Cisco Ideathon Interview Experience

 Cisco Interview Experience:

In this post, I am sharing my personal Cisco interview experience which I got through Cisco Ideathon 2022. The program is a great opportunity for students with potential and creativity to be a part of Cisco’s technological innovation. The qualifiers of the Cisco Ideathon are awarded an internship opportunity followed by full-time placement within Cisco. Let's take a look at the eligibility criteria, Selection Process, and my experience.

Eligibility Criteria :

1.  7.0 CGPA in B.Tech. till the current semester. No criteria for 10th and 12th

2.  Students must have completed any One Certification from CISCO as mentioned below :

(a) CCNA Module 1 or Networking Essentials 

(b) DevNet or Python

(c) CyberOps Associate or Cybersecurity Essentials + Introduction to Cyber Security.

Selection Process :

Registration:

There are 2 options to select for Online Assessment - 

1. Advanced Networking
2. Advanced Software

You can select any in which you feel you are good enough. I had chosen advanced software. I got 90 minutes for the online assessment.

Round 1 (Online Assessment):

This is the first screening round. It contains 4 sections: 

1. Aptitude section - This section consists of aptitude, reasoning, and verbal questions. It contains 10 questions with 15 minutes time limit.
2. Networking section - This section consists of 10 questions based on basic networking. You should have a strong understanding of networking concepts to answer the questions. 
3. Coding section - It contains only 1 programming question which is of medium difficulty.
4. Advanced Networking or Advanced Software - As I selected advanced software, I got 1 extra coding question of medium difficulty level but more difficult than the question in the Coding section. If you select Advance Networking, you will get Networking MCQs. 

I successfully cleared the online assessment round and got forwarded to the next round of idea submission.

Idea Submission:

I got a mail which contains 2 problem statements. We have to choose only one problem statement and make a PPT of our idea/solution to solve the problem. One question is based on a Networking problem that any user might face. And another problem is based on a real-life problem. I chose a real-life problem and proposed a solution in PPT. You have to present the PPT in the Technical rounds, so make sure to prepare your presentation and prepare answers to questions that can be asked by the interviewer.

TR-1 Round (Technical Interview-1):

This round lasted 1 hour. The panelist was a friendly guy and made me comfortable. In TR-1, the panelist asked me to introduce myself. After the introduction, he asked me to present and explain the PPT. He asked several questions and pointed out the problems with my idea. I was prepared for that and was able to satisfy him.

After the presentation, he asked many basic questions about Networking and also asked me how all layers of TCP/IP protocol work, in detail and step by step. After the networking question, he asked basic questions on DSA, OOPS, DBMS, and Operating Systems. The panelist tries to get deep into all questions means the next questions are related to the previous questions that I answered. In DSA, there were also questions from Graph and Tree but were basic like ways to traverse a Tree.

I successfully cleared the round and got forwarded to the second interview.

TR+MR -2 Round (Technical and Manager Interview -2):

This round lasted 45 minutes. In the second round, the panelist asked Technical and Managerial questions. Also, he asked me to present the PPT. He asked several networking questions similar to the previous round. 

After Technical questions, he asked me several situation-based questions (Managerial questions). You should prepare for such Managerial questions in advance. And finally, he asked about my hobbies and discussed them. I was able to satisfy him and got forwarded to the HR round.

HR Round:

This round lasted 15 minutes. The HR asked me to quickly introduce myself. He asked several typical HR questions like where do you see yourself in 5 years? , What are your plans for future study? , What do you know about Cisco and its competitors? , Why do you want to join Cisco? Explain your job role in Cisco? and Will you work overtime?

 Lastly, HR asked told me about the internship and stipend and asked me if I have any questions. I asked what type of projects I will work on in the internship which he didn't disclose.

Note: All interviews are on the same day and I got the final results on 3rd August. I was not selected for the internship.

So that's my Cisco Interview Experience. I will be sharing more interview experiences in the future. So keep an eye out and don't forget to share this and help your friends. I love to hear from your side if this post helps you in any way.