I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Cisco (New Delhi) in Feb 2021
Interview
Initial Discussion with the HR team about short listing of the candidate.They had a requirement about Go lang.HR said even if you are python developer it is fine.
Second round: Technical discussion with onsite team
Third round: Technical discussion with indian team
Before 4th round HR called and informed team want to check my programming skills as they are hiring for Go lang and I am python developer.
Fourth round: Technical round with onsite team
4th round went well the interview showed me even their monitoring tool and also told that initial time I will be working with them and later I will be moving to different team .and even if I don't know go lang I can learn.
After all round I had a hopes of getting offer but could not hear anything from HR team for 2 days.
Then I mailed the Cisco HR team asking about my feedback.They replied Saying I am currently not good fit for the role they are looking.
It's really feels bad after taking many rounds and spending time on it and Rejects us without any pepper reason.Why they have schedule interviews when they don't have intention to hire.
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.