Interview with Cisco:) need advice + tips!

shimasensei

Good day TE community,

I have an upcoming scheduled interview with Cisco. It is for a consulting engineer role in networking, security and systems. It is my first time having an interview with them. Just wondering if any current or former Cisco employees or interviewees have any advice and tips on their interview and hiring process.

I'm pretty excited about this position. The salary and benefits they've conveyed to me is competitive and attractive. The job role and description is also very enticing.

Not sure if I'm accurate but I'm already expecting:
- tough technical questions
- tough behavioral / HR type questions
- expanding on experience questions

If you guys have some specific question examples and past experiences, that'll be awesome!

ccie14023

You will find the interview style and depth can vary greatly depending on who is doing the interviewing. One complaint I have about Cisco is that we do not have any formal way of training interviewers, as far as I know. However, do expect it to be hard. My interview with advanced services many years ago was a panel interview, with the panel comprised of 4 CCIE's, two of them double, all of them extremely smart. The typical interview goes through details of basic networking concepts, routing protocol operations, and anything related to your specific expertise (e.g., security, collaboration.) If there is a technology on your resume it is considered fair game. Don't put something there unless you can talk about it comfortably in depth.

One thing I like about our interview process is that I generally don't see anyone using the stupid brain teaser questions that were so popular at Google and Microsoft in the past. ("Why are manhole covers round?" or "How much would you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle and why?") Those questions are pointless.

Cisco generally likes people who aren't afraid to stand up and present, so it's not uncommon to ask the interviewee to get up in front of a white board and explain a technology from start to finish. Often they will let you choose so have something in mind that is simple enough and practice it mentally a few times.

Bottom line is: know your protocols and area of expertise, and try to relax. All of the guys on my interview panel became friends of mine later, and I was on the interview panel myself for years. Nobody knows everything and they don't expect you to. Just try not to B.S. If you don't know something, say you don't and move on.

Good luck!

shimasensei

ccie14023 wrote: »

You will find the interview style and depth can vary greatly depending on who is doing the interviewing. One complaint I have about Cisco is that we do not have any formal way of training interviewers, as far as I know. However, do expect it to be hard. My interview with advanced services many years ago was a panel interview, with the panel comprised of 4 CCIE's, two of them double, all of them extremely smart. The typical interview goes through details of basic networking concepts, routing protocol operations, and anything related to your specific expertise (e.g., security, collaboration.) If there is a technology on your resume it is considered fair game. Don't put something there unless you can talk about it comfortably in depth.

One thing I like about our interview process is that I generally don't see anyone using the stupid brain teaser questions that were so popular at Google and Microsoft in the past. ("Why are manhole covers round?" or "How much would you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle and why?") Those questions are pointless.

Cisco generally likes people who aren't afraid to stand up and present, so it's not uncommon to ask the interviewee to get up in front of a white board and explain a technology from start to finish. Often they will let you choose so have something in mind that is simple enough and practice it mentally a few times.

Bottom line is: know your protocols and area of expertise, and try to relax. All of the guys on my interview panel became friends of mine later, and I was on the interview panel myself for years. Nobody knows everything and they don't expect you to. Just try not to B.S. If you don't know something, say you don't and move on.

Good luck!

Hi ccie14023,

Thank you so much for the insight! Knowing that multiple CCIEs interviewing me makes me really nervous though, haha. I'll just be myself and take it from there:) Hoping for a positive experience.

CryptoQue

Good luck!!!

shimasensei

CryptoQue wrote: »

Good luck!!!

Thank you!:)

shimasensei

By the way, it's an interview over WebEx. What is the best type of attire for this? I usually go with a business suit, curious on what Cisco's standard is.

PersianImmortal

Good luck!!! (I've never worked for Cisco, but when it doubt, wear a suit)

JoJoCal19

shimasensei wrote: »

By the way, it's an interview over WebEx. What is the best type of attire for this? I usually go with a business suit, curious on what Cisco's standard is.

I've always worn the suit even for WebEx/video interviews. Hasn't failed me yet!

shimasensei

Thank you guys, suit it is!

ccie14023

shimasensei wrote: »

By the way, it's an interview over WebEx. What is the best type of attire for this? I usually go with a business suit, curious on what Cisco's standard is.

Actually, I would not wear a suit. At least, a sport coat is always good but I would not wear a tie. Silicon Valley dress standards are very casual, even at an "old tech" company like Cisco. My VPs rarely wear anything but jeans. I wore a sport coat (no tie) for my Webex interviews with two different SVPs and got this job.

It's always a tough choice. I happen to think that the standards of dress are way too lax in the valley and that some more formality would do us some good.

That said, depending on who is interviewing you, it might be interpreted as being overly formal, stuffy, etc., if you wear a tie, and it could count against you. I know that sounds strange, but remember they are also assessing you for your fit on the team. Being a bit more relaxed can be advantageous. Some of the folks interviewing you may not even own a tie, and thus be put off by the formality.

Again, I don't agree with it, it's just the reality.

ITSpectre

I would PM Iris because she works or worked for cisco.... she can also give you tips to ace the interview.... also look on the forum for "Interview tips"

joelsfood

Expect multiple interviews.

In no particular order, interviews might consist of:

Interview with hiring manager: Often the first interview, get a feeling for you, your experience, goals, and how you might fill the position.
Technical interview: Interview with one or more people in your same vertical/SME category. Don't be afraid to say you don't know the answer to something here, but try to give some indication of how you would go about finding the answer that you don't know off the top of your head.

Team fit interviews: Interviews with other SEs/AMs/Director on the team to see how you would fit in the team you're being hired for. While they definitely want someone who knows most or even all of the skills that the position requires, technical skills can be trained. They want to make sure that your'e going to fit well with the rest o the team. Definitely be prepared for all interviews to explain why you want to work for Cisco in general, and that position in particular. Cisco is not looking to pay someone to sit on their laurels, so you can expect a lot of work, particularly the first 6-9 months getting up to speed. They want to know that you're ready for that. Make sure you do your background research on the company. Not just overall, but more specifics, roadmap, etc. IE, for data center position, you might mention the Springpath announcement. Security, might mention something from the latest Talos blog or podcast, etc.

Ismaeljrp

ccie14023, isn't this your second time at TAC?

Any difference from the first time and the second time you were evaluated?

shimasensei

ccie14023 wrote: »

Actually, I would not wear a suit. At least, a sport coat is always good but I would not wear a tie. Silicon Valley dress standards are very casual, even at an "old tech" company like Cisco. My VPs rarely wear anything but jeans. I wore a sport coat (no tie) for my Webex interviews with two different SVPs and got this job.

It's always a tough choice. I happen to think that the standards of dress are way too lax in the valley and that some more formality would do us some good.

That said, depending on who is interviewing you, it might be interpreted as being overly formal, stuffy, etc., if you wear a tie, and it could count against you. I know that sounds strange, but remember they are also assessing you for your fit on the team. Being a bit more relaxed can be advantageous. Some of the folks interviewing you may not even own a tie, and thus be put off by the formality.

Again, I don't agree with it, it's just the reality.

That is a good point...thanks.

ITSpectre wrote: »

I would PM Iris because she works or worked for cisco.... she can also give you tips to ace the interview.... also look on the forum for "Interview tips"

Thanks for the tips, will do!

joelsfood wrote: »

Expect multiple interviews.

In no particular order, interviews might consist of:

Interview with hiring manager: Often the first interview, get a feeling for you, your experience, goals, and how you might fill the position.
Technical interview: Interview with one or more people in your same vertical/SME category. Don't be afraid to say you don't know the answer to something here, but try to give some indication of how you would go about finding the answer that you don't know off the top of your head.

Team fit interviews: Interviews with other SEs/AMs/Director on the team to see how you would fit in the team you're being hired for. While they definitely want someone who knows most or even all of the skills that the position requires, technical skills can be trained. They want to make sure that your'e going to fit well with the rest o the team. Definitely be prepared for all interviews to explain why you want to work for Cisco in general, and that position in particular. Cisco is not looking to pay someone to sit on their laurels, so you can expect a lot of work, particularly the first 6-9 months getting up to speed. They want to know that you're ready for that. Make sure you do your background research on the company. Not just overall, but more specifics, roadmap, etc. IE, for data center position, you might mention the Springpath announcement. Security, might mention something from the latest Talos blog or podcast, etc.

Yup, thanks for this. From what I've read so far, this is expected..

ccie14023

Ismaeljrp wrote: »

ccie14023, isn't this your second time at TAC?

Any difference from the first time and the second time you were evaluated?

Heck no, I would never go back to TAC.:D (See my blog under "TAC Tales" for why.)

This is indeed my second time at Cisco. Much better job this time.

The interview process was certainly quite different, but I'm in a totally different role now. Tech marketing principal in the BU vs. grunt CSE at TAC. It's a higher level role, hence higher level interviews. The TAC assessment was basically a quick chat with the hiring manager followed by the panel technical interview. Here I had a lot more business-level questions and only one technical interviewer.

Again, it can vary widely by team and personalities. I think we need to standardize interviewing and give some formal training, maybe I'll work on that in all my spare time...

Ismaeljrp

I've actually enjoyed your blog especially the TAC tales. My favorite was probably TAC tales #10.

Thanks for the clarification and insight to my first question.