Cisco Women Internship Program (CWIP) Experience
Interview Experience
Candidate Information:This article covers my interview experience for the Cisco Women Internship Program (CWIP) – Summer Internship 2025 drive for 2nd-year students. I wil...
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Candidate Information: This article covers my interview experience for the Cisco Women Internship Program (CWIP) – Summer Internship 2025 drive for 2nd-year students. I will share the detailed process, timeline, and my personal experience. Hopefully, it helps future applicants!
Verdict Selected Application Process Applied: On-Campus (College Placement Cell) Overview of Interview Process: Online Assessment Date: 10th February 2024 Time: 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM (90 minutes) Format: 2 Sections 1.
MCQ Section (45 Questions) Covered topics: Computer Networks, OOPs, Operating Systems, DBMS, Aptitude, Computer Fundamentals I personally found this section easy. 2. DSA Section (2 Questions) One Linked List-based question One Sorting-based question Both were straightforward, and I was able to solve them completely with all test cases passing. Since I cleared the OA, I was shortlisted for the interviews.
Round 1 Technical Round Date: 19th February 2025 Duration: 1
hr 1 hr 15 mins Discussion Points: Questions from my resume: Projects, contributions, tech stack, databases used. Coding Questions: Swap two numbers without using a third variable (easy). Subset Sum Problem – variation required to return the count of subsets as well. I explained the base logic and extended it for variations. Puzzles: One was Burning Candles Puzzle (https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/gfg-academy/puzzle-the-burning-candles/) Couldn’t solve the second puzzle completely, but I explained my thought process.
Round 2 Managerial round Date: 20th February 2025 Duration: 45 mins (scheduled at 3:15 PM) Discussion Points: SQL queries (DBMS) TCP/IP vs OSI Reference Model, Application level protocols, topologies. Core Java concepts OOPs pillars (encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism, abstraction) Puzzles: 3 Bulbs and 3 Switches Puzzle (https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/aptitude/puzzle-7-3-bulbs-and-3-switches/) – I explained my approach, interviewer guided me as well. DSA Questions: Detect a loop in a linked list - asked to explain the approach Sudoku solver (discussion on approach) HR & Scenario-based Questions: based were based on Teamwork, conflict resolution, leadership, adaptability. Teamwork : I shared an example of working in a group project and how we managed tasks together. Conflict Resolution: I explained how I would deal with differences in opinion within a team. Leadership: Talked about times when I took initiative and guided my peers to complete a task. Adaptability: Gave an example of adjusting to unexpected situations and finding alternatives.
Round 3 ETR Connect Round (Emerging Talent Recruiting) Date: 20th February 2025 Duration: 10–15 mins Discussion Points: Brief self-introduction Stipend details & internship location Future plans (e.g., “Are you planning for higher studies?”) Asked if I had any questions for them Since this was an on-campus drive, Cisco conveyed the final selection to the placement cell. Final
Verdict Selected for Cisco Women Internship Program 2025 This was a wonderful learning experience, and I hope this article helps future applicants prepare better. Best of luck!
About This Question
This is a candidate experience report from a cisco interview for a pm role (intern level) during the oa round reported in 2025.
It covers the following topics: Linked List, Sql, Stack Queue, Networking, Sorting, Os, Stack .
Difficulty rating: Easy
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This question was reported by a candidate who interviewed at Cisco. LeakCode aggregates interview reports from 10+ sources, including 1Point3Acres, Glassdoor, LeetCode Discuss, Blind, Reddit, Indeed, and Nowcoder. Each report is translated where necessary, deduplicated against existing entries, and tagged by company, role, round type, and reporting date.
Use this question as one calibration data point, not a memorization target. Companies typically rotate their question pools every 2-4 months; the exact wording of a 2024 question may differ from what you encounter today. The underlying pattern, difficulty level, and follow-up depth at Cisco are the higher-signal extractions to take from this report.
For broader preparation context, the Cisco interview process typically includes a recruiter screen, one or two technical phone screens, and a 4-5 round on-site loop covering coding, system design (at L4+ levels), and behavioral. Reports tagged on LeakCode show the round-by-round distribution and typical difficulty calibration. To browse questions filtered by round type and seniority, use the company hub linked above.
How To Practice This Type of Question
Solve similar problems on LeetCode under timed conditions (25-35 minutes per medium difficulty). The goal is pattern recognition: recognize the underlying technique (sliding window, two-pointer, BFS, memoized recursion, etc.) within 60-90 seconds of reading. Strong candidates verbalize their hypothesis out loud before coding, then iterate based on feedback. Weak candidates dive into implementation immediately, lose time on the wrong approach, and run out of time for follow-ups.
Companies update their question pools every 2-4 months. The exact wording of any given question may have been retired by the time you interview. Focus your prep on the pattern, not the specific problem. The patterns that appear in Cisco reports consistently are the ones worth investing in; one-off niche problems are not.
During Your Cisco Round
Apply the standard interview round template: clarify requirements (2-3 minutes), state your approach out loud and confirm direction with the interviewer (3-5 minutes), code with narration (15-25 minutes), test with concrete examples including edge cases (5 minutes), discuss optimization or trade-offs if time permits (5 minutes). This template is universally accepted across FAANG and adjacent companies; deviating from it produces weaker interviewer feedback signal.
The single most predictive failure mode in Cisco reports tagged "no hire": not asking clarifying questions. Interviewers are explicitly trained to weight this. Strong candidates ask 3-5 clarifying questions even on problems that look obvious; weak candidates dive into code immediately. The clarifying-question check is often the first signal recorded in the interviewer's written notes.