The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Cisco (Bengaluru) in Nov 2011
Interview
It was an exhaustive process. 5 rounds.
All the rounds were equally detailed against my expectations.
I was expecting subsequent rounds to become tougher but it didn't happen.
Round-1: Panel had 2 people (Sr.Engineer/Lead I guess)
Interview consisted of basic C questions like:
- Write a prototype for String concat function
- Implement the above prototype.
There were cross questions like what should be the return type (status code SUCCESS/FAIL)
Input string should be const* or not.
Should the input also contain a length field to take care of non-NULL terminated strings?
Who will take care of malloc/free (caller or the implementation).
What things u'll have to take care if u make this function compile as a library - re-entrancy etc.
- Second question was related to link list operations.
It was a puzzle popularly known as the link list Y problem. You can google for it.
Questions were raised on complexity of the algo and the best solution possible.
I was not asked to write any code for this.
- Implementation of Binary tree
- implementation of circular linked list and then writing a program to add a new node at the end and delete the existing last one.
- 8 queen problem on a chess board
- priority inversion
- what are priority queues
- write a program to generate combinations of a given set of characters
- use of volatile type qualifier
- how does windows socket communication work in single server multiple client and single thred system
- difference between semaphore and mutex
- count number of 1 in a int
- how to multiply a number by 7 without using multipilcation and and addition
- how is negative number represented in C
- how to detect loop in linked list
- how to delete current node in the linked list when previous node is not known
- how to find middle of the linked list
- AVL trees
- strcmp function ( optimized implementation, hint: using checksum )
- 8 ball given find the odd ball in 3 tries (odd ball can be heavy or light )
- OS implemetation of mutex and semaphore
-
- Then they asked a puzzle..which was quite easy to crack..They also asked me to ask them a puzzle :) and I did that.
Overall the round was very open...interviewers were very friendly and I never felt any stress.
Round-2: 1 guy. Senior Manager.
Asked me in detail about my current project.
--He was interested more on the network side of IMS. , So I went into the details of CSCFs.
--He specifically grilled me a lot on how an IP packet is routed in IMS network (UE to PCSCF--ICSCF--SCSCF)...and was finally convinced.
But was a very friendly guy and kept me at ease.
Round-3: 1 guy. Senior Manager.
Very cool and friendly guy.
Tried to understand how routing in IMS works ?
Then asked me IP related questions.
How IP routing works ? Subnetting ? How Ping works ?
DNS, ICMP, ARP, DHCP, etc ?
Round-4: 1 guy. Senior Manager.
Asked me if I had written a "sufficiently big" C program in previous round ?
Made me implement a binary tree. Source code went up to 4-5 white sheets.
Asked few cross questions on the code and corrected me where he felt I was wrong.
Round-5: 1 guy. Senior Manager.
Asked me to explain how all layers of protocol stack work and which network entities are involved - starting from the moment you type a URL in web browser till the time the page is displayed.
Then asked me lot of non-technical questions like "what makes a good manager"? What are good qualities of a team player ?
How do u think u'll manage work life balance here under high work load etc etc...
Basically he wanted to study my temperament..as there are no definite answers to these questions :)
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
how does windows socket communication work in single server multiple client and single thred system
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Cisco (Bengaluru) in Apr 2021
Interview
Cisco HR contacted me, 3 rounds of technical Interviews were conducted.
1. First round was a coding interview in onlinegdb.
2. Second round was about parallel programming and data structures and discussion of my current projects.
3. Third round was techno- managerial round.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
1. verify 2 strings are anagrams or not.
2. print reverse breadth-first search of a binary tree.
3. C/C++ questions on pointers and static member functions and variables.
4. Parallel programming.
4. delete a node in LinkedList, circular linked list.
5. semaphores and mutexes.
6. Questions on virtualization.
I applied online. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Cisco (Bengaluru) in Nov 2020
Interview
Interview took place during covid19 pandemic, hence it was through video conferencing
I applied in cisco job portal and got a test link , where it was 4 coding questions, you can choose c,c++,java to code
I cleared this round and got a call after a week from HR about further steps
HR scheduled interview and communicated clearly that there will be 2 rounds of technical interviews, depending on how I perform in those two rounds, managerial round will be there or may not be!!
All rounds were through video calls through webex
1st round : pure technical round, interviewer was very cool guy it was very nice to interact with them
He made me very comfortable and he was infact encouraging. First round went well.
2nd round : This was too pure technical round
Interviewer was cool and i answered every coding questions
Also in both rounds lots of OS concepts were asked..OS internals..memory, virtual memory..
Paging, semaphores, dining philosopher problems..lot more
Also they focused a lot on array related coding puzzles also bit programming.
After first two rounds i was confident I did pretty well in those rounds J
I was later called for managerial round after one hour
Managerial round:
Manager was very cool and conversation went well.
He asked lots of questions about whatever I mentioned in resume
TIPS: Do not fake anything in resume. be bold and be genuine. BE Yourself. Do not try to portray different version of you just to impress
Make sure you are clear about whatever you have mentioned in your CV.
After managerial round was over, he informed me HR will get back
With in two days I got an email from HR team for sharing futher details in order to proceed with recruitment. After 4-5 days waiting i got offer letter.
Cisco HRs are very professional, they manage time nicely and very approachable and respond to your concerns nicely.
I accepted the offer.!!
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Array, data structures, design patterns, bit programming, OS concepts
I applied online. The process took 3 months. I interviewed at Cisco (San Jose, CA)
Interview
I applied on Career Website directly. Within couple of weeks got the email from HR regarding onsite interview. No telephonic interview as I was local to San Jose.
HR provided the Interview schedule, with interviewers name and their respective job post.
Got Interviewed by 4 experienced engineers, 45 mins each. After the interview I did not receive any response from hiring team/HR even though I sent 2 emails asking for feedback/result. After about 40 days, I got a call from HR saying we are still considering your profile for the position. After 1 week of the call, I got offer. I accepted the offer. :)
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Questions were all around Data structures and Operating Systems Concepts and about previous job experience/projects.