I applied through other source. The process took 1+ week. I interviewed at Cisco (Madras)
Interview
There was a written test conducted Chennai Wide. I came to know of it through my friends. It was a easy round with some aptitudes and C/C++ objective questions. I was through in it. Then they called for a face-2-face interview in Cisco Chennai Campus.
The interviewer asked some puzzles[2] and then some questions on my resume about the current role in my company. They also asked 2 programming questions related to easy string manipulations. Overall it was good.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
2 questions.
1. Tell me about yourself. Interviewer asked me this and as soon as i started, light went off. I also stopped speaking. Then the interviewer says kindly continue. i can listen to you. And i continued until the lights came.[30 secs]
2. I was explaining something and then he went on asking how do you do that and tried to enter deep into that. I understood that he has deep knowledge on that topic. Thus, i poiltely told that particular module is outsourced to another company. Thats when he said that "This is where i have spent 15 years of my career." And the interviewer went on explaining. I was listening to him politely and asking him further questions on "oh. i get it now. Nodding as he was explaining for half an hour".
he was very happy with my overall interview process.
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.