The interview comprised of three technical rounds.

The first round was an online HackerRank test. I cleared it and was called for the interview within two weeks.

Then I had two technical rounds: a CV round and a non-CV round. Both were purely coding. I was asked to write programs on a whiteboard.

I answered all the questions correctly in the first round and was able to implement efficient solutions.

In the second round, though, something weird happened. I was being interviewed by someone who had a meeting with the director at that very point, so he was doing both things simultaneously. He asked me to implement three solutions overall. I knew two of them almost instantly as I had practiced a lot. I literally took a holiday specifically for that Cisco interview because I really wanted to be a part of the company and had worked really hard for the opportunity.

The third question that I implemented was a cache in C. I used a hash map and coded it completely in C. I was not interrogated at all. Whatever it was, I knew I was not wrong, as a hash map is an optimal way to implement a cache, providing constant time insertion, searching, and retrieval. I knew that.

Whenever I looked at the interviewer, he seemed busy with his computer, as he had a meeting. The interview was over, and I felt great because I had answered all the questions correctly that the interviewer asked me.

Then I met the HR, and she asked if the interviewer had given me enough attention. I told her straight away that the interviewer was definitely distracted; he even left the office three times. I told her that the interviewer managed both things well, as I did not want to say bad things and my interview went really well, so I wasn't worried at all.

She then said she would communicate the result. Till date, there has been no communication. I saw a "NOT CONSIDERED" flag as my application status on the portal. HORRIFYING EXPERIENCE.

I emailed the HR explaining my situation but still have not received any email. The most horrible experience ever.

Medium-level data structures and algorithms.