I applied through college or university. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Cisco (San Jose, CA) in Oct 2009
Interview
Initial communications was via email. The HR representatives were quite friendly and prompt. The planning and organization of the interview was quick, simple, and professional. The people were the work quietly type, friendly enough, but not overly outgoing. Most worked at their own cubicles.
Some advice for other interview candidates: be prepared to answer both behavioral and technical questions. I assumed that the first interview would consist only of behavioral questions...and I was wrong. Luckily, I managed to do ok on the technical questions. However, if you are rusty on coding principles...such as object-oriented design principles, I would freshen up on those. Expect to answer coding questions and write a few lines of simple code as well. In addition, you may be asked a few puzzles that force you to think critically. Overall, my interview experience was fairly short (less than an hour), and not too stressful.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
You have a silver block with 6 marks that divide it into 7 equal parts. How do you make exactly TWO cuts so that you can pay an employee exactly 1/7 of the block each day he works for a week?
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.