I applied through college or university. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Cisco (Waterloo, ON) in Mar 2022
Interview
A manager saw me resume at a virtual Job Fair and recommended me for the position.
A week or so later, I had a video call interview for one hour with one interviewer. She asked me simple questions about threading and operating systems. Also gave me a coding question, a simple one involving something to do with linked lists. I forgot, but it was simple
Then I got called for second interview, video call for 3 hours, 1 hour - technical, 2 interviewers, 1 hour - technical, 2 interviewers, ~1 hour - Manager, 1 interviewer
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
1) Write a program to print a NxN dimensional array in spiral order, starting from indices 0,0 and ending at N/2, N/2
2) Write a program to reverse a linked list
3) Write a program to insert an element in a sorted linked list
4) Write a program to delete an element from a linked list
5) Dry run a simple C program using cstrings and pointers (turns out [] operator has higher precedence than & operator)
- - -
Behavioural:
1) Describe a challenging, uncertain experience where you achieved something
2) Asked about my grades
3) Asked about prior job experience
4) Asked whether I had any other interviews
5) Asked if I had any questions about the company/role
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Cisco (Chicago, IL)
Interview
March 13th; Took a hackerrank exam, 3 easy-med leetcode DSAs. One was rotating a matrix and the other was a binary search. And the third was a basic sql. Did not hear back until July.
Standard panel, very simple leetcodes. reverse linked list kind of vibe s . I was literarly asked about how a linked list is structured and reversing it. there was almost no friction which I was shocked by one of the reason I did not accept
I applied online. I interviewed at Cisco (Bengaluru) in Jun 2026
Interview
The interview started well and covered backend concepts, Java, system design, and coding. I answered the questions confidently and had a positive interaction throughout.
After receiving the rejection, I spoke with HR to understand the feedback. I was informed that the interviewer believed I was looking at answers during the interview. This came as a surprise because I was not referring to any external material. I have a habit of looking away while thinking or recalling concepts, which I believe may have been misunderstood.
I wish this concern had been raised during the interview so I could have clarified it immediately. If there are concerns about a candidate’s behavior, discussing them in real time or asking for a room scan can help avoid misunderstandings.
Overall, the interview questions were fair, but I feel my evaluation was influenced by this misunderstanding rather than my technical performance.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Sort a nearly sorted array. I was asked for an optimal solution and discussed the time and space complexity.