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Media, Streaming & Telecom

Cisco

Networking / security / collaboration · Data Engineering interview

CS-fundamentals-heavy: a mixed HackerRank OA, DSA + networking/OS/DBMS, live SQL, and managerial/guesstimate rounds.

Cloud / platform

Mixed/multi-cloud (AWS + GCP), significant on-prem + Kafka

Reported difficulty

~2.8 / 5 · ~48% positive

SQLPythonSparkHadoopNetworking

Hiring process

Recruiter

Online Assessment (HackerRank)

Technical

Managerial

Offer

Round-by-round breakdown

Online Assessment

High confidence

25 mixed Qs: aptitude, Networking, OS, DBMS, programming
1 coding problem (Snake-and-Ladder-like)

Technical

High confidence

Decimal → count non-trailing zeroes in its binary form
Rotate a matrix by 90/180/270 degrees
Find leaders in an array in O(n)
What is UDP and where do you see it in real life?

SQL

Medium confidence

SQL queries and SQL joins (live)
Window functions, dedup

Managerial

Medium confidence

Why Cisco; resume walk-through
Guesstimates (e.g., daily milk consumption of Bangalore)

System & pipeline design prompts

Network-telemetry / security-event analytics pipeline (inferred from Cisco product domains)

Prep — high priority

DSA-style coding (arrays, matrices, bit manipulation, simulation)
SQL window functions
CS fundamentals (Networking, OS, DBMS)
One end-to-end pipeline design

Prep — medium priority

Spark internals; Kafka basics for telemetry; your strongest cloud
STAR + guesstimates

Rejection patterns

Weak CS fundamentals (UDP/TCP, OS, DBMS)
Poor guesstimate/estimation handling
OA time management

Reported experiences

Data Analyst Intern

SelectedFirst-hand

OA (25 mixed + 1 coding) → technical (decimal→binary zeroes, matrix rotation, array leaders O(n), UDP) → managerial → HR. CS fundamentals (DSA + networking/OS/DBMS) matter even for data roles.

Data Analyst Intern

Rejected (final round)First-hand

OA → Group Discussion → technical (Tableau, SQL joins, guesstimate) → managerial (guesstimate). Estimation + communication mattered as much as code.

Rehearse for Cisco

Answered questions on what Cisco actually asks — each with the short answer, the answer that gets you rejected, and the follow-up.

Then build one and have it reviewed: design a daily orders pipeline or model a marketplace. No account.

All interview experiences

Openingloading the content…

Media, Streaming & Telecom

Cisco

Networking / security / collaboration · Data Engineering interview

CS-fundamentals-heavy: a mixed HackerRank OA, DSA + networking/OS/DBMS, live SQL, and managerial/guesstimate rounds.

Cloud / platform

Mixed/multi-cloud (AWS + GCP), significant on-prem + Kafka

Reported difficulty

~2.8 / 5 · ~48% positive

SQLPythonSparkHadoopNetworking

Hiring process

Recruiter

Online Assessment (HackerRank)

Technical

Managerial

Offer

Round-by-round breakdown

Online Assessment

High confidence

25 mixed Qs: aptitude, Networking, OS, DBMS, programming
1 coding problem (Snake-and-Ladder-like)

Technical

High confidence

Decimal → count non-trailing zeroes in its binary form
Rotate a matrix by 90/180/270 degrees
Find leaders in an array in O(n)
What is UDP and where do you see it in real life?

SQL

Medium confidence

SQL queries and SQL joins (live)
Window functions, dedup

Managerial

Medium confidence

Why Cisco; resume walk-through
Guesstimates (e.g., daily milk consumption of Bangalore)

System & pipeline design prompts

Network-telemetry / security-event analytics pipeline (inferred from Cisco product domains)

Prep — high priority

DSA-style coding (arrays, matrices, bit manipulation, simulation)
SQL window functions
CS fundamentals (Networking, OS, DBMS)
One end-to-end pipeline design

Prep — medium priority

Spark internals; Kafka basics for telemetry; your strongest cloud
STAR + guesstimates

Rejection patterns

Weak CS fundamentals (UDP/TCP, OS, DBMS)
Poor guesstimate/estimation handling
OA time management

Reported experiences

Data Analyst Intern

SelectedFirst-hand

Data Analyst Intern

Rejected (final round)First-hand

OA → Group Discussion → technical (Tableau, SQL joins, guesstimate) → managerial (guesstimate). Estimation + communication mattered as much as code.

Rehearse for Cisco

Answered questions on what Cisco actually asks — each with the short answer, the answer that gets you rejected, and the follow-up.

Then build one and have it reviewed: design a daily orders pipeline or model a marketplace. No account.

All interview experiences