over 2,688 reviews left anonymously by employees. This rating has decreased by 1% over the last 12 months. 82% of employees would recommend working at Ciena to a friend and 75% have a positive outlook for the business. The best reviews about Ciena have been left by employees working as Manager , Director and Software Engineer .

Does Ciena pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Ciena employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.8 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Ciena. This rating has decreased by 3% over the last 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Ciena?

82% of Ciena employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated Ciena 4.2 out of 5 for work life balance, 4.1 for culture and values and 3.8 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Ciena?

Software Engineer (195) , Senior Software Engineer (93) , Embedded Software Engineer (52) , Lead Engineer (33) , Senior Manager (33) , Intern (32) , Software Developer (32) , Network Engineer (31) , Project Manager (29) , Hardware Engineer (27) , Software Engineer 2B (27) , Software Engineer II (24) , Director (23) , Systems Engineer (22) , Engineer (21)

What are the pros of working at Ciena according to real employee reviews?

"Good benefits and pension contribution." ((in 178 reviews)); "People are great and easy to get along with." ((in 164 reviews)); "Great Culture and Minds" ((in 148 reviews)); "Great Work Culture and Co" ((in 89 reviews)); "Good salaries (I was here on placement and amazed at my salary)." ((in 85 reviews))

What are the cons of working at Ciena according to real employee reviews?

"Mass resignation in PH cyber team because of poor management" ((in 68 reviews)); "Many of the managers have not been trained and do poor to fair jobs managing effectively" ((in 44 reviews)); "Recent merger with Cyan(now Blueplanet)expose you to cutting edge technologies but there is no training plan for employees, you are on your own." ((in 20 reviews)); "too much politics (dirty games) involved within the teams and between different teams." ((in 8 reviews)); "Favoritism is common, and employees are often expected to gain favor with managers instead of being recognized for their work." ((in 7 reviews))

What are employees saying about Ciena layoffs in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about Ciena layoffs and their outlook for job security at Ciena in 2026.

What are the top reviewed Ciena locations?

Hanover , San Jose , Linthicum , Baltimore , Alpharetta , Atlanta , Petaluma , Denver , Spokane , Miami , Hanover , Raleigh , Dallas , San Francisco , Research Triangle Park , Maryland City , Linthicum Heights , New York , Boston , Miramar , Grand Rapids , Durham , Richardson , Seattle , City of Spokane Valley , Spokane Valley , Freehold , New Brunswick , Newark , Chicago

Ciena reviews

4.1

82% would recommend to a friend

(2,292 total reviews)

Gary B. Smith

86% approve of CEO

75% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

4.2

Work/Life balance

4.1

Culture & values

4.1

Diversity & inclusion

3.8

Senior management

3.8

Compensation and benefits

3.8

Career opportunities

Ciena has an employee rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars, based on 2,292 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The Ciena employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Telecommunications industry (3.6 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Reviews by job title

2K reviews

3.0

Aug 24, 2012

An honest opinion

Lead engineer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

1. Saturday morning you can be @ your native place if you are in 0-700 km radius from Delhi 2. Enjoy weekend with wife/family/girlfriend or liquor ..no office-office in weekend 3. Work - No Rocket Science, if you are an average performer this is the right place for you 4. If you know how to talk well, kudos..!! believe me you are among 1% of the total employees of Ciena india ! 5. There is a big lucrative after you successfully complete the project/release. A mail of appreciation from Mgr with few spelling mistakes, couple of forwarded mail and e-APPLAUSE - worth 0 INR

Cons

1. If you know technology, you might never get a chance to use it. 2. A lot of closed door zero transparency meetings ! Mind it.. doors are with zero transparency too :) 3. You saw managers smiling ? will happen only when they are with their peers ! 4. Ciena India got a mention globally ??..come on...it must be community outreach/best workplace/diwali-dhamaka or cricket

3.0

Aug 18, 2012

It is full of ups and down

Lead engineer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

facilities - A very good office, though as number of employee are growing avg space of an employee is reducing. But I will rate is very high, given the fact that I have worked in 4 more companies. Lunch at office - It is one of the hidden reasons why people are not leaving the company :) Salary - Best at least among the peers in NCR Work - Work is average. Although on cutting edge technology but low in value chain.

Cons

first line managers, communication with employees. Too many senior people and no relevant work for them. This has created huge problem in organizational growth. Even for junior engineers growth has stopped. A great rift between managers and engineer. A technology company should respect its engineer more than its manager but in Ciena it is just opposite more like a manufacturing company. Promotions here are less celebrated because there are more controversy than general acceptance

2.0

Aug 12, 2012

Great Place to work 2012 for "Seniors"

Lead engineer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

1. Casual Work Environment 2. No need to inform your supervisor for Leaves, just take and then say "unplanned leave" 3. Full of extra curricular activities, nothing technical. 4. Informed (not Mock) Fire Drill every 6 months 5. Annual Party thrown at Five Star Hotel 6. Developes everything in software viz. DSP, drivers, embedded applications, user interface in india center only, but you won't get everything to learn because you will be tied up with just one module for years, after all they want to develop expertise for themselves. 7. Very Good in hand salary

Cons

1. No career growth 2. Either No or very high work pressure 3. Every hour verbal reporting, email reporting is additional 4. Management hardly knows people managment, just puppets of their foreign counterpart. 5. No defined criteria for promotions, may get based on your criticality 6. Reward program is extremely poor, basically management does not know when to reward an employee, for them it is always expected performance.

Viewing 2242 - 2244 of 2,292 Reviews

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