Number of rounds : 4
Platform : cisco webex
Medium : Virtual
Interviews:
All rounds were elimination rounds
First round
- Interviewer : Senior engineer
- Question asked :
- Binary seach on a rotated array
- Aggressive cows variation.
- Both done successfully.
- How I explained the logic :
- Took edge cases
- Took multiple tests on the editor so she can see how I'm working my approach
- Result : Passed
Second round
- Interviewer : Senior manager
- Projects in-depth discussion
- Questions asked :
- Basic computer networking
- OSI MODEL.
- OOPS concepts.
- SLDC (software development life cycle) : I didn't knew much about it so I asked her that can I tell her my answer based on my intuition, she said yes you can, then I explained her what I think happens.
- Puzzles :
- Man is stuck in a room with no doors, how will you get him out.
- 1 more I don't remember.
- Result : Passed
Third round
- Interviewer : Senior engineer
- Coding question asked :
- If 1 number is given odd number of times and rest all are even number of times, how can you solve this in 1 pass and no extra space : Answer : [XOR of all values]
- Question based on sieve of eratosthenes.
- Just logic about binary exponentiation.
- Satisfied with both solutions and codes
- Operating system :
- Write code for OS based question (some linux things too, I had no clue so told up-front that I have no idea, he left this section)
- More theoretical OS questions about memory allocation and how files are stored [In depth not just over-view]
- Not so good round for me
- Puzzles :
- you have a chain with 7 gold links, you have to use each link for staying at a hotel, you can make cuts in the links to give to the hotel manager, minimum cuts to make in the chain so you can give the manager exactly 1 link every day for 7 days [ANSWER : 1] (didn't know the answer here but almost in the end I realized and asked him if I can tell him how and he was satisfied).
- Why are manholes round in shape?
- Result : Passed
Fourth round
- Interviewer : HR
- Not so much, basic questions, compensation and relocation discussion.
It started with over 200 candidates and in the last round they had 20 out of which only 8 were to be selected.
I was almost sure about selection since the rounds went but I got a waiting mail after 2 weeks.
Recently I've recieved the Accepted offer for a 2 month summer intern!
Things to work on :
-
In every round I was asked "what do you know about cisco" and I didn't care enough to read about it.Read about the company you have an interview.
-
The HR round was after 6 to 8 hrs of interviews and I was exhausted so I didn't answer properly and didn't ask the right questions. So be prepared about a set of questions you want to ask the interviewers!
-
DON'T PLAY WITH THE INTERVIEWER : if you know the solution, don't act too much, they are smart enough, either give the best solution in the first try or get there fast, I took too much time in first question (binary search rotated array) even tho I knew the solution (the idea not code) and the interviewer gave me a hint.
Hope it helps!