Cisco

I went through the Cisco Software Engineer Intern hiring process through the campus drive. The first filtering stage was an online assessment, and it was more focused on computer science fundamentals than I had expected. There were MCQs covering topics such as Computer Networks, Operating Systems, OOP and DBMS, followed by coding questions. The coding problems were around the medium level, with DSA topics such as dynamic programming and graphs appearing in reports from the same hiring process. I managed to clear the assessment and was shortlisted for the interviews. Before the first round, I revised my resume and went through CN and OS because Cisco seemed to put considerably more emphasis on core subjects than some other companies I had interviewed for. The first technical interview began with my projects. The interviewer did not just ask me to describe them at a high level. I had to explain how the different components worked together, why I selected particular technologies, and some implementation-level details. After that, the discussion moved toward DSA. I was asked a linked-list problem involving deletion and reversal, and I explained the approach before writing the solution. Similar campus reports mention detailed project questioning followed by linked-list DSA and questions from CN and DBMS. The core-subject portion was where I had to be particularly careful. I was asked questions from networking and operating systems rather than just definitions. We discussed concepts such as the OSI model, IP and MAC addresses, memory management, and basic networking protocols. I realized that simply remembering definitions was not enough because the interviewer often followed one answer with another “why” or “how” question. Other Cisco reports show a similar combination of DSA, networking and OS questions. I progressed further into the process, where the discussion became more managerial and behavioral. I was asked about teamwork, situations where I had faced difficulties in a project, and how I would approach a task that was beyond my current knowledge. I tried to answer using actual examples rather than giving generic responses. I felt reasonably confident after completing the interviews, especially because I had managed to get through the technical stages. However, I eventually received a rejection. There was no single coding mistake that I could point to as the reason. The experience made me realize that for Cisco's internship process, preparing only DSA was not enough. Strong fundamentals in networking, operating systems and the ability to explain every part of a project were equally important.