Cisco | SDE Intern Interview Experience | [Rejected] (Tier 3 Student)

My journey to the Cisco India Software Engineer Intern 2024 role began after participating in 'Code with Cisco', though I didn't qualify through that. Surprisingly, I later received an email with an OA link for the summer internship.

Online Assessment:

The online assessment consisted of two coding questions and about 15-20 MCQs on Computer Fundamentals. Being in my 5th semester and having only studied OS till then, my knowledge of Computer Fundamentals was limited, so I answered only about 70-80% of the MCQs. For coding, I fully solved one question and passed 30% of test cases for the other. I didn't expect to clear this round.

However, a few days later, I received an email for further procedures, including submitting an inclusive resume. While I appreciate the concept of an inclusive resume, I was directly asked my college name in the managerial round, which I found perplexing, especially since I was rejected after that round.

Technical Round:

The day before my interview, I received a WebEx space link and a personalized meeting link for my scheduled interview from 8:30 to 9:15 a.m. I started my interview around 8:40 a.m. The interview began with a standard introduction, followed by a detailed discussion about my Android projects, which the interviewer seemed very interested in. Afterward, he transitioned to Computer Fundamentals, asking about the subjects I had studied. Based on my response, he asked many questions on Operating Systems. I hadn't revised much, so I couldn't answer them comprehensively.

Next, he moved on to problem-solving and data structures, which is my strong suit. I was asked three easy to medium-level questions. For each, I first discussed my solution and then quickly coded it on Notepad while sharing my screen, taking about a minute per question. The interviewer was very pleased. He then asked one more question in the last two minutes, confident I could solve it quickly, which I did. The interview concluded shortly after.

A few hours later, a list of rejected candidates was posted, and thankfully, my name wasn't on it! The next day, we were informed about the managerial round.

Managerial Round:

Similar to the technical round, I received a WebEx schedule and a personalized link for my interview from 9:30 to 10:15 a.m., which I started promptly. After a brief introduction, the interviewer immediately launched into discussing the design of an 'X Application' (the name wasn't revealed). He asked how it works, how it uses AI/ML, how the inventory system functions, how delivery boys are assigned using AI, and how products are delivered in minutes. He also posed a scenario: how would I handle slow responses during peak traffic, touching upon cloud, load balancers, and clustering. I was completely shocked, as I didn't anticipate such a system design question for an intern-level position. As a 3rd-year student, I was largely unfamiliar with these topics, but I tried my best to articulate any ideas I had. He then explained everything to me and wrapped up with some basic HR-level questions. I knew then that it hadn't gone well and expected rejection.

While some candidates proceeded to the ETR (HR) round, I kept checking for my name on the list, hoping to see it. However, after a few hours, the list of rejected candidates was shared, and my name was on it. Everything was finished.

Thanks, everyone.