Brocade Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

So, first they called me for an interview for a specific team. I wanted a phone interview with the hiring manager to talk about my profile and see if it was a good fit before going in person. Instead of the manager, an engineer called me. I told him about my experience and skills, and asked him to pass it on to the manager. But it seems like the manager never got the message. They then called me for a face-to-face interview, only to realize my profile wasn't what they needed and sent me home. I felt like I wasted a whole day. The next week, another HR called about a different team. I recounted what happened before and asked them to only proceed with a face-to-face if they were sure. Strangely, the HR and hiring manager were more interested in whether I had another offer or if I would join them if offered, even before interviewing me. The HR mentioned that people from my current company often accept offers but don't show up. I told them clearly that while I didn't have an offer then, I couldn't commit to joining them definitively. They seemed to accept this and called me for a face-to-face. The interview panel was nice and the technical part was good. The hiring manager seemed indecisive and insecure, bringing up the 'any other offer?' question again at the end. I found it irritating that such a company seemed so insecure about people joining. When I asked about projects, the manager defensively commented that people from my company often lack the necessary expertise but expect great work. I didn't react and left after a long day, feeling confident about the interview. Two days later, the HR asked for my payslips urgently, which I sent. Then, they asked about my salary expectations. I gave a figure and mentioned I was open to negotiation. They said they'd get back to me. For over a week, there was no response. Since we were at the salary negotiation stage, I was hopeful about an offer or at least a courtesy update. But there was complete silence, even after I emailed asking for the status. After a few more days, I sent another reminder, feeling I deserved a response given the time and effort invested and reaching the final stage. Finally, they replied that the team didn't select me. I don't understand why they collected my salary documents if I wasn't selected, or why they didn't discuss salary parity if that was the issue. Why not check salary first before a day-long interview? And shouldn't a candidate be informed when they are dropped, rather than waiting in the dark? It seems like they have confused managers and an unprofessional, opportunistic HR team.

I had posted my profile on Naukri. Brocade HR got my resume from there and called me for a face-to-face interview on August 28th, 2014. I went to their site, but the HR wasn't picking up the phone, so I had to wait for about half an hour. After that, someone came and took me to a meeting room and asked me to wait there. This person then came back and said they got my resume just 15 minutes ago and wanted to hear from me. The whole thing seemed unplanned and not well-structured. My first impression of the company dropped. If they can't plan an interview, what can they plan for employees or customers? He looked at my resume and said he'd ask some basic questions. He started with dynamically allocating memory for a 2D array. Then, he asked me to write an efficient program for prime numbers. Later, there was a question about linked lists: to find and break a loop within a linked list. I felt the interviewer expected solutions similar to how he thought about the problems. So, I had to take my time explaining my viewpoints to him. Overall, it wasn't a good experience.

A recruiter reached out on LinkedIn and things moved pretty fast. The onsite was 6 interviews total, with 4 being technical and 2 mixing technical and behavioral stuff. Overall, it was a really good and professional process. There was a little hiccup with the holiday shutdown (July 4th), which caused a slight delay in the final decision. Didn't even need to negotiate the offer because they came in above what I was expecting.