Online coding test with some LC easy/mediums.
Virtual onsite consisted of three interviews:
Technical (some basic leetcode-like questions):
Was with a friendly SWE and really easy.
Resume Review (?):
Conducted with some interviewers who showed no interest in interviewing or asking me questions.
Could barely speak English and had their cameras off the whole time. I asked most of the questions. It seemed like they had already made up their mind before the interview or something.
Behavioral Interview:
Your typical behavioral questions.
Overall:
I don't know how a company lets people like these conduct interviews with no training. Very negative experience. The recruiter was also very unresponsive.
Please don't waste hours of someone's time when you have no intention of hiring them.
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.