What is the interview process like at Cisco Systems?

Cisco runs a knock-out funnel that starts with a timed HackerRank or Mettl assessment mixing a heavy MCQ block (computer networks, OS, DBMS, aptitude, and for hardware-leaning campuses digital electronics and microprocessors) with one or two coding problems. Survivors go into a same-day chain of interviews: one or two technical rounds that are equal parts DSA and core-CS/networking plus a line-by-line walk of the candidate's resume and projects, then a managerial round that is mostly situational and project-depth questions, and finally a short HR round that Cisco brands 'ETR Connect' for early-career hiring. Compared with pure product companies the DSA bar is moderate (arrays, linked lists, trees, one DP or graph question) while networking depth (OSI, TCP/UDP, routing, subnetting, DNS) is disproportionately important, especially for the Consulting Engineer / Technical Consulting Engineer track.

What topics does Cisco Systems test in interviews?

Commonly reported topics include Linux, API, Web app, Testing, Deployment, Documentation.

Cisco Systems Interview Questions & Experience

Role not stated

Outcome not shared

unknown. 1 round. Shared by millzlane on hn, 2015-06-08

1Technical interviewTechnicalAsked detailed questions about Linux command options, including the mount command.Covered: Linux

Role not stated

Outcome not shared

unknown. 1 round. Shared by Our_Benefactors on hn, 2025-09-25

1Take-homeTake-homeAsked to build, document, test and publicly host a full-stack app from scratch. The candidate declined.Covered: API, Web app, Testing, Deployment, Documentation

Software Engineer

Outcome not shared

unknown. 1 round. Shared by bonestamp2 on hn, 2024-02-12

1Recruiter screenPhone screenRecruiter refused to share the pay range before a five-hour interview day. The candidate declined to continue.

Software Engineer (IT business unit)

Received an offer

New grad. 4 rounds. Shared by GeeksforGeeks contributor on gfg, 2025-07-23

1Online test (HackerRank, 70 min)Online assessmentA timed HackerRank test with a short MCQ block spanning electronics, networks, aptitude and data structures, plus two coding problems. Roughly half of a 330-strong cohort cleared it.Covered: Aptitude, Networking, Data structures & algorithms, Arrays & strings, Dynamic programming
2Technical panelPanelThree panellists ran a 25-minute session: a project walk-through, a comparison of two tree-like structures the candidate had used, a logic puzzle, two whiteboard-style coding problems on linked lists and arrays, and a couple of basic database queries.Covered: Trees, Data structures & allocation, Past projects, SQL, Puzzles
3ManagerialHiring managerA 40-minute conversation with a supply-chain manager covering the technical panel's feedback, projects, hobbies, motivation for Cisco and career direction, ending with the candidate's own questions about the role.Covered: Past projects, Behavioral, Domain knowledge
4HRFinalA checklist-style formality on internship availability, five-day working, higher-study plans and willingness to be based in Bangalore.Covered: Shift availability, Behavioral

Software Engineering Intern (Summer 2025)

Received an offer

Internship. 4 rounds. Shared by GeeksforGeeks contributor on gfg, 2025-07-23

1Online assessmentOnline assessmentTwo sections: a large MCQ block on core CS subjects plus aptitude, and a DSA section with one dynamic-programming and one graph problem. The candidate credits the MCQ section for the shortlist.Covered: Networking, OOP, Operating systems, DBMS, Aptitude, Dynamic programming, Graphs
2Technical interviewTechnicalForty-five minutes with a software engineer, mostly on a prior internship and each resume project, then one string-frequency coding problem. Skipping clarifying questions produced a wrong output and the round pivoted into how the candidate debugged it.Covered: Past projects, Arrays & strings, Debugging
3Hiring managerHiring managerAn engineering leader probed networking protocols and their uses, asked which structure would back an employee database and the cost of each operation, then set an open design task for a photo-sharing app plus a follow-up on latency in distributed systems.Covered: Networking, Data structures & algorithms, System design, Scalability
4ETR ConnectFinalA ten-minute casual call with Cisco's Emerging Talent Recruitment team on internship availability, stipend and duration. The offer mail arrived about two hours later.Covered: Shift availability, Behavioral

Software Engineer / Data Engineer (on-campus 2022)

Received an offer

New grad. 4 rounds. Shared by GeeksforGeeks contributor on gfg, 2024-10-20

1Online MCQ test (60 min)Online assessmentTwenty-five MCQs weighted towards quantitative and logical reasoning, with a technical tail on networks, OS, linked lists and C output questions. Twenty-seven students advanced.Covered: Aptitude, Networking, Operating systems, Data structures & algorithms
2TechnicalTechnicalRoughly three-quarters of the 75-minute round was spent dissecting the candidate's SQL and ML projects, including exception handling and scenario variations, before short recursion and linked-list coding tasks and standard OS questions.Covered: Past projects, SQL, Operating systems, Data structures & algorithms, Debugging
3ManagerialHiring managerScenario questions on managing work and resolving team conflict, software-engineering process questions, plus a line-by-line pass over the resume.Covered: Conflict handling, Behavioral, Resume deep-dive, Testing
4HRFinalIntroduction, discussion of the job role and work-location preference. Six candidates were finally selected, all into software engineering.Covered: Behavioral, Shift availability

Software Engineer / Data Engineer / Site Reliability Engineer (on-campus 2023)

Outcome not shared

New grad. 4 rounds. Shared by GeeksforGeeks contributor on gfg, 2023-09-27

1Online assessmentOnline assessmentForty MCQs at intermediate difficulty plus a single coding question restricted to C, Java or Python. Around thirty of six to eight hundred candidates advanced, split across the three role tracks by score.Covered: OOP, SQL, Networking, Operating systems, Aptitude
2TechnicalTechnicalTrack-dependent: the data track was almost entirely DBMS and query writing, the software track mixed projects, DSA and core subjects, and query writing appeared there too.Covered: DBMS, SQL, Data structures & algorithms, Past projects
3ManagerialHiring managerScenario-based behavioural questions with follow-ups back into core subjects, and for some candidates more query writing.Covered: Behavioral, SQL, Domain knowledge
4ETR ConnectFinalBasic questions, job-location preference and an explanation of the role, followed by the candidate's questions.Covered: Behavioral, Shift availability

SDE-1

Outcome not shared

New grad. 5 rounds. Shared by GeeksforGeeks contributor on gfg, 2025-07-23

1Technical (40 min)TechnicalNo coding, since the online test had already covered it. The interviewer probed networking and cloud, then settled on CPU scheduling and memory management before moving to OOP concepts and reading code fragments for correctness.Covered: Networking, Operating systems, OOP, Debugging
2Technical (25 min)TechnicalA senior engineer set a game-theory style optimisation problem and pushed for a better complexity, then a binary-search-on-answer style allocation problem.Covered: Dynamic programming, Arrays & strings, Data structures & algorithms
3Managerial (60+ min)Hiring managerEffectively a CV scrutiny round: the interviewer went through every project and experience, dug hard into a cloud face-API project and into generative models, and coached the candidate on how to represent skill levels on a resume.Covered: Resume deep-dive, Past projects, Domain knowledge
4Technical (20 min)TechnicalA short round with one probability question and one puzzle, wrapped up quickly.Covered: Puzzles, Aptitude
5HR (30 min)FinalA relaxed conversation focused on the second page of the CV, previous internships and background.Covered: Behavioral, Past projects

Summer Intern (on-campus)

Outcome not shared

Internship. 2 rounds. Shared by GeeksforGeeks contributor on gfg, 2025-07-23

1MCQ test (Mettl, 60 min)Online assessmentFifty questions in an hour spanning aptitude, data structures, microprocessors and classic puzzles. About ten students went through to the single interview round.Covered: Aptitude, Data structures & algorithms, Puzzles, Domain knowledge
2Technical face-to-face (60 min)TechnicalTen minutes on interests and projects, ten on information-retrieval and ML electives, then a balanced-BST construction problem to explain and code on paper, a graph-algorithms discussion covering shortest paths and negative edges, and C++ language internals including virtual dispatch. Closed with short motivation questions. No networking was asked.Covered: Past projects, Trees, Graphs, OOP, Behavioral

Software Engineer (on-campus, full time)

Not selected

New grad. 4 rounds. Shared by GeeksforGeeks contributor on gfg, 2025-07-23

1Written MCQ test (60 min)Online assessmentFifty questions split between aptitude, C plus networking plus data structures, and a hardware block on digital electronics, BJT, CMOS and microprocessors. The cutoff was high, so speed mattered as much as accuracy.Covered: Aptitude, Networking, Data structures & algorithms, Domain knowledge
2Technical (60 min)TechnicalProjects and their underlying algorithms, then a long OS block on deadlock, context switching, threads and synchronisation, a networking block on TCP versus UDP and what happens when a URL is requested, and a linked-list sorting implementation the candidate then had to review for corner cases.Covered: Concurrency, Operating systems, Networking, Debugging
3Manager technical (75 min)Hiring managerA production manager opened with HR-style motivation questions, revisited the previous round's topics, then set a sliding-window averaging problem where the interviewer specifically asked why starting from brute force was useful, followed by design questions, a trie implementation and hash-map and heap internals.Covered: Behavioral, Arrays & strings, Low-level design, Data structures & algorithms
4HR (15 min)FinalIntroduction, family background, relocation, handling personal conflict, strengths and weaknesses, and internship availability. The candidate hedged on the internship timing and was not selected.Covered: Behavioral, Conflict handling, Shift availability

Software Engineer II (Cloud)

Received an offer

Experienced. 5 rounds. Shared by GeeksforGeeks contributor on gfg, 2025-07-23

1HackerRank coding test (90 min)Online assessmentFive coding problems in ninety minutes in a language of choice after applying through the Cisco careers portal. Solving three cleanly plus partial credit was enough. The interview call came about ten days later.Covered: Data structures & algorithms, Arrays & strings
2Technical I (60 min)TechnicalHeld over WebEx. Resume and work-project questions, then tooling and language questions covering version control, containers, orchestration and Python internals including multithreading, ending with a sorting problem solved on a shared screen.Covered: Past projects, OOP, Concurrency, Testing, Data structures & algorithms
3Technical II (60 min)TechnicalTwo coding problems, a partition-style sort and a triplet-sum problem where only the approach was required, then questions on version control, Linux, cloud infrastructure and orchestration drawn from prior experience.Covered: Arrays & strings, Data structures & algorithms, Operating systems, Scalability
4Managerial (80 min)Hiring managerThe manager walked the whole resume including hackathon work, then moved to cloud infrastructure, vertical versus horizontal scaling, deploying stateful applications, virtual memory and Linux commands, and explained the team's work.Covered: Resume deep-dive, Scalability, Operating systems, Past projects
5HR (20 min)FinalQuestions about the company's principles, mission and goals, then compensation. The offer letter followed in two to three days. The whole process took about a month.Covered: Behavioral, Domain knowledge

Software Engineer (experienced)

Outcome not shared

Experienced. 5 rounds. Shared by GeeksforGeeks contributor on gfg, 2025-08-21

1Written testOnline assessmentFifteen aptitude questions, twenty-five CS fundamentals and output questions, and one simulation-style coding problem about counting steps up slippery walls.Covered: Aptitude, Data structures & algorithms, Arrays & strings
2Technical face-to-faceTechnicalBit counting and an order-statistic problem required in linear time, followed by a long block on UNIX network programming, shared memory and inter-process communication mechanisms.Covered: Data structures & algorithms, Operating systems, Concurrency, Arrays & strings
3Technical face-to-faceTechnicalProject questions, reading a large C program to identify storage classes, and choosing a data structure that would back a filesystem-style command set.Covered: Past projects, Low-level design, Operating systems
4Technical face-to-faceTechnicalEntirely dedicated to previous project work.Covered: Past projects, Resume deep-dive
5Team managerHiring managerMotivation for switching jobs, a walk-through of current work, and which team the candidate wanted to join.Covered: Behavioral, Past projects

Java / Angular Full Stack Developer

Outcome not shared

Experienced. 5 rounds. Shared by GeeksforGeeks contributor on gfg, 2025-07-23

1HackerRank coding testOnline assessmentFive coding problems, three easy and two medium, with a two-hour limit and a 48-hour window to attempt after applying via LinkedIn.Covered: Data structures & algorithms
2Technical I (60 min)TechnicalExplicitly a CV-free general technical round. Use-case driven: transactional writes spanning a document store and a relational database, reducing repeated database reads under load, and writing REST endpoints with parameters, plus framework annotation semantics and a nth-highest-salary query.Covered: API design, DBMS, SQL, Scalability, OOP
3Technical II (60 min)TechnicalThe CV-based counterpart: past projects and one project's architecture, immutability and deep copy semantics, string interning behaviour, and a join query across employee and department tables.Covered: Past projects, OOP, SQL, System design
4Technical plus managerialHiring managerThe third same-day round combining technical follow-ups with managerial fit, reached by performing well in either of the two earlier technical rounds.Covered: Past projects, Behavioral
5HR discussionFinalA phone conversation held on a separate day.Covered: Behavioral

Software Engineer 2 (Chennai)

Received an offer

Experienced. 5 rounds. Shared by GeeksforGeeks contributor on gfg, 2019-11-13

1HackerRank test (90 min)Online assessmentFour problems covering bit manipulation, linked-list traversal, palindromic substrings and distance between tree nodes.Covered: Arrays & strings, Trees, Data structures & algorithms
2Written C paper (45 min)TechnicalA printed set of ten C questions on pointers, unions, structures, why a program crashes, string output prediction and endianness, done on campus.Covered: Debugging, Operating systems, Arrays & strings
3Technical face-to-faceTechnicalTwo data-structure problems, tree height and evaluating a bracketed arithmetic expression, with an algorithm expected first and full working code after.Covered: Trees, Data structures & algorithms
4Rounds 4-6: Managerial plus technicalPanelThree further same-day rounds, all resume-driven: previous experience, achievements and the hardest problems solved. The candidate found them repetitive.Covered: Resume deep-dive, Past projects, Behavioral
5DirectorFinalA final WebEx round with a director, again resume-based. The result came four to five days later.Covered: Resume deep-dive, Behavioral

Consulting Engineer

Outcome not shared

New grad. 4 rounds. Shared by GeeksforGeeks contributor on gfg, 2020-08-28

1Online test (HackerRank, 60 min)Online assessmentOne coding question and twenty-five MCQs drawn from computer networking, C, aptitude and electronics.Covered: Networking, Aptitude, Domain knowledge
2Technical (45 min)TechnicalConcentrated on subnetting and subnet masks and the full OSI stack, with a smaller amount of OS material on deadlock and Linux commands plus some C.Covered: Networking, Operating systems
3Managerial (45 min)Hiring managerResume project discussion followed by applied networking: how a website loads, DNS, routing, address types and versions, bandwidth, which device sits at each OSI layer, and switch versus router. The job role itself was discussed in detail.Covered: Past projects, Networking, Domain knowledge
4HRFinalReview of the earlier rounds plus comfort with relocation and night shifts.Covered: Behavioral, Shift availability

Consulting Engineer / Technical Consulting Engineer (on-campus)

Outcome not shared

New grad. 4 rounds. Shared by GeeksforGeeks contributor on gfg, 2022-11-08

1Online assessment (HackerRank, 60 min)Online assessmentTwenty-five MCQs mostly on networking, programming and CS fundamentals plus one medium coding question, taken by around 1,100 eligible students as a knock-out.Covered: Networking, Aptitude, Data structures & algorithms
2Technical (60 min)TechnicalAbout thirty candidates reached this round. After a project explanation and a discussion of what the candidate understood the role to be, questions covered Python language semantics and data types, the OSI model layer by layer including why the data link layer exists, link-state versus distance-vector routing, TCP versus UDP reliability, the case for IPv6, and Linux, booting and memory-hierarchy questions.Covered: OOP, Networking, Operating systems, Past projects
3Managerial (45 min)Hiring managerNineteen candidates advanced. Entirely projects and extracurriculars: explaining a project to a five-year-old and then simplifying further, challenges faced, whether original objectives were met, how the plan changed, how group work was divided, and a live walk-through of the project's interface.Covered: Past projects, Behavioral, Conflict handling
4ETR / HR (15-20 min)FinalAround sixteen reached this fit-check with Emerging Talent Recruitment covering internships, relocation and location preference. The author stresses this round is a genuine knock-out at Cisco and eliminated many candidates.Covered: Behavioral, Shift availability

Consulting Engineer

Received an offer

New grad. 6 rounds. Shared by Bhavya Dubey (naukri code360) on blog, 2021-07-16

1Online quiz (60 min)Online assessmentA basic-level MCQ quiz mixing DSA, DBMS, programming logic, networking, aptitude and English, with one string problem.Covered: Data structures & algorithms, DBMS, Networking, Aptitude
2Written assignment (20 min)Take-homeA short written submission on how AI and ML could improve user experience.Covered: Case study, Domain knowledge
3Online test (90 min)Online assessmentAround sixty questions on intermediate programming logic, networking and electronics plus a permutations coding problem.Covered: Networking, Data structures & algorithms, Domain knowledge
4Technical video interview (20 min)TechnicalProject questions plus core networking (DNS resolution, OSI layers, TCP versus UDP, router versus switch, MAC and IP addressing), closing with a repeat of the string problem coded live in a nominated language.Covered: Networking, Past projects, Arrays & strings
5Managerial video interview (15 min)Hiring managerProject and behavioural questions about the hardest challenge in a group project, mixed with deeper networking on the OSI model, IP address classes, network IDs, subnet masks and unconfigured routers.Covered: Networking, Behavioral, Conflict handling, Past projects
6HR (15 min)FinalStandard fit questions plus company knowledge: Cisco's products and competitors, other offers held, higher-study plans, and location and shift preferences.Covered: Behavioral, Domain knowledge, Shift availability

Consulting Engineer

Not selected

New grad. 2 rounds. Shared by Aryan Grover (naukri code360) on blog, 2022-08-30

1Online assessment (90 min)Online assessmentTwenty-five MCQs weighted towards in-depth computer networks with operating systems and DBMS, plus one medium queue-and-stack problem.Covered: Networking, Operating systems, DBMS, Data structures & algorithms
2Technical interview (75 min)TechnicalTwo senior interviewers: the first went deep on computer networks and routing concepts, the candidate's projects and a SQL query, the second set an easy array-based sorting problem. The candidate was not selected.Covered: Networking, Past projects, SQL, Arrays & strings

Consulting Engineer

Received an offer

New grad. 6 rounds. Shared by Prathamesh Gaikwad (naukri code360) on blog, 2020-09-07

1Proctored online test (30 min)Online assessmentTwenty-six MCQs on code dry-runs, CCNA-level networking, OS, DBMS, web technology and security, including VLAN limits, MAC address structure and which OSI layer a hub sits at.Covered: Networking, Operating systems, DBMS, Domain knowledge
2Video pitch submissionPresentationThree open problem statements (AI in pandemic healthcare, SDN for self-healing high-availability networks, connected technology for unorganised sectors). The candidate picks one and submits a 90-second recorded solution pitch that must be original, scalable and feasible.Covered: Case study, Domain knowledge, Scalability
3Competency assessment (60 min)Assessment centreA general aptitude and psychometric assessment aimed at judging performance under pressure.Covered: Aptitude, Behavioral
4Technical online test (60 min)Online assessmentA knock-out gate before interviews: twenty-five MCQs across DSA, DBMS, CCNA and security plus one hard competitive coding problem.Covered: Data structures & algorithms, DBMS, Networking, Domain knowledge
5Technical face-to-face (60 min)TechnicalAn on-site round of situational questions about how the candidate would handle and improve given scenarios, plus a simple string-manipulation problem. The advice given is that answers must be original rather than rehearsed from the internet.Covered: Customer scenarios, Behavioral, Arrays & strings
6HR (20 min)FinalCompany knowledge, what success means to the candidate, and a challenge on why a networking company should hire someone whose interest is AI. Compensation is communicated in this round.Covered: Behavioral, Domain knowledge

Technical Consulting Engineer

Received an offer

New grad. 6 rounds. Shared by Abhishek Chaudhary (naukri code360) on blog, 2021-09-15

1Preliminary quiz (Mettl, 60 min)Online assessmentA mandatory section plus a candidate-chosen advanced section, either advanced networking or advanced software programming.Covered: Networking, Data structures & algorithms, Aptitude
2Written assignmentTake-homeOpen-ended applied problems, for example deriving solutions from vehicle sensor data to cut carbon emissions, or using wearable fitness sensor data.Covered: Case study, Domain knowledge
3Online test (60 min)Online assessmentTwenty-five aptitude and programming MCQs above average difficulty plus one non-trivial coding question, with time pressure the main constraint.Covered: Aptitude, SQL, DBMS, Networking, Dynamic programming
4Technical video interview (90 min)TechnicalA full interview day. General networking, programming concepts, Linux commands and aptitude, plus a practical problem about pulling the most recent malicious log entries from a large timestamped table and choosing a structure to hold them for display.Covered: Networking, Operating systems, Aptitude, Data structures & algorithms
5Managerial video interview (90 min)Hiring managerDeeper networking concepts, workplace competency scenarios, a detailed pass over one project, and a crossover question about modelling TCP/IP packets with a linked list.Covered: Networking, Customer scenarios, Past projects, Data structures & algorithms
6HR (20 min)FinalMotivation for joining Cisco, strengths and weaknesses and five-year plans. The author notes people were rejected at this stage.Covered: Behavioral, STAR stories

Software Engineer (on-campus, VIT Vellore)

Received an offer

New grad. 4 rounds. Shared by Karthik Gopagoni on blog, 2023-09-21

1HackerRank assessmentOnline assessmentOver forty MCQs on aptitude, networks, operating systems and programming plus one string pattern-matching coding question. Results came the next day.Covered: Aptitude, Networking, Operating systems, Arrays & strings
2Technical (WebEx, 90 min)TechnicalOpened with a constrained self-introduction, then the technology choices behind the candidate's projects, designing a recommendation system for an e-commerce site, OOP in Java, cloud scenarios covering instance scaling and load balancing, a self-rating on DSA, a merge-k-sorted-lists problem with several approaches compared, a binary-tree diameter problem, and two closing logic puzzles. Twenty candidates reached this round, split between software engineering and site reliability.Covered: Past projects, System design, OOP, Scalability, Trees, Puzzles
3ManagerialHiring managerTwelve candidates advanced. Internship and project depth answered in STAR form, high-level design of a decentralised application, testing strategy and exception handling, concrete performance-optimisation examples, project workflow with containers, and UI/UX reasoning from user, developer and security angles.Covered: STAR stories, Past projects, Testing, System design, DBMS
4HRFinalFive candidates reached a relaxed conversation on relocation and higher-study plans, plus an explanation of the internship programme. Four final offers were made.Covered: Behavioral, Shift availability

Trainee, Technical Consulting Engineer (Cisco Apprentice Program)

Outcome not shared

Internship. 2 rounds. Shared by Sahil Ali on blog, 2025-07-17

1Online assessmentOnline assessmentA multi-section online test covering OSI layers, network devices and basic TCP/IP, memory, process and scheduling in operating systems, and reasoning and quantitative sections. The author found it moderately hard and time-pressured.Covered: Networking, Operating systems, Aptitude, Puzzles
2Rounds 2-4: Interview day (WebEx)PanelThree interviews were run back to back on a single day over WebEx starting early morning. The detail of the individual rounds sits behind Medium's paywall and was not readable, so only the structure is recorded here.Covered: Networking, Behavioral

Technical Consulting Engineer, Data Center Routing & Switching (TAC, US)

Not selected

Experienced. 3 rounds. Shared by u/dotson83 (r/networking, 4-part series) on reddit, 2019-07-04

1Technical screen (WebEx)Online assessmentA short screening delivered live over WebEx: the interviewer shared a ten-question document, mostly multiple choice with a few ordering questions, covering MPLS heavily plus OSPF and IGMP, port and protocol identification and route preference. A pass email arrived within minutes and the resume moved to the hiring manager.Covered: Networking, Domain knowledge
2TAC team panel (WebEx)PanelA panel of TAC engineers including the team lead worked from a network diagram on screen: tracing how packets travel, what the headers and frames look like at each hop, layer 2 versus layer 3 behaviour, spotting a fault in the diagram (an address conflict) and its real-world effect, spanning-tree roles and states applied to a described topology, and route origin with an emphasis on OSPF. Mixed in were situational questions and a check on which Cisco hardware the candidate had actually worked with. The candidate notes the panel was friendly and not playing gotcha.Covered: Networking, Debugging, Customer scenarios, Behavioral
3Outcome callFinalA rejection call: the technical performance was fine but the team wanted more data-centre experience than an enterprise background provided, and the recruiter suggested entering through enterprise TAC and transferring later.Covered: Domain knowledge

Software Engineer Intern

Not selected

Internship, India, Around Rs 60,000/month stipend for the intern. Friend received ~11.5 LPA base, ~18-20 LPA CTC for the FTE conversion, via HackerRank. 3 rounds. Shared by Rohan Arora on youtube

1Online AssessmentOnline assessmentCoding questions plus a few aptitude questions on HackerRank. Speed mattered as there were many problems to get through.Covered: Data structures & algorithms, Aptitude
2Technical DiscussionTechnicalTwo technical panelists on video asked C/C++ and OOP concepts (polymorphism, encapsulation, inheritance) with a small live-coding check, then computer-networks questions, a walk-through of resume projects, and an open-ended design task to build an API for a real-time multiplayer game, which the candidate could not complete.Covered: OOP, Networking, Past projects, System design
3ManagerialHiring managerA lighter round relying on presence of mind and general reasoning rather than heavy technical questioning.Covered: Behavioral

Software Engineer Intern

Received an offer

Internship, via Cisco Codathon / online assessment. 4 rounds. Shared by Code With U-DAY on youtube

1Online AssessmentOnline assessmentReached via the Cisco Codathon. The OA had ~40 core-subject MCQs and two coding questions (one constructive/algorithmic medium, one based on priority queues).Covered: Data structures & algorithms, Operating systems, Networking, DBMS
2TechnicalTechnicalResume and project deep-dive with follow-ups, core-subject questions on OS and networking, then two DSA problems (linked list and Dijkstra's shortest path), with follow-ups chaining priority queues into OS scheduling, algorithms, and starvation.Covered: Past projects, Operating systems, Networking, Data structures & algorithms, Graphs
3ManagerialHiring managerIn-depth project discussion (whiteboard dry-run of a Huffman coding project including compression ratio and efficiency) that ran 30-35 minutes, plus an HR-style situational question about handling an unrealistic 3-day deadline.Covered: Past projects, Behavioral
4ETR (Emerging Talent) RoundFinalA short ~15-minute round confirming work location, availability, and any concerns.Covered: Logistics

Software Engineer Intern

Received an offer

Internship, Intern plus FTE offer, via Code with Cisco hackathon / online assessment. 5 rounds. Shared by Ashish Kumar on youtube

1Online AssessmentOnline assessmentReached via the Code with Cisco hackathon. The OA had ~40 aptitude and computer-fundamentals questions plus two DSA problems (one LeetCode-medium and one hard 3D dynamic programming), both solved.Covered: Data structures & algorithms, Dynamic programming, Aptitude, Operating systems, Networking
2TechnicalTechnicalTwo medium LeetCode-level DSA questions, basic computer-fundamentals questions on OS and computer networks, and a dice-and-calendar logic puzzle.Covered: Data structures & algorithms, Operating systems, Networking
3ManagerialHiring managerStarted with a DSA question and one or two puzzles, then a deep dive into the candidate's project plus core OS and networking questions.Covered: Data structures & algorithms, Past projects, Operating systems, Networking
4ExecutivePanelWith a senior (15+ years) interviewer: technical project deep-dive, a practical JavaScript question (behavior when uploading audio to a crashing website), practical OS questions, high-level computer-network questions, and situational/HR questions.Covered: Past projects, Operating systems, Networking, Behavioral
5ETR (Emerging Talent Recruitment) RoundFinalA short ~15-20 minute formal discussion covering relocation willingness, why Cisco, company principles, and the CTC breakup.Covered: Logistics

Software Engineer Intern

Received an offer

Internship, via Code with Cisco hackathon / online assessment. 5 rounds. Shared by Ashish Kumar on youtube

1Online AssessmentOnline assessmentAfter the hackathon path did not yield a direct invite, a separate OA was given with two coding questions (a medium 'happy numbers' variant and a DP grid/maze apple-collecting problem) plus aptitude.Covered: Data structures & algorithms, Dynamic programming, Aptitude
2TechnicalTechnicalOne DSA question (Two Sum with multiple approaches) and a normal introduction and project discussion. An easy round.Covered: Data structures & algorithms, Past projects
3Project / TechnicalTechnicalProject-heavy round exploring the candidate's project in advanced depth, including a Cisco Incubator prototype (app plus demo video) they had built and won merit for.Covered: Past projects
4ExecutivePanelCore C++/C/Java concepts from the resume (class types, OOP, differences between classes), a live clone-and-run of a GitHub project with logic questions, network-related questions on the project, plus situational and HR questions.Covered: OOP, Networking, Past projects, Behavioral
5HRFinalA simple HR round with common questions like why you want to join Cisco.Covered: Behavioral

Software Engineer Intern

Received an offer

Internship, Intern plus FTE offer, via Online coding round. 4 rounds. Shared by Ashish Kumar on youtube

1Online Coding AssessmentOnline assessmentOne simple coding question (brute force sufficed) plus 25 MCQs spanning cryptography, cloud, HTTP status codes, and basic aptitude. The MCQs appeared to be the deciding factor. Candidates also set a role preference (software / consulting / SRE).Covered: Data structures & algorithms, Networking, Domain knowledge, Aptitude
2TechnicalTechnicalFor the software engineering role, questions focused on resume projects plus basic core-subject questions on OS, DBMS, and networking (e.g. OSI vs TCP/IP layers). Notably no DSA was asked (the candidate had a strong competitive-programming profile).Covered: Past projects, Operating systems, DBMS, Networking
3ManagerialHiring managerA casual HR-style discussion with two managers focused on whether the candidate is a team player, including how they handle team problems and project collaboration.Covered: Behavioral
4HRFinalA short 5-10 minute round with basic questions (introduction, higher-studies plans) and a brief on the offered package.Covered: Behavioral, Logistics

Cisco Systems interview questions

How the loop works

Interview experiences at Cisco Systems

Role not stated

Role not stated

Software Engineer

Software Engineer (IT business unit)

Software Engineering Intern (Summer 2025)

Software Engineer / Data Engineer (on-campus 2022)

Software Engineer / Data Engineer / Site Reliability Engineer (on-campus 2023)

SDE-1

Summer Intern (on-campus)

Software Engineer (on-campus, full time)

Software Engineer II (Cloud)

Software Engineer (experienced)

Java / Angular Full Stack Developer

Software Engineer 2 (Chennai)

Consulting Engineer

Consulting Engineer / Technical Consulting Engineer (on-campus)

Consulting Engineer

Consulting Engineer

Consulting Engineer

Technical Consulting Engineer

Software Engineer (on-campus, VIT Vellore)

Trainee, Technical Consulting Engineer (Cisco Apprentice Program)

Technical Consulting Engineer, Data Center Routing & Switching (TAC, US)

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Software Engineer Intern

Software Engineer Intern

Software Engineer Intern

Software Engineer Intern

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