I applied through college or university. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Cisco (Bengaluru) in Jan 2010
Interview
The interview consisted of a written test followed by 3-4 rounds of personal interviews both technical and HR. Technical interviews were decent and usual as done by other companies in the software field. They tested us mostly on basics and put questions based on the projects we had written in the CV.
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
They care about your skills, rather than your background. They have a template which they provide and you got to fill that, everyone is provided a unique number. You are instructed not to disclose any of your personal details in the due course of your interview.
The interview process was two rounds. The first round was a behavioral interview. Straightforward questions, like tell me about the most technically challenging project you have worked on. The second round was a system design interview.