Ciena Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process
Real candidates share what happened, how many rounds they had,
and how the experience turned out.
Based on 119 interview experiences · FREE TO READ
Candidate interview experiences
First-hand accounts from people who interviewed at Ciena.
Ciena
Software Engineer
Intern Easy Positive experience Decline offer 1 round
Interview process
Technical screen Phone screen
Interview formats
Technical Coding Behavioral
It was a combined technical and behavioral interview for the Software Engineer Intern role. They asked about basic Python and C concepts like pointers, and also about syntax and writing simple code correctly.
Confirmed questions6 questions
- Can you explain basic concepts in Python and C, including pointers?
- What are the basic concepts of pointers in Python and C?
- Tell me about Python syntax.
Ciena
Software Engineer
Mid Average Positive experience Accept offer 2 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen Onsite Panel Background check Offer
Interview formats
Behavioral Technical
It was all pretty standard stuff: covered my experience, what I think the future holds for Ciena, why I'm interested in the company, some technical points, and the market situation in Germany, including future projects for major mobile operators. Everything went smoothly, and the people I spoke with were nice and polite. There were actually a couple of interviews, with different people, and they all went well.
Confirmed questions1 question
- Based on your experience, how do you envision contributing to our future projects?
Ciena
Software Engineer
Entry Average Neutral experience No offer 5 rounds
Interview process
Technical screen Technical screen Technical screen Technical screen Technical screen
Interview formats
Technical Coding
So, before the main interview, there were like 3 written rounds. The first one had 3 questions. The first two were about accessing data from a table – like, what data structure would you use. The third one was a SQL query for that table. Then, the next question was a Java code thing to find prime numbers. After that, there were 2 more coding rounds.
Confirmed questions5 questions
- Can you explain what data structure would be suitable for accessing data from a given table?
- Could you write a SQL query based on the data in the table?
- Please provide Java code to determine if a number is prime.
Ciena Software Engineer Interview Questions
Quoted word for word from Ciena interview reports.
“What happens if the equals method is overridden but the hashcode method is not for an object?”
Read reports →“What's the difference between pass by value and pass by reference for Python parameters, considering primitive values and objects?”
Read reports →“How would you sort a linked list containing only 0s, 1s, and 2s?”
Read reports →“Can you code a solution to reverse an array, optimizing for the best big O notation?”
Read reports →“Given a string that might have extra spaces at the beginning, end, or in the middle, could you alter it directly, without relying on any built-in functions, so that when it's printed, there are no leading or trailing spaces?”
Read report →“Regarding the Singleton Design Pattern, how is it destructed, how do you make it thread-safe, and where should a mutex be placed?”
Read report →“What's the difference between a Linked List and an Array, including their runtime efficiencies and how to access elements in each? Also, how can you find if a linked list has a loop?”
Read report →“There are three caret boxes labeled incorrectly: Apples, Oranges, and Apples+Oranges. All labels are wrong. How would you correct the labels by picking just one fruit from one box?”
Read report →“Imagine a robot that needs to traverse several dots on a paper. How would you implement this? (I think it can be done using minimum spanning tree.)”
Read report →Formats, difficulty and experience
Across all 119 Ciena interview reports.