Cisco Careers logo

Cisco Careers

Global networking, cybersecurity, and enterprise-technology company built on internet infrastructure.

cisco.com

About the company

Legal Name

Cisco Systems, Inc.

Founded

1984

Headquarters

San Jose, California, USA

Industry

Networking hardware and software, telecommunications equipment, cybersecurity, AI technology

Employees

86,200 (2025)

Revenue (FY25)

US$56.65 billion

Market Cap

~US$442 billion

Listed on

Nasdaq: CSCO

CEO

Chuck Robbins, Chair and Chief Executive Officer

CFO

Mark Patterson, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Cisco Systems, Inc. is a US networking and enterprise-technology company founded in 1984 by Leonard Bosack and Sandy Lerner. It's headquartered in San Jose, California, and trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker CSCO. The company designs and sells networking hardware and software, telecommunications equipment, cybersecurity products, and AI-focused technology, and employs about 86,200 people as of 2025.

For fiscal year 2025 Cisco reported revenue of about US$56.65 billion, up roughly 5% from the prior year, with a market capitalization near US$442 billion. The company is led by Chuck Robbins as Chair and Chief Executive Officer, with Jeetu Patel serving as President and Chief Product Officer and Mark Patterson as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since the start of fiscal 2026.

Cisco has a large presence in India through Cisco Systems India Private Limited. Bengaluru serves as the India headquarters and hosts Cisco's largest research and development center outside the United States, with additional offices in Gurugram, Mumbai, Pune, and Chennai covering engineering, sales, support, and operations functions.

Key People

Chuck Robbins

Chair and Chief Executive Officer

Jeetu Patel

President and Chief Product Officer

Mark Patterson

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Dev Stahlkopf

Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer

Photos

Cisco workplace 1

Interview process at Cisco

(1,223 interview reviews)

Interview experience

8/10

Interview difficulty

Medium

Interview process length

About a week

Overall experience

PoorExcellent
EasyDifficult

About a day or two13%
About a week48%
About a month23%
More than one month16%

Prep for your Cisco interview with AI

Practice real Cisco-style questions and get instant feedback before the real thing.

Cisco Interview Questions & Answers

Q: Explain eye pattern waveform, signal jitter, a BERT generator, and your networking knowledge.

A: An eye pattern overlays many signal transitions to show noise and timing margin, jitter is the timing variation of edges away from ideal, and a BERT generator sends a known bit pattern to measure the bit error rate on a link. Tie these back to how you'd validate a physical-layer interface end to end.

Answer by AI
  • Define each term crisply: eye diagram shows margin, jitter is edge-timing deviation, BERT measures errors against a known pattern.
  • Connect them to a test flow: use the eye and jitter budget to predict link quality, then confirm with a BERT run.
  • Ground your networking answer in a real project: what layer you tested, the tools you used, and how you isolated faults.

Q: How were you storing passwords in the database, and explain different methods used for hashing passwords?

A: Passwords should never be stored in plain text; store a salted hash instead using a slow, purpose-built algorithm like bcrypt, scrypt, or Argon2. Salting stops precomputed rainbow-table attacks and a high work factor slows brute force.

Answer by AI
  • State the rule first: never store plaintext, store a per-user salted hash.
  • Compare fast hashes (MD5, SHA-256) against slow password hashes (bcrypt, scrypt, Argon2) and explain why slow wins here.
  • Mention salt plus optional pepper and tuning the work factor as hardware improves.

Q: What is the difference between HTTP and HTTPS?

A: HTTP sends data in plain text over port 80, while HTTPS wraps the same protocol in TLS on port 443 so traffic is encrypted, authenticated with a certificate, and protected from tampering.

Answer by AI
  • HTTP is unencrypted (port 80); HTTPS adds TLS encryption (port 443).
  • HTTPS uses a certificate to prove server identity and negotiate keys.
  • Call out the benefits: confidentiality, integrity, and trust for the user.

Q: What are the different memory management techniques used in an OS, and why is memory management needed?

A: Memory management lets an OS allocate, protect, and reclaim memory across processes; common techniques include paging, segmentation, virtual memory with demand paging, and swapping. It's needed so processes stay isolated, memory is used efficiently, and programs larger than physical RAM can still run.

Answer by AI
  • List the core techniques: contiguous allocation, paging, segmentation, and virtual memory.
  • Explain why: isolation between processes, efficient use of limited RAM, and running programs bigger than physical memory.
  • Mention demand paging and swapping as ways to stretch available memory.

Prep for your Cisco interview with AI

Practice real Cisco-style questions and get instant feedback before the real thing.

Cisco Salaries in India (Updated 2026)

Software Engineer

Average base salary

₹16,92,736/yr (avg)

107 salaries reported Salaries submitted

Senior Software Engineer

Average base salary

₹18,67,645/yr (avg)

19 salaries reported Salaries submitted

Technical Lead

Average base salary

₹19,58,076/yr (avg)

13 salaries reported Salaries submitted

Software Test Engineer

Average base salary

₹11,40,390/yr (avg)

15 salaries reported Salaries submitted

Software Engineer (median total comp, all levels)

Median total comp

₹32,98,969/yr (median total comp: base + stock + bonus)

Technical Consultant

Average base salary

₹15,41,117/yr (avg)

17 salaries reported Salaries submitted

Know your worth at Cisco

See how your target salary stacks up and find roles that match your experience.

Build a standout resume with AI

Tailor your resume to Cisco roles and get past the screen with an AI-built draft.

Benefits

Mental health support including in-person or virtual therapy and meditation apps
Personalized medical guidance with expert second opinions
World-class on-campus health centers at major sites
Employee Stock Purchase Plan available in 70+ countries
Retirement and savings programs (varies by region)
Financial wellness resources including planning assistance and tuition support
Up to $10,000 in matching gifts per calendar year for charitable giving
Paid vacation and time off (specifics vary by location)
Birthday off plus 'Four Days for Me' annual company-wide paid pause
10 paid volunteer days annually
Parental leave and bonding time for new children, plus caregiving support time
Career navigation courses and professional resilience training

Latest News & Updates

June 18, 2026

Cisco Live 2026 headlines AI-native networking and security

At Cisco Live 2026 the company unveiled its AI Network Assistant, Catalyst Center 3.0, next-gen Silicon One data center ASICs, and general availability of Hypershield distributed security. The announcements mark a shift toward AI-driven, self-operating enterprise infrastructure.

#CiscoLive2026 #AINetworking #Hypershield

View post

May 14, 2026

Cisco cuts under 5% of staff while posting record revenue

Cisco said it would lay off fewer than 4,000 employees, under 5% of its workforce, alongside record quarterly revenue of $15.8 billion. CEO Chuck Robbins tied the restructuring, expected to cost about $1 billion over two fiscal years, to shifting investment toward AI demand.

#Layoffs #Restructuring #AIStrategy

View post

February 10, 2026

Cisco launches breakthrough AI-era products at Cisco Live EMEA

Cisco introduced the Silicon One G300 switch silicon for gigawatt-scale AI clusters, the Nexus One unified data center management plane, and AgenticOps automation across networking, security, and observability. The launches were revealed in Amsterdam before more than 21,000 attendees.

#SiliconOne #AIInfrastructure #CiscoLiveEMEA

View post

December 15, 2025

Mumbai becomes first international site in Cisco's 40 Communities program

Cisco named Mumbai the second location and first international site in its 10-year 40 Communities initiative, focused on cybersecurity, AI, and networking skills plus startup and cyber-resilience support. The commitment targets reaching 2.7 million people across India by 2028.

#CiscoIndia #40Communities #DigitalSkilling

View post

December 9, 2025

Cisco and CII open Mumbai Centre of Excellence for AI and cyber skills

Cisco, with the Confederation of Indian Industry and NIIT Foundation, launched a Centre of Excellence in Kandivali, Mumbai to train 100,000 students over three years in AI, networking, and security. It anchors a wider plan to skill 2.7 million people across India.

#CiscoIndia #Upskilling #MumbaiCoE

View post

Cisco FAQ

Cisco designs and sells networking hardware and software, telecommunications equipment, cybersecurity products, and AI-focused technology for enterprises and service providers.