I applied through a recruiter. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Cisco (San Jose, CA)
Interview
I had three interviews, first is phone interview, and the second one is an assignment ,the last one is on site interview. The first interview was basically talking about my past experience and hearing her talking about the company and her job. The second one was a data analytic task , that is a bunch of dummy data and present your findings in ppt send it back to Cisco. The last one is an onsite interview, with three people. That is a little challenge. But they are nice people and no tough question. Just tell them you expertise and past experience. To be honest , if they trust what you told them, they will probably bring you on board.
I applied online. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Cisco (San Jose, CA) in Jun 2010
Interview
The interview process was very lengthy. I had my first initial interview over the phone and then didn't hear back regarding a follow up for almost 4 weeks. Once I heard back, they called me in for a 3 hour face to face interview where I met with 4 future team members for 45 minute interviews where they asked me question to decipher what I would be like to work with, and how I would adapt to Cisco culture. Then after that, I didn't hear back again for another 4 weeks. Overall, its a slow process but they like to be diligent.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
There was technical programming question that one of the interviewers asked me but in hindsight, the question was totally pointless because the role I was interviewing for was a non-technical one. My suggestion would be to call out the interviewer if you feel like they are taking the interview in a direction that does not make sense.