I applied through college or university. I interviewed at Arista Networks (Bengaluru) in Aug 2024
Interview
OA Round
There were 4 Sections -
20 minutes for 15 MCQs.
20 minutes: Integer To Roman
25 minutes: In a grid(m*n) with obstacles, find if (m-1,n-1) can be reached from (0,0) in less than or equal to a given time where each movement costs 1 unit of time.
25 minutes: Given an array of binary strings (like "1101" representing 13) and a maximum 'k' number of operations that can be performed. The operation is taking the 1s complement of a string. Find and return the maximum possible sum of all the strings.
There were 2 Rounds both technical.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Pointers and Error Handling:
Predicting the output type of pointer-related questions.
Identifying different types of errors associated with pointers.
Discussing methods to fix pointer-related errors.
Struct Size Calculation:
Determining the size of a struct containing an int and a char.
Coding to verify the size of the struct.
Explaining the logic behind the size calculation.
Struct and Bit Manipulation:
Implementing functions to check if the k-th bit of an integer is set.
Implementing functions to set the k-th bit of an integer.
The struct provided included a char array.
Data Structures:
Understanding ordered and unordered maps.
Discussing various collision resolution techniques for maps.
Explanation of AVL tree balancing and rotations involved.
Scenario-Based Question:
Choosing an appropriate collision resolution technique for a given situation.
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Arista Networks in Jun 2026
Interview
Pros:
Great initial approach – the recruiter thoroughly checked my GitHub profile and projects before the interview, which is very uncommon and shows they do their homework.
Cons:
A major mismatch between the job description ("Software Engineer C++") and the actual interview reality. The technical stage on CoderPad strictly tests bare-metal C98 skills: raw pointers, manual bitwise operations, and packing bytes into 64-bit integers. If you are accustomed to modern C++ (RAII, templates, safe memory management), this will feel like a massive step backward. Additionally, the time expectations for live low-level bit-shifting were unrealistic, to the point where the interviewer started solving the task themselves.
Interview was kind and not stressful, just minor mismatch of naming
Pretty good, not too complicated, was comfortable. Mostly LC questions, and was easy enough that you should be able to do it after doing NC150. good luck for the interview!
Starts with online test, then three rounds of technical interviews follow.
Not a lot of discussion, just go straight to the technical challenges which have to be solved in time