Cisco Associate Software Engineer Interview Questions and Answers

Round: Test
Experience: There was an apititude test basically in line with CAT pattern. It was conducted online for about 45 min duration. The questions were rather simple but each question was time bound (around 45 sec or so).
Tips: As such I did not have any structured study plan. I did refresh some of my basics in mechanics and analysis. I was more inclined to get a job in aerospace division. Read as per your interest.
Duration: 45 minutes

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: Initially, we are seated randomly in a circular manner and each one was given two minutes to describe the topic. It was followed by an tense debate where participants converged and diverged on different sets of issue. They were particularly looking for interpersonal skills and out of the box thinking.

Round: Interview
Experience: The interview was purely management type.More questions were thrown at team building, bio-data, why this company? , project, what you Can contribute for the firm?, where you see yourself in next 5 -10 years, ambitions, some amount of optimization tools and techniques, concluding remarks....Interpersonal skills and clarity in answering where mainly
IBM was a more relaxed interview, which basically dealt with management and interpersonal skills. Questions like “if one of our team mate is very stubborn, lazy, adamant, how will you tackle the situation” were asked.
Tips: College (B Tech) curricular activities, NTSC certificate, Math Olympiad certificate, all India quiz competition awards were noted and appreciated. That really was a booster. That helps in implanting an idea that you are not just blah blah blah.

Skill Tips: Be very sure about your mechanics, analysis and design. These three are the fundamentals.
I haven prepared for placements exclusively. Here were combined discussions. However, it really helps if you can revise and make your fundamentals were clear. The basic understanding should be there. An hour every day for two months will do the trick.
Be really choosy of the company you want to be in. Learn a lot more of the company and get an idea of what they are actually looking for. But still don’t freeze your mind to those realms alone.. Be open minded and cheerful. The first few questions will set the mood of the interview. If you are bale to crack that, then things will be really smooth. Really concentrate on your fundamentals, especially analysis and design.
Skills: Mechanics, Analysis , Design
College Name: IIT-Madras

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: CGPA > 8 is necessary

Round: Test
Experience: Online Test + Written Test
Online Test - Duration 90 minutes + Written Test 30 minutes for Hardware profile
Online Test -Quants, Number Series ; Calculators were not allowed
Written Test - Semiconductor Basics

Round: Interview
Experience: Interview is held in either 1 round for non-core profile or several rounds of technical interviews for Hardware.
Technical round consisted of questions form topics like VLSI, Semiconductors (BJT, MOS), ASIC Design Flow, CMOS Process Flow.

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: Group Discussion is held for non-core profilesDuration varies from 20-30 minutes with 11 members.

General Tips: Never ever mention GRE or MS or any higher studies, for that matter, in any placement interview if you want to get placed in that company
Practicing quant, puzzle solving and GD from early in the semester would definitely help
Core placement: be thorough with the core fundaes
Practice general quant questions without a calculator
Skills: Quants, Puzzle Solving
College Name: IIT MADRAS

Round: Test
Experience: It had 3 parts: Data manipulation, number series and calculations.

Round: Test
Experience: Technical test on C. Typical questions on what will be the output of the program.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: Questions were based on various areas of CSE, especially Programming languages and thesis work. Questions on Database connectivity in Java , CGI, DFA, DMA etc were also asked.
Tips: ISL works 80% in java and 20% in C. Thus, prepare Java well before appearing for the IBM-ISL. Must have basic knowledge in databases, Operating systems.

College Name: IIT KANPUR

Round: Test
Experience: Initial shortlisting was based on 1 hour written test.
Questions on Quant,Codingand Algorithms were asked in the test
Tips: Focus on quant,coding and algorithms
Duration: 60 minutes

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: The subject knowledge and skills tested in Technical interview are:
1.Math
2.Coding
Tips: Good math knowledge is required.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: General HR question were asked in this round.

Skills: Data structure, Algorithms, Math, Coding
College Name: IIT MADRAS

Round: Test
Experience: Quant, Sequence series, Basic mathematics
Each question was given a specific time after which other question appeared on screen and you cannot go back to the previous question. So this was a bit stressful.
12 people got selected.
Duration: 30 minutes

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: The moderator picked each and every guy and asked him/her to put his/her views, and then time was allocated to debate on the points raised. In total 15 mins GD. No elimination through GD. Basic GD skills were looked for that is ability to speak and to drive the discussion to a positive direction.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: Just 1 round of interview. Mostly HR question were asked. Resume based questions were asked. Basically HR questions were asked.

Round: Resume Shortlist
Tips: Interview was basically the criteria for selection. The internship, project POR everything mattered. Co-curricular activities were also asked.

General Tips: I think i was selected because I was able to justify my skill set properly. I gave valid explanations of my skill sets, I was able to justify my internships. Projecting my confidence level was an added advantage. Decide your future i.e. what is your area of interest and then prepare for it.
Having a good POR always help.
CGPA should be above 8.
Have mock interviews with a wingmates.
During internship work properly.
Skill Tips: Prepare for CAT. Quant, Puzzles, Case studies are important. Mock GDs and Mock PIs with wing-mates are very important. Revised all basic courses. All app-mech courses, solved some questions from unsolved section of any text book. Ensure you have mock GDs and mock PIs with wingmates.
College Name: IIT MADRAS

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: CGPA above 8

Round: Test
Experience: These involve questions from aptitude.
Tips: R S Agarwal's book on aptitude is enough for preparation.
Duration: 80 minutes

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: 11 members were part of the GD. The GD was not a rejection round.
Duration: 20 minutes

Round: HR Interview
Experience: Basic Questions.
Tips: Just prepare normal questions for HR.

General Tips: Prepare from placement material from LAN.
Prepare basic fundaes.
College Name: IIT MADRAS

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: CGPA above 8 + written test +online test

Round: Test
Tips: Prepare from Online Tutorials for Number Series and Device Modelling Basics from Karmalkar Lectures.
Duration: 90 + 30 minutes

Round: HR Interview
Experience: HR will ask you a lot of common questions.
Tips: Prepare some of the expected questions in advance.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: I opted for Computational Lithography Group at IBM_ SRDC So questions were based on that profile
VLSI, Semiconductors (BJT, MOS), ASIC Design Flow, CMOS Process Flow.
Tips: They are looking for VLSI, Digital IC Design, Device Modelling. Do prepare these them well. Prepare from VLSI (NDG Lectures), Device Modelling (Karmalkar Lectures), Dig IC Design (Class Notes).

College Name: IIT MADRAS

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: CGPA above 8.

Round: Test
Experience: Simple quant questions, 2 sections, 20 - 30 min each. Calculators were not allowed.
Duration: 60 minutes

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: 11 members were part of the GD! They were under the impression that students from IITs are usually interested in technology, research and engineering. Your enthu/understanding of what a 'business consultant' does is what is tested in the GD. Just before the GD, they said that they would explain what they meant by "smarter planet". They
confused us by mentioning some technological innovations (like solar power, prosthetic limbs, artificial heart, brain, GPS, etc.) as examples of smarter planet. After the GD, they were able to simply separate those candidates who talked about business consulting from those candidates who got confused and talked about technology.
Duration: 30 minutes

Round: Interview
Experience: 1. The first 3 minutes was just a general talk about my hometown, junior college, etc. ( I think he was also from Andhra)

2. He went through my resume and asked me why I put certain points, like my BITSAT score in there. He also pointed out that there was nothing much regarding sports. I just made defending arguments.

3. He asked me about my teamwork, instances of good and bad teamwork, what I have learned from my experiences of teamwork in IIT. He said that the profile would need me to work in teams with IIM grads and asked me how I could manage.

General Tips: 3 things:1. I had 9.67 CGPA in Management minor and this added weight to my non-core side.2. I did an internship at IMaCS in infrastructure consulting. I was able to put pseud that I worked in teams with MBA grads during that internship and that we worked well. I think I also spoke well about my teamwork in class projects.3. During the GD, I gave a good example of business consulting (something regarding Maruthi Suzuki which I recalled from Marketing Management class). It gave them a strong opinion that I'm into business consulting.
Skill Tips: Practicing early in the semester would definitely help for any kind of placement.
Skills: quant, puzzle solving
College Name: IIT MADRAS
Motivation: I was apping, so I didn't prepare properly. However, I must suggest those who app, (not the ones who are bent on going abroad, but the ones like me, like cats on the wall) to attend all the placement tests and put proper fight during placements. I'm not saying that you should practice quant months earlier or mug up the finance material. (Its great if you can do that too, but I expect you'd be busy with GRE, TOEFL, etc.) I suggest you to finish (or pause) your SOPs and stuff before the third week of November and attend all the companies' tests and get placed early. A good placement is not only a big relief but it also allows you to drop your safe universities and apply to more strong. I didn't attend a couple of tests and regretted it during placements(getting placed on 16th day is not exactly Christmas) Never ever mention GRE or MS or any higher studies, for that matter, in any placement interview if you want to get placed in that company, no matter how friendly or understanding the interviewer might seem to be. (I got rejected in the first round itself in a couple of companies for doing this.)