Software Engineer Interview Experience - San Jose, California
Process
Initially, I went to the career fair at my university and had a 10-minute in-person interview with one of the recruiters.
Next, I received a phone call for another on-campus screening interview, which was pretty easy, considering my interviewer wasn't paying attention to anything I was saying. He just asked me questions straight from my resume and was chatting away on his laptop's chat client.
After that, I was invited for an on-site interview, which took a whole day. Cisco flew me to San Jose, where for one straight day, I had five behavioral interviews and one technical interview.
Overall, the technical questions were stupidly easy, like "What is AJAX?", etc.
Questions
What is AJAX?
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 125 interview experiences for the Cisco Software Engineer role in San Jose, California.
Success Rate
Cisco's interview process for their Software Engineer roles in San Jose, California is on the easier side as most engineers get an offer after going through it.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Cisco's Software Engineer interview process in San Jose, California.
Cisco Work Experiences
- 4.0Nice Colleagues, Slow PaceSoftware Engineer • Former EmployeeSan Jose, California, United StatesDecember 19, 2020Pros: Friendly environment, nice colleagues, beautiful office.Cons: Slow pace, not so challenging.
- 4.0Good experience overallSoftware Engineer • Former EmployeeSan Jose, California, United StatesJuly 7, 2025Pros: Well-structured, friendly co-workers. The compensation structure was good overall. Work was not hectic.Cons: Worked for a first-time manager who had no experience managing people. Work responsibilities were a bit disorganized; otherwise, the manager was friendly. Upper management appeared to pass information down well.
- 3.0trade-off to work at CiscoSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Jose, California, United StatesAugust 20, 2013Pros: Good work-life balance culture.Cons: Bad salary, compensation, and benefits.
Cisco Interview Questions
