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 kept practicing DSA and CS fundamentals from the 3rd year of Engineering. Along with it, I was also learning web development and I made some good projects.
Application story
This was an online contest in which all students around India can participate in it. So, I applied for it and then got the mail from the HR.
Why selected/rejected for the role?
Because of the confidence and knowledge on the subject. And also because of my hardwork and the practice, i put in for the core subject like algorithm, data structures, DBMS and etc.
Preparation
Duration: 3 months
Topics: OS, CN, System Design, Compiler Design, Data Structures, Algorithms, OOPS
Tip
Tip

Tip 1 : Review data structures and algorithms.
Tip 2 : Solve coding problems from reputable sources.
Tip 2 : Brush up on system design principles.

Application process
Where: Campus
Eligibility: 7+ CGPA
Resume Tip
Resume tip

Tip 1 : Customize your resume for each job.
Tip 2 : Keep it concise and focused.
Tip 3 : Highlight achievements and quantifiable results.

Interview rounds

01
Round
Easy
Face to Face
Duration80 minutes
Interview date10 Jun 2021
Coding problem2

1. Left Rotations of an Array

Moderate
10m average time
90% success
0/80
Asked in companies
IBMCognizantPaytm (One97 Communications Limited)

You are given an array consisting of 'N' elements and you need to perform 'Q' queries on the given array. Each query consists of an integer which tells the number of elements by which you need to left rotate the given array. For each query return the final array obtained after performing the left rotations.

Note:

Perform each query on the original array only i.e. every output should be according to the original order of elements.

Example:

Let the array be [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] and the queries be {2, 4, 1}. For every query, we’ll perform the required number of left rotations on the array.

For the first query, rotate the given array to the left by 2 elements, so the resultant array is: [3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2].

For the second query, rotate the given array to the left by 4 elements, so the resultant array is: [5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4].

For the third query, rotate the given array to the left by 1 element, so the resultant array is: [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1].
Problem approach

Identify the input parameters: Determine the given array and the number of left rotations to be performed.

Handle edge cases: Check if the number of rotations is greater than the length of the array. If so, perform a modulo operation (numRotations = numRotations % arrayLength) to bring it within the valid range.

Perform left rotations: Create a temporary array to store the rotated elements. Iterate through the original array from the numRotations index to the end, and copy each element to the temporary array. Then, iterate from the beginning of the original array to the numRotations - 1 index and copy each element to the temporary array. This way, the left-rotated array will be stored in the temporary array.

Return the result: Once the rotations are complete, return the temporary array as the result.

Try solving now

2. Valid Parantheses

Easy
10m average time
80% success
0/40
Asked in companies
OracleSwiggyAmerican Express

You're given a string 'S' consisting of "{", "}", "(", ")", "[" and "]" .


Return true if the given string 'S' is balanced, else return false.


For example:
'S' = "{}()".

There is always an opening brace before a closing brace i.e. '{' before '}', '(' before ').
So the 'S' is Balanced.
Problem approach

Initialize an empty stack to store the opening parentheses.
Iterate through each character in the given string.
If the current character is an opening parenthesis (i.e., '(', '{', or '['), push it onto the stack.
If the current character is a closing parenthesis (i.e., ')', '}', or ']'), check if the stack is empty. If it is, or if the top element of the stack does not match the current closing parenthesis, the parentheses are not valid.
If the stack is not empty and the top element matches the current closing parenthesis, pop the top element from the stack.
After iterating through all the characters, check if the stack is empty. If it is, the parentheses are valid; otherwise, they are not.

Try solving now
02
Round
Medium
Online Coding Test
Duration60 minutes
Interview date18 Jun 2021
Coding problem2

1. Number of Squareful Arrays

Hard
50m average time
50% success
0/120
Asked in companies
eBayAppleUber

You are given an Array/List Arr of non-negative integers. Your task is to return the number of Squareful permutations of the array.

An array is called Squareful if the sum of every pair of adjacent elements is a perfect square.

Example

ARR[1,3,6] is a Squareful array as 1+3=4 i.e. 2^2 , 3+6=9 i.e. 3^2.

Two permutations ARR1 and ARR2, are different from each other if there exit an index i such that ARR1[i] != ARR2[i].

Example:

[1,6,3] and [6,1,3] are different permutations.
Problem approach

Generate permutations: Generate all possible permutations of the given array elements. You can use backtracking or recursion to create these permutations.

Check for the squareful property: For each permutation, check if it satisfies the squareful property. A squareful array is one in which the sum of adjacent elements is a perfect square. Iterate through the permutation and calculate the sum of adjacent elements. Use a helper function to determine whether the sum is a perfect square.

Count valid arrays: Keep track of the number of valid squareful arrays.

Handle duplicate elements: If the given array contains duplicate elements, handle them appropriately. Avoid generating duplicate permutations by skipping redundant iterations. You can achieve this by keeping track of visited elements or by sorting the array and skipping duplicates during the permutation generation step.

Return the count: After checking all permutations, return the count of valid squarely arrays.

Try solving now

2. House Robber

Moderate
26m average time
0/80
Asked in companies
SamsungAmazonQuikr

A thief wants to loot houses. He knows the amount of money in each house. He cannot loot two consecutive houses. Find the maximum amount of money he can loot.

Try solving now
03
Round
Easy
HR Round
Duration20 minutes
Interview date2 Jul 2021
Coding problem1

1. Basic HR Questions

Can you tell me about yourself?
What interests you about this position and our company?
How do you handle conflict or difficult situations at work?
How do you prioritize tasks and manage your time effectively?
Can you describe a time when you worked successfully in a team?

Here's your problem of the day

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

Skill covered: Programming

To make an AI less repetitive in a long paragraph, you should increase:

Choose another skill to practice
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