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