Cisco interview experience Real time questions & tips from candidates to crack your interview

SDE - 1

Cisco
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3 rounds | 5 Coding problems

Interview preparation journey

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Journey
I started my preparation in my first year of college. Then, I began practising DSA regularly on the Coding Ninjas platform, CodeStudio.
Application story
This was an on-campus opportunity. The company visited my college for placements, conducted an online assessment exam, and then scheduled the interview.
Why selected/rejected for the role?
I was rejected because I could not solve all the coding questions on time.
Preparation
Duration: 6 months
Topics: Data Structures, Pointers, OOPS, System Design, Algorithms, Dynamic Programming, System Design
Tip
Tip

Tip 1: Practice at least 250 Questions
Tip 2: Do at least 2 projects

Application process
Where: Campus
Eligibility: Above 8 CGPA
Resume Tip
Resume tip

Tip 1: Include some projects on your resume.

Tip 2: Do not include false information on your resume.

Interview rounds

01
Round
Easy
Video Call
Duration60 Minutes
Interview date20 Dec 2022
Coding problem2

1. Merge Sort

Easy
15m average time
85% success
0/40
Asked in companies
Thought WorksAccentureInfosys

Given a sequence of numbers ‘ARR’. Your task is to return a sorted sequence of ‘ARR’ in non-descending order with help of the merge sort algorithm.

Example :

Merge Sort Algorithm -

Merge sort is a Divide and Conquer based Algorithm. It divides the input array into two-parts, until the size of the input array is not ‘1’. In the return part, it will merge two sorted arrays a return a whole merged sorted array.

subsequence

The above illustrates shows how merge sort works.
Note :
It is compulsory to use the ‘Merge Sort’ algorithm.
Try solving now

2. Quick Sort

Moderate
10m average time
90% success
0/80
Asked in companies
IBMFreshworksCognizant

You are given an array of integers. You need to sort the array in ascending order using quick sort.

Quick sort is a divide and conquer algorithm in which we choose a pivot point and partition the array into two parts i.e, left and right. The left part contains the numbers smaller than the pivot element and the right part contains the numbers larger than the pivot element. Then we recursively sort the left and right parts of the array.

Example:

Let the array = [ 4, 2, 1, 5, 3 ]
Let pivot to be the rightmost number.

example

After the 1st level partitioning the array will be { 2, 1, 3, 4, 5 } as 3 was the pivot. After 2nd level partitioning the array will be { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 } as 1 was the pivot for the left part and 5 was the pivot for the right part. Now our array is sorted and there is no need to divide it again.

Try solving now
02
Round
Easy
Video Call
Duration60 Minutes
Interview date20 Dec 2022
Coding problem2

1. Puzzle

There are 10 stacks of 10 identical-looking coins. All coins in one of these stacks are counterfeit, and all the coins in the other stacks are genuine. Every genuine coin weighs 10 grams, and every fake weighs 11 grams. You have an analytical scale that can determine the exact weight of any number of coins. What is the minimum number of weighings needed to identify the stack with the fake coins?

Problem approach

Solve aptitude Puzzles from the internet, they might sound easy but are always tricky while answering in the Interviews.

2. Matrix Median

Moderate
15m average time
90% success
0/80
Asked in companies
AmazonIntuitCisco

You have been given a matrix of ‘N’ rows and ‘M’ columns filled up with integers where every row is sorted in non-decreasing order. Your task is to find the overall median of the matrix i.e if all elements of the matrix are written in a single line, then you need to return the median of that linear array.

The median of a finite list of numbers is the "middle" number when those numbers are listed in order from smallest to greatest. If there is an odd number of observations, the middle one is picked. For example, consider the list of numbers [1, 3, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9]. This list contains seven numbers. The median is the fourth of them, which is 6.

Try solving now
03
Round
Easy
HR Round
Duration20 Minutes
Interview date20 Dec 2022
Coding problem1

1. Basic HR Questions

Can you work under pressure?
Are you willing to relocate or travel?
What are your goals?
What motivates you to do a good job?
What makes you angry?

Here's your problem of the day

Solving this problem will increase your chance to get selected in this company

Skill covered: Programming

Which SQL keyword removes duplicate records from a result set?

Choose another skill to practice
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