Cisco software engineer candidates report an online assessment, easy-to-medium coding, networking and OS fundamentals, and detailed project discussions. Round counts and team focus vary from team to team.
$134K
Avg. Base Comp
$175K
Avg. Total Comp
2-5 rounds
Typical Rounds
3-4 weeks
Process Length
Candidates describe the Cisco software engineer interview as a mix of familiar coding practice and networking-flavored fundamentals, and the balance depends on the team. Several report an online assessment first, with two LeetCode-style problems in some accounts and multiple-choice CS sections in others. One candidate was rejected within about a week of the assessment and never reached a live round.
Coding questions are often described as easy to medium. Reports mention a redundant-edge graph problem, 2-sum, linked-list cycle detection, stack and binary-tree exercises, and palindrome-style questions. One candidate was asked to run code after writing only pseudocode, so write code that actually runs and explain it aloud.
The less typical part is systems depth. Candidates mention TCP/IP, DHCP, VLANs, ACLs, layer 2 versus layer 3 switching, OS processes and memory, and C topics such as struct versus union. One person describes a five-round loop with three rounds on OS and networking. Another reports a Java concurrency prompt (producer-consumer and an executor service) in a round expected to be system design.
Project discussion comes up repeatedly. Interviewers reportedly probe resume details, architecture decisions, and what you personally contributed. Expect behavioral and manager conversations alongside technical ones, and some panels with several interviewers. Outcomes are mixed, and at least two candidates received offers after a process of roughly three to four weeks.
Synthesized from 68 candidate reports by our editorial team.
Had an interview recently?
Share your experience. Unlock the full guide.
Real interview reports from people who went through the Cisco process.
Share your own interview experience to unlock all reports, or subscribe for full access.
Sourced from candidate reports and verified by our team.
Topics based on recent interview experiences.
Featured question at Cisco
Select the 2nd highest salary in the engineering department
| Question | |
|---|---|
| Get Top N Frequent Words | |
| Cyclic Detection | |
| Closed Accounts | |
| Sort Strings | |
| Precision and Recall | |
| Hurdles In Data Projects | |
| Cloud-Agnostic Deployments | |
| String Palindromes | |
| Deciding Between Solutions | |
| VLAN 2 Connectivity Issue | |
| Testing Constraints | |
| Relational Migration | |
| Why Do You Want to Work With Us | |
| Justify a Neural Network | |
| Your Strengths and Weaknesses | |
| Merge Sorted Lists | |
| Prime to N | |
| Over-Budget Projects | |
| The Brackets Problem | |
| Bagging vs Boosting | |
| Size of Joins | |
| Find Duplicate Numbers in a List | |
| Swapping Nodes | |
| CNNs vs Intensity-Based Features | |
| Append Frequency | |
| Groups of Anagrams | |
| Longest Increasing Subsequence | |
| Skyscanner Partner ETL | |
| Valid Anagram |
Synthesized from candidate reports. Individual experiences may vary.
Candidates typically report a recruiter call or an online application followed by an online assessment. Reports describe two coding questions of easy-to-medium difficulty, and in some cases multiple-choice sections on data structures, OS, networking and DBMS. One candidate was rejected within about a week of the assessment, so it may act as a firm cutoff.
Candidates report live problems such as 2-sum, a redundant-edge graph problem, linked-list cycle detection, stack and tree exercises, and palindrome-style questions. Interviewers reportedly care about how you explain your reasoning. One candidate was asked to execute code they had only written as pseudocode, and another was asked to restate a C++ solution in Python.
Several candidates describe questions on TCP/IP, DHCP, VLANs, ACLs, switching, OS processes and memory management, and C basics. One person reports three of five rounds focused on these topics. Another was asked about Java concurrency. The depth appears to depend on the team, so it may help to check the job description for networking or embedded signals.
Candidates repeatedly report that interviewers drill into resume details, project architecture and personal contributions. Some rounds are split between technical and behavioral time, and some use panels of several interviewers. Prepare specific stories on design decisions, problems you solved, and how you have used AI in your work.
Later rounds reportedly include a hiring manager conversation and in some cases an HR-style round covering relocation and expectations. One candidate describes a very short final round, while another reports a long silence after a final panel. Timelines vary, though two candidates describe offers arriving roughly three to four weeks after applying.
