Software Engineer applicants have rated the interview process at Cisco with 3 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 100% positive. To compare, the company-average is 76.2% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Software Engineer roles take an average of 10 days to get hired, when considering 2 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Cisco overall takes an average of 30 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Cisco as a Software Engineer according to 2 Glassdoor interviews include:
Background check: 25%
Phone interview: 25%
One on one interview: 25%
Skills test: 25%
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -
I applied through college or university. The process took 2 days. I interviewed at Cisco in Oct 2017
Interview
Started with a 30-minute on-campus interview in the career center. Half of it was resume review and behavioral questions, the other half was a small technical question.
Follow-up interview was through WebEx with a Senior Software Engineer. It was mostly technical, there was a share screen coding assignment and some questions about courses I had taken.
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Cisco (Chicago, IL)
Interview
March 13th; Took a hackerrank exam, 3 easy-med leetcode DSAs. One was rotating a matrix and the other was a binary search. And the third was a basic sql. Did not hear back until July.
Standard panel, very simple leetcodes. reverse linked list kind of vibe s . I was literarly asked about how a linked list is structured and reversing it. there was almost no friction which I was shocked by one of the reason I did not accept
I applied online. I interviewed at Cisco (Bengaluru) in Jun 2026
Interview
The interview started well and covered backend concepts, Java, system design, and coding. I answered the questions confidently and had a positive interaction throughout.
After receiving the rejection, I spoke with HR to understand the feedback. I was informed that the interviewer believed I was looking at answers during the interview. This came as a surprise because I was not referring to any external material. I have a habit of looking away while thinking or recalling concepts, which I believe may have been misunderstood.
I wish this concern had been raised during the interview so I could have clarified it immediately. If there are concerns about a candidate’s behavior, discussing them in real time or asking for a room scan can help avoid misunderstandings.
Overall, the interview questions were fair, but I feel my evaluation was influenced by this misunderstanding rather than my technical performance.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Sort a nearly sorted array. I was asked for an optimal solution and discussed the time and space complexity.