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

SDE - 1

Cisco
upvote
share-icon
3 rounds | 5 Coding problems

Interview preparation journey

expand-icon
Journey
I have been practicing DSA and CS fundamentals since my 3rd year of engineering. Along with that, I have also been learning web development and have made some good projects.
Application story
This company visited our campus for hiring there only, i applied for the same, it has many rounds starting with online assessment at the starting.
Why selected/rejected for the role?
I was rejected because I was not able to provide a concise and good solution for the question that was asked to me.
Preparation
Duration: 8 months
Topics: Data Structures, Pointers, OOPS, System Design, Algorithms, Dynamic Programming
Tip
Tip

Tip 1 : Mention some good projects on resume.
Tip 2 : Be confident.
Tip 3 : Good with computer science basics and ds and algo.

Application process
Where: Campus
Eligibility: No criteria
Resume Tip
Resume tip

Tip 1 : Good Projects.
Tip 2 : Having some achievements is plus point.

Interview rounds

01
Round
Easy
Video Call
Duration60 minutes
Interview date20 Nov 2022
Coding problem2

1. Minimum Number of Platforms

Moderate
30m average time
70% success
0/80
Asked in companies
GrabAmazonDunzo

You have been given two arrays, 'AT' and 'DT', representing the arrival and departure times of all trains that reach a railway station.

Your task is to find the minimum number of platforms required for the railway station so that no train needs to wait.

Note :
1. Every train will depart on the same day and the departure time will always be greater than the arrival time. For example, A train with arrival time 2240 and departure time 1930 is not possible.

2. Time will be given in 24H format and colons will be omitted for convenience. For example, 9:05AM will be given as "905", or 9:10PM will be given as "2110".

3. Also, there will be no leading zeroes in the given times. For example, 12:10AM will be given as “10” and not as “0010”.
Problem approach

Sort the arrival time and then compare this with departure time. And also maintain, if next arrival is less than departure then no need for extra platform and if it is less than then we need 1 extra platform.

Try solving now

2. 3Sum

Moderate
15m average time
85% success
0/80
Asked in companies
CiscoMathworksSamsung

You are given an array/list ARR consisting of N integers. Your task is to find all the distinct triplets present in the array which adds up to a given number K.

An array is said to have a triplet {ARR[i], ARR[j], ARR[k]} with sum = 'K' if there exists three indices i, j and k such that i!=j, j!=k and i!=j and ARR[i] + ARR[j] + ARR[k] = 'K'.

Note:
1. You can return the list of values in any order. For example, if a valid triplet is {1, 2, -3}, then {2, -3, 1}, {-3, 2, 1} etc is also valid triplet. Also, the ordering of different triplets can be random i.e if there are more than one valid triplets, you can return them in any order.
2. The elements in the array need not be distinct.
3. If no such triplet is present in the array, then return an empty list, and the output printed for such a test case will be "-1".
Problem approach

First sort the array then start from the starting index and for the rest of array using two pointers approach we can get the number of triplets.

Try solving now
02
Round
Easy
Video Call
Duration60 minutes
Interview date20 Nov 2022
Coding problem2

1. Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock

Moderate
20m average time
80% success
0/80
Asked in companies
NoBrokerIntuitOptum

You are given an array/list 'prices' where the elements of the array represent the prices of the stock as they were yesterday and indices of the array represent minutes. Your task is to find and return the maximum profit you can make by buying and selling the stock. You can buy and sell the stock only once.

Note:

You can’t sell without buying first.
For Example:
For the given array [ 2, 100, 150, 120],
The maximum profit can be achieved by buying the stock at minute 0 when its price is Rs. 2 and selling it at minute 2 when its price is Rs. 150.
So, the output will be 148.
Try solving now

2. All Prime Numbers less than or equal to N

Moderate
10m average time
90% success
0/80
Asked in companies
OptumAdobeTata Consultancy Services (TCS)

You are given a positive integer 'N'. Your task is to return all the prime numbers less than or equal to the 'N'.

Note:

1) A prime number is a number that has only two factors: 1 and the number itself.

2) 1 is not a prime number.
Try solving now
03
Round
Easy
HR Round
Duration30 minutes
Interview date20 Nov 2022
Coding problem1

1. Basic HR Questions

How do you feel about working nights and weekends?
Can you work under pressure?
What are your goals?
What motivates you to do good job?

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
Similar interview experiences
company logo
SDE - 1
2 rounds | 4 problems
Interviewed by Cisco
2369 views
0 comments
0 upvotes
company logo
SDE - 1
2 rounds | 4 problems
Interviewed by Cisco
1556 views
0 comments
0 upvotes
company logo
SDE - 1
3 rounds | 6 problems
Interviewed by Cisco
1472 views
0 comments
0 upvotes
company logo
SDE - 1
3 rounds | 5 problems
Interviewed by Cisco
968 views
0 comments
0 upvotes
Companies with similar interview experiences
company logo
SDE - 1
5 rounds | 12 problems
Interviewed by Amazon
114453 views
24 comments
0 upvotes
company logo
SDE - 1
4 rounds | 5 problems
Interviewed by Microsoft
57719 views
5 comments
0 upvotes
company logo
SDE - 1
3 rounds | 7 problems
Interviewed by Amazon
34914 views
7 comments
0 upvotes