Juniper Networks Hardware Test / Validation Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

I had an initial call where they asked why I was looking for a change and then I sent my updated resume to the hiring manager. About a week later, I had two video call rounds scheduled on the same day.

I applied for a test engineer role on a contract basis as a fresher. The interview process kicked off with a written test. It had 50 MCQ questions covering networking and C programming, plus 2 Python coding questions since Python was a must-have skill. Round 1 focused on networking concepts like OSI, TCP/IP, ARP, subnetting, and some basic data structures such as linked lists and arrays. Round 2 was all about programming skills, with 2 questions: one on strings (coded in C++) and another on Python dictionaries. The final round was a managerial interview, an interaction with managers where they asked about my college projects and what I expected from the job.

Got referred by a friend. First, had a technical phone screening with a team member. Then, another phone interview with the hiring manager. After that, scheduled for onsite interviews, which had about 5 rounds, each half an hour long. The interviews themselves were good, and I felt confident about getting an offer. The hiring manager mentioned I'd hear back in 2-3 days. However, it took about 4 days, and I followed up a couple of times via email with the hiring manager, but got no response. I was in a bit of a rush because I already had another offer, but I really liked this position. Almost two weeks later, a recruiter reached out, saying the team was interested and asked about my salary expectations. I also asked her to speed things up because USCIS was about to suspend H1-B premium processing, and I reiterated my interest in the role. Upon learning I was on H1-B, she became noticeably less enthusiastic. She said that with premium processing suspension, they'd see if they had other top choices and let me know. I was pretty annoyed by her attitude, as it seemed like they were prioritizing candidates based on immigration status rather than talent. Again, no word for the next 3 business days, and my follow-ups went unanswered. Four days later, she called and suggested I should probably go with my other offer, stating their target salary was about 25% lower than my current offer and that their immigration lawyers weren't advising on taking H1-B candidates. I was surprised Juniper would lowball me. A week later, the manager called and offered a 3% sign-on bonus and to transfer my H1-B. Even with the bonus, the offer was significantly less than my other offer, so I declined. It was clear the recruiter and hiring manager weren't on the same page. I didn't want to join a company that chooses candidates based on immigration status instead of their skills. Extremely disappointing experience.