The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Cisco in Mar 2012
Interview
I was initially interviewed with a quick phone screen. Just some C debugging questions. I flew through it. Was later invited for a telepresence (Cisco's proprietary video conferencing system) interview. I only had to go to my local cisco office while my interviewers were in California. There were 3, 1:1 interviews. One by the project manager, then by a senior manager and then by a software engineer. The first was resume based, plus some HR questions. The second was purely resume resume based plus some knowledge questions. The third was purely code based with some C questions. (Pointers and stuff)
The manager called me the next day to let me know I was selected!
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
Questions about pointers. Make sure you're totally comfortable with pointers
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.
I applied online. I interviewed at Cisco in May 2026
Interview
Series of 4 interviews, First screening with HR Recruiter, reviewed resume and qualifications, second was hiring manager, reviewed experience and skills. Technical interview with team as a panel type interview, Last with hiring Director.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Technical questions on networking. Experience with work enviroment