I applied through a recruiter. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Cisco (Milpitas, CA) in Oct 2015
Interview
Terrible experience!!!! After the interview, the hiring manger calls and extends an offer verbally, and then for a week no response from them at all. Tried reaching them via email, phone, absolutely no response. Finally the recruiter is available on his mobile and he says they cannot give a certain Grade , and a certain salary, I still say its ok please give me an offer letter. He says he will get back to me by the EOD and no response. Next week I call the recruiter again and now he says the req is closed and in turn blames me for not responding on time.
Clearly, looks like the hiring manger extended an offer but later they changed their mind and they have no idea how to communicate this to me, so did all sorts of things to make me drop the ball and when I did not they say the req is closed.
Did not expect this from a reputable organization like Cisco. Terrible , terrible hiring process!! I feel interviewees should be give some respect when they take time to come onsite and spend a day.
No point taking names, but I just wish this would be addressable and not be repeated for future candidates.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Data structure/algo questions and some low level questions
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.