Cisco Software Engineer interview experience

The first round was behavioral: I talked through my most technically challenging project and framed what I did and why it mattered. It felt straightforward, and the questions stayed rooted in my experience rather than trying to trick me.

A bit later, I had a system design interview as the second round. I expected it to be intimidating, but it ended up feeling more like a guided conversation than a strict interrogation. The interviewer focused on how I approached problems and how I communicated my thinking end to end, especially around decisions and tradeoffs. Overall, the process felt