Contacted by recruiter for phone screen. Made it to onsite but recruiter messed up and thought I was a local. Last minute, she schedules me in for a video conference which was to act as my onsite.
Did well on my “onsite”—three one-hour interviews with three different people. Recruiter came back with good news and asked for my salary expectation. I gave a reasonable market rate for a software engineer of my level in the Bay Area. Was told that “That is too high, base will probably be less than 100k. Will talk to team and get back to you.”
Does not get back to me. Emailed her twice before getting a short response about not moving on due to my high salary requests (even though it’s market rate).
Look elsewhere if you want to be paid what you are worth.
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.
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.