Software Engineer IV Interview Experience - Richardson, Texas
Process
On the phone interview, I was asked questions mostly from my resume and background. I was asked questions on:
- Describe the RADIUS protocol in brief.
- Describe the differences between TCP and UDP.
- Describe the end-to-end call flow for one system you worked on.
- Threads vs. Processes.
- Task scheduling in vxWorks.
And some more questions based on my resume.
In the main interview, I had one-on-one sessions with four people spread over the day.
- Describe pre-emption.
- Priority inversion and how to overcome it.
- Interrupts and ISRs.
- How do timers work in vxWorks?
- Semaphores.
- Linked list vs. array.
- Trees, BSTs, and when to use them.
Other questions were mostly to explain on a whiteboard what I did in my last 10 years, design details of that, and why it was designed that way, etc.
Then some questions on the debugging tools I used, like GDB.
Questions
VxWorks OS Internals
Data Structures in C
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 1 interview experience for the Cisco Software Engineer IV role in Richardson, Texas.
Success Rate
Cisco's interview process for their Software Engineer IV roles in Richardson, Texas is incredibly easy as the vast majority of engineers get an offer after going through it.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Cisco's Software Engineer IV interview process in Richardson, Texas.
Cisco Work Experiences
- 4.0Great culture, smart people, and awesome benefitsSoftware Engineer IV • Former EmployeeRichardson, Texas, United StatesFebruary 6, 2015Pros: Benefits and salaries are market competitive. You get to work with some very smart people in the industry.Cons: Being a big company, you have politics. Projects are staffed with more people than necessary.
- 5.0Cisco is a great place to workSoftware Engineer IV • Current EmployeeRichardson, Texas, United StatesJuly 9, 2008Pros: Interesting and challenging work. Effective management. Excellent coworkers. Excellent compensation and benefits. Excellent work/life balance. Minimal paperwork and red-tape; most all processes are handled over the corporate intranet.Cons: The stock price has been declining recently.
- 1.0Lose your technical capabilitySoftware Engineer IV • Former EmployeeBengaluru, Karnataka, IndiaJune 3, 2025Pros: Work-life balance is good, and there's no learning.Cons: Here, people will not mentor you. First of all, it's an insecure environment. There's no innovation, no learning. I wasted my 5 years here.
Cisco Interview Questions
