I applied through a recruiter. The process took 6 weeks. I interviewed at Cisco
Interview
4 rounds of interview. First 2 rounds were focused of technical aspects later 2 on mix of technical and managerial. Interview process was very smooth and I enjoyed conversation with each of them and learnt a thing or two. It was a detailed kind discussion where we discussed each point back and forth rather than ticking answers on a MCQ.
HR/TA was lost and confused me more than facilitating the interview process. Poor scheduling, My way or highway attitude and intimidation at late stage.
Interview questions [6]
Question 1
What is difference between normal stock linux vs realtime linux. Why normal linux is not realtime.
volatile. What compiler does, why it's needed. Will we need volatile if we had no caches. What is downside of using volatile. When will you use it. What will happen if you forget to use it when you should have.
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.