💻 My Code with Cisco Interview Experience 🎯
I recently had the incredible opportunity to interview with Cisco under their Code with Cisco program, and I’m excited to share my journey through the rounds—each one uniquely designed to assess not only technical strength but also problem-solving, communication, and leadership abilities.
🔹 Round 1 – Technical Interview (45 mins)
The interview kicked off with a brief self-introduction, followed by an intensive live coding session:
➡ Problem: Implement a complete Linked List class
✅ Covered:
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Insertion at head, tail, and specific positions
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Deletion operations
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Reversing the entire list
After coding, we dived into core computer science fundamentals, including:
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What is a process? How does it differ from a thread?
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How does the
pingcommand work? -
What steps would you take if your laptop hangs?
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What is DNS and how does it function?
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Explain the concept of deadlock.
💡 Most questions revolved around Operating Systems and Networking.
🔹 Round 2 – Managerial Interview (60 mins)
This round was all about technical decision-making and my project experience. Some key highlights:
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Why did I build a particular project?
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Why did I choose certain tech stacks?
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A deep dive into dynamic packet routing logic
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How CPU usage metrics are logged into the database
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Flow of frontend to backend API triggering
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How I integrated ChatGPT’s API into a personal tool
There were also behavioral questions to assess my communication, teamwork, and ownership mindset.
🔹 Round 3 – Executive Interview (60 mins)
This was a more strategic and visionary round. I was presented with real-world scenarios to test my thinking beyond code:
🧠 Example scenario:
“You have to build a router application. What core functionalities would it need? What key design factors would you consider?”
I shared my thought process around:
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Network load balancing
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Security layers
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Fault tolerance
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Monitoring & logging
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UX for configuration dashboards
It was a comprehensive round that tested leadership, product thinking, and system design clarity.
🔹 Round 4 – ETR Round (10 mins)
This final round was a casual and friendly chat with the recruiting head. We talked about:
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Relocation preferences
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Role clarity
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Offer details
It served as a smooth and positive wrap-up to the process.
🎉 Verdict: Selected!
The entire process was incredibly holistic, challenging, and insightful. If you’re preparing for Cisco or any similar tech-driven opportunity, make sure to:
✔ Brush up on CS fundamentals
✔ Work on live coding consistency
✔ Be confident when explaining your projects
✔ Sharpen your product and system-level thinking
