J'ai postulé via la recommandation d'un employé. Le processus a pris 4 jours. J'ai passé un entretien chez Cisco
Entretien
WORST interview experience ever.
It started with a referral for application level position. Got an email requesting time for phone interview. After, deciding that got call from the same engineer that they have to fill the requistion so you will have to come onsite this week. So I rescheduled other interviews and went for the interview. When I reached the building my point of contact was not reachable. I waited in the lobby for 15 minutes and a gentleman from completely different team came and said I will interview you for my team. So from application team to a low level embedded team, what a jump. One of the interview asked me what is the balanced tree. I started explaining about the height and how difference in the height gets to the balanced tree. I was shocked to learn that interviewer's definition of balanced tree was a binary search tree. After explaining the interviewer and interviewer searching on the web for 5 minutes said there are these two definitions of the balanced tree and let's move on. One interviewer was very rigid about the hash chaining implementation. They wanted specific answers to specific questions rather than the thought process. The whole process was wierd.
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
J'ai postulé en ligne. J'ai passé un entretien chez Cisco (Bengaluru) en juin 2026
Entretien
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.
Questions d'entretien [1]
Question 1
Sort a nearly sorted array. I was asked for an optimal solution and discussed the time and space complexity.
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.