CISCO Interview Experience for Ideathon 2023

Cisco announced its Ideathon for 2023, and all the students of colleges in India, which were the Networking Academy partners with Cisco were eligible.

(You can check with the TPO of your college for the same).

Eligibility Criteria:

• Cisco Networking Academy member
• Completed either of the following courses:

1. Networking Essentials OR CCNA Module 1
2. Introduction to Cybersecurity+ Cybersecurity Essentials OR Cyber-ops
3. Python OR DevNet

• Preferred Degree: B.TECH, MCA.
• CGPA Cut-of: 6.0 and above (highest degree)
• No current backlogs/arrears.

(Students of all branches were allowed to participate)

The process consisted of the following rounds (All knockout based):

1. Online Assessment
2. PPT Submission
3. Technical Interview
4. Managerial Interview
5. HR Interview

Round 1: Online Assessment (90 min.)

A student can choose either of the following paths

• Advance Networking
• Advance Software (I Chose Advance Software)
• The test consisted of 4 sections and the last section depends on the path you chose.
• You cannot switch between questions.
• There was a negative marking also.

Section 1: Aptitude And Logical Reasoning

• I attempted 9 of the 10 questions. (Tips: No need to study for this section separately, the questions were average if you are good at LR then you can nail this section)

Section 2: Networking MCQs

• This was a hard section, you have to study networking topics thoroughly.
• I attempted only 4 of the 10 questions. (Tips: go through CISCO Netacad CCNA modules )

Section 3 (1 Coding Question)

This was a medium-level coding question, due to misreading the question I was only able to pass half of the test cases. (knowledge of DSA is important for this section)

Section 4 (Advance Networking or Advance Software)

• Advance Networking: More MCQs on networking.
• Advance Software: One more coding question ( medium to hard level difficulty)
• Since I chose Software Path I had a coding question of which I was able to pass all the test cases.

According to the preferences of the given roles we chose during the registration, candidates were shortlisted for the next rounds on the basis of the scores of the online assessment.

I was selected for the Technical Consulting Engineer role.

*Although interviews of all the roles were more or less the same but below is my experience with the Technical Consulting Engineer role.

Round 2: PPT Submission

• Everyone got 3 Problem statements of which we have to choose one and prepare a PPT demonstrating the technological solutions to the given problem. (everyone got the same 3 problem statements).
• 5 days were given for the ppt submission. (Tips: Have more images and facts in your PPT)

*This was not a knockout round, everyone who successfully submitted the PPT was eligible for the interview. – We have to present the PPT in the Technical Interview

*Note: All the Interviews at CISCO are Inclusive, i.e. the interviewer did not know my name, gender, college, marks, branch, or any other personal info such as phone number, email id etc.

We were told to make our resume following this inclusive approach only, specifically for the interviews.

Round 3: Technical Interview ( 1hr 10 min. approx.)

• The Interviewer introduced themselves and then asked me to introduce myself.
• After that, the interviewer shared their screen to present my PPT.
• I was allowed to showcase my solution to the problem.
• The interviewer kept on asking questions during my presentation.
• After that, we discussed the solution in detail.
• All this took about 15-20 minutes.
• After that, he told me to explain my projects in detail.
• He asked a couple of questions about my projects.
• Then we moved on to the core subjects
• I was asked questions mostly about Computer Networks and Operating Systems. A few of those are mentioned below:

1. What is the OSI model?
2. List all the layers of the OSI model.
3. What is TCP?
4. What is the difference between TCP and UDP?
5. How does a router work.
6. What are switches?
7. What is the name of the cables used in LAN?
8. What is the name of the LAN connection?
9. What command is used to identify the network the device is connected to?
10. Explain scenarios where the ping command can be used.
11. What does the scheduling algorithm do?
12. Explain round robin.
13. Explain deadlock.
14. How is deadlock prevented?

Other than these there were some scenario-based questions about networking.

The interviewer was very friendly and the whole interview felt like a discussion about my skills.

(DSA was not asked in my case probably because I mentioned coding contest ranks in my resume, they did ask DSA concepts to some of the other candidates)

(Tips: go through CN, CCNA, OOPS, OS concepts)

Round 4: Managerial Interview ( 50 min. approx.)

• The Interviewer introduced themselves and then asked me to introduce myself.
• We discussed my projects.
• Few networking questions were asked.
• These questions were a little advanced, such as:

1. What are the various protocols of the networking layer?
2. What is a gateway?
3. What are gateway protocols?

After this, we moved on to typical managerial round scenario-based questions:

1. Who is your idol?
2. If you had a time machine and you can go to the past which year would you go to and why.
3. Tell me about a recent situation where you were supposed to do something you didn’t know anything about and how you overcame that.
4. If you have to explain to a class of 3-grade students about networking how would you do so?

(Tips: Be confident, in this round they try to get to know you better and determine if you would be a fit in the company or not, keep your answers interesting)

Round 5: HR Interview (15-20 mins.)

This interview was just a formality.

• I was asked to introduce myself and explain my projects in detail.
• Salary and stipend were discussed.
• They asked me if I was available for the internship for 6 months and if I’m comfortable moving to Banglore.

(Tips: They just check your communication skills in this round and the rest of everything is a formality)

After this, we got the results after 10 days, and I was fortunate enough to be one of the selected candidates.