I applied through college or university. I interviewed at Cisco (Waterloo, ON) in Oct 2020
Interview
I was called to interview with Cisco after meeting with one of their engineers at Job Fair. I had 4 rounds of interviews with 3 different teams. Each round of interview lasted at least 2.5 hours and would consist of multiple interviews lasting 45 mins each with different members of the team.
The complete interview process lasted for about 2 months.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
All of the interviews were technical and consisted of asking me about one of my projects and then moving on to technical questions regarding the field and then a set of coding challenges.
The following are the areas in which I was asked technical questions:
- Networking
- Linux Programming
- Processes + Multithreading
- Memory Management
- General questions about C/Python
These are the coding challenges I was asked about:
- Check the error in the code and fix it
- Count the number of 1's in a binary number
- Reverse order traversal of binary tree
- How to copy a string in C
- Find the missing number in an array when given 1->n numbers
Most of the coding questions were followed by some analysis + questions regarding possible errors.
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