TAC Engineer Interview Experience - San Jose, California
Process
Applied for this position online and was contacted the next day by a recruiter at Cisco.
Started with a 10-minute prescreen phone interview (nothing technical). This included questions like "Why do you want to work for Cisco?" and some information about myself.
Two days later, I had a technical phone interview with a friendly engineer. The following week, I had an onsite interview via teleconference, as I am on the East Coast and the position is in San Jose, CA.
Prepare to get technical with troubleshooting and scenario-based questions. There were also personality questions, such as "What would you do in this situation?" since this is a customer support role.
I received my offer letter the next day.
Questions
Scenario-based question: When a computer needs to talk to another computer on a different network.
Word of advice: Know all the fields in the Layer 3 packet to answer this question.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 1 interview experience for the Cisco TAC Engineer role in San Jose, California.
Success Rate
Cisco's interview process for their TAC Engineer roles in San Jose, California is incredibly easy as the vast majority of engineers get an offer after going through it.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having mixed feelings for Cisco's TAC Engineer interview process in San Jose, California.
Cisco Work Experiences
- 3.0Relaxed But Stalled CareerTAC Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Jose, California, United StatesFebruary 6, 2019Pros: Relaxed setup. Work-life balance is good.Cons: Too relaxed. No promo until boss likes you.
- 5.0Organized, Full Of OpportunitiesTAC Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Jose, California, United StatesOctober 4, 2016Pros: Very well-organized company, full of opportunities for work and self-development.Cons: nothing bad to add here
- 2.0Post-acquisition and flounderingTAC Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Jose, California, United StatesMarch 2, 2014Pros: Cisco offers reasonable and competitive compensation packages with the ability to earn more via bonuses, CAP awards, and such. It's possible, with a strong performance, a supportive manager, and a manager who understands the tools and processes, to award significant rewards per year to an employee.Cons: As an acquisition, our product has floundered. It has undergone several management changes, failed in critical areas, and there appears to be no ownership or consequence for those failures. Many teams have taken defensive positions to eliminate work or ownership of product growth and development. The product is circling the drain, and no one seems to care. For a period, a renewals team didn't exist, and customers were simply canceled without warning. The product looks as it did 7 years ago. Any efforts to introduce new features have resulted in a huge number of bugs (customers treated as beta testers), undocumented features, and usability issues. There are a significant number of long-term Cisco managers, occupying roles for 15 years or more. These managers seem lost in a Dilbert comic, able but unwilling to enact change, making sure to not rock the boat or do anything to actually improve the products they're part of. Products are extremely complex, developed by engineers for engineers, with no focus on usability or the human experience. Customers complain about complex deployments and call in for guidance configuring the most simple of features. The acquisition of Meraki shows an ability to recognize a strong, usable product, but it's yet to be seen whether Meraki will survive the Cisco touch.
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