Ciena Interview Questions
Updated May 16, 2022
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Found 323 of over 323 interviews
Popular
- Popular
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- Oldest first
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- Most Difficult
Interviews at Ciena
Experience
Positive66%
Negative23%
Neutral11%
Getting an Interview
Applied online48%
Recruiter16%
Employee Referral16%
Difficulty
2.9
AverageHardAverageEasy
Interviews for Top Jobs at Ciena
- Software Engineer (39)
- Senior Software Engineer (16)
- Software Engineer II (7)
- Intern (5)
- Lead Engineer (5)
- Software Engineer I (5)
- Software Developer (4)
- Hardware Engineer (4)
- Module Lead (4)
- Java Developer (4)
- Senior Engineer (3)
- Senior Analyst (3)
- Senior Systems Engineer (3)
- Test Engineer (3)
- Optical Systems Engineer (3)
- Global Product Support Engineer (2)
- Software Engineer 2B (2)
- New Grad: Photonics Systems Engineer (2)
- Senior Software QA Engineer (2)
- IT Applications Analyst (2)
- Software Designer(Coop) (2)
- C++ Developer (2)
- Intern - Hourly (2)
- Staff Accountant (2)
- Network Engineer (2)
- Sales (2)
- Senior Engineer P&T (Embedded Software Engineer) (2)
- Lead Software Engineer (2)
- Human Resources (2)
- Software Test Engineer (2)

Anonymous Employee
Accepted Offer
Positive Experience
Average Interview
Application
InterviewI interviewed at Ciena
Its been 2 round of interview first round has been included with technical and practical question on automation and virtualization topics and second round is based on Managerial round where we required to share our current work process
Interview Questions
- Virtualization related questions and automation related questions
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Anonymous Interview Candidate
Declined Offer
Positive Experience
Average Interview
Application
InterviewI interviewed at Ciena
It was a practical interview. The interviewer were really good and along with practical aspect many behaviour questions were also included. Overall it was a good interview of mid level difficulty
Interview Questions
- Describe yourself briefly, why are you interested in this job
Be the first to find this interview helpful
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Anonymous Interview Candidate
No Offer
Neutral
Experience
Average Interview
Application
InterviewI interviewed at Ciena
First will be contacted by HR to set-up initial screening interview, which is basic and the usual interview questions, why you looking for new role? salary expectations? why you are looking to move to Ciena? later next stage interview with the hiring manager, which goes more in depth and more specifics about the job role itself
Interview Questions
- why you looking for new role? salary expectations? why you are looking to move to Ciena?
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Anonymous Employee
Accepted Offer
Positive Experience
Average Interview
Application
InterviewI interviewed at Ciena
Went well. I have met the credit controller and my line manager. They have told me about my responsibilities and their expectations. I have been accepted as a contractor. I was very pleased and happy with the role they have offered.
Interview Questions
- Tell me about yourself please.
1 person found this interview helpful

Anonymous Employee in Aberdeen, SD
Accepted Offer
Positive Experience
Easy
Interview
Application
InterviewI applied through an employee referral The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Ciena (Aberdeen, SD) in Mar 2022
Calls with possible peers as well as 4 levels of management. Conversations around job requirements and cultural fit. HR offer letter sent after verbal offer acceptance. Took approx 2 weeks for the process.
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Anonymous Interview Candidate in Baltimore, MD
No Offer
Negative
Experience
Average Interview
Application
InterviewI applied in-person. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Ciena (Baltimore, MD) in Mar 2022
Comfortable atmosphere and the hiring manager was easy to talk to during the interview. The interview was done via zoom and I enjoyed the interview because I was able to talk freely with no tension.
Interview Questions
- How do I provide a piece of bad news to an employee? What is my 5 years goal How comfortable I am to give a presentation
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Anonymous Interview Candidate
No Offer
Negative
Experience
Average Interview
Application
InterviewI interviewed at Ciena
It was Long process and very unclear.they did not communicate about the process. I got to the last step but they never got back to me or replied my email.
Interview Questions
- Technical questions about job requirement
1 person found this interview helpful

Anonymous Interview Candidate in Pune
No Offer
Negative
Experience
Average Interview
Application
InterviewI applied online. The process took 5 days. I interviewed at Ciena (Pune) in Feb 2022
They have shared 4-5 coding questions to be implemented in JavaScript. In the next round, all the solutions were discussed with the interviewer, about the approach and run some test cases. Even though I answered him all the solutions. I have not received any feedback or update from them. It was a really bad experience.
Interview Questions
- JavaScript coding questions like reverse words of a sentence, find the smallest missing positive number, peak element, etc.
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Anonymous Interview Candidate in Montreal, QC
No Offer
Neutral
Experience
Average Interview
Application
InterviewI applied through an employee referral I interviewed at Ciena (Montreal, QC) in Feb 2022
Started with a description of how their system works and went to the questionnaire about how much you understand the concepts and process to achieve the result. The interview process with telephone interview followed by a technical interview. There are three senior managers for the tech interview.
Interview Questions
- Experience-based questions, why are you interested in this job? What kind of methodology have you used in your previous projects? Hands-on experience questions. Synthesis of the design
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Anonymous Interview Candidate
No Offer
Negative
Experience
Average Interview
Application
InterviewI interviewed at Ciena
Phone interview -> 3 hours interview with 3 engineers in sequence After the interview, recruiter just disappeared. A week after I sent an email, saying that the position was already filled. Don't waste your time..
Interview Questions
- Operating system related questions a
2 people found this interview helpful
Ciena Interviews FAQs
Glassdoor users rated their interview experience at Ciena as 73.0% positive with a difficulty rating score of 2.71 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty). Candidates interviewing for Software Developer and Intern rated their interviews as the hardest, whereas interviews for Senior Engineer P&T (Embedded Software Engineer) and Software Engineer roles were rated as the easiest.
The hiring process at Ciena takes an average of 20 days when considering 95 user submitted interviews across all job titles. Candidates applying for Intern had the quickest hiring process (on average 12 days), whereas Software Engineer I roles had the slowest hiring process (on average 25 days).
Common stages of the interview process at Ciena according to 95 Glassdoor interviews include:
Phone Interview: 27.23%
Group Panel Interview: 15.84%
One-on-One Interview: 12.87%
Presentation: 11.88%
Skills Test: 8.91%
Drugs Test: 5.94%
Background Check: 5.94%
IQ Intelligence Test: 5.45%
Personality Test: 4.46%
Other: 1.49%
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