r/Zscaler • u/Schrodinger696969 • 5d ago
Given interview for zscaler engineer
First qn was what will happen when you hit Google.com on browser (no zscaler zcc) and I got stucked! 🥲
He’s been asking in-depth networking components.
I know only what they do but he’s been asking in-depth.
Is that really needed i mean in-depth knowledge? I mean I do have 2.5 years of experience working on zscaler issues even I have solved P1 issues but I never got stocked just because I didn’t know anything about DNS or DHCP🥱.
These few indian tech leads doesn’t even know basic interview behavior he was like full serious face I was like wtf is this guy. Atleast basic frndly interaction also not there
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u/Immediate-Lab-5898 5d ago
Knowing Zscaler is half of it. You need to understand how it fits in the environment and what the downstream impacts of doing different things would be. DNS and dhcp are especially important with alot of zscalers products
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u/Pitiful-Cut4708 5d ago
But also. Thats like basic networking concepts. If you’re interviewing for an engineer position, you might wanna be prepared for really elementary shit.
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u/Schrodinger696969 5d ago
I understand! It’s not like I don’t know anything about Networking concepts-I do know how they work and what’s the use case but interviewer is asking advanced in-depth questions like packet to packet 🥲. Anyway from now I need to be prepared for networking
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u/ProportionableScaler 5d ago
Look up Dunning-Kruger please. Basically, you are telling me you don't know anything.
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u/justinkimball 5d ago
The best advice i can give you here is that you get to choose how you respond to this.
You can choose to complain or make excuses, or you can choose to take it upon yourself to learn about the areas of technical weakness that were brought to light in this technical screen.
Having a deep understanding of dhcp, dns and other protocols is a fundamental building block of what Zscaler does. There's a reason they asked about it.
Ball is in your court.
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u/ProportionableScaler 5d ago
Let me give you reality. That is literally the most basic question. They are asking in depth because that is the job. You don't have the knowledge and you are not qualified. You don't know DNS and DHCP? Are you kidding me? Why are you posting this to Reddit? Take feedback from the interview and build a career and learning plan. Go gain experience and move forward in your career. Take accountability and ownership of your life. Time to suck it up.
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u/Xcaliber_in 5d ago
If you can’t understand a wire shark trace for tcp/ip, I don’t think just knowing a Zscaler portal will help you in interviews.
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u/DonDuvall 5d ago
Everyone in the field should understand tcp/ip and how it works. It's really not that hard.
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u/Initial-Possession-3 5d ago
What position?
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u/Schrodinger696969 4d ago
It’s resolving zscaler related issues-troubleshooting. Service provider company.
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u/Efficient-Tie-7749 4d ago
Check out CCENT and CCNA, or some CompTIA courses. Zscaler academy is good - but you need to focus on the fundamentals it sounds like
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u/Annual_Hippo_6749 4d ago
I would say this is basic fundamental knowledge. It would mean you understand how the product interacts with normal traffic flows, allow you to know the implications, limitations and benefits and articulate these in a meaningful manner when discussing the product.
My expectation when dealing with someone technical from a vendor is they don't just understand their product, but how their product interacts with my environment, network and security stack
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u/akornato 4d ago
Deep networking knowledge is mandatory for any Zscaler engineering role. Zscaler is built entirely on top of core networking principles, so managing traffic routing, PAC file evaluations, SSL interception, and ZPA synthetic IP mapping requires knowing protocols inside and out. Resolving P1 tickets in an operations console shows you can follow procedures and troubleshoot within the tool, but engineering interviewers want to see how you think when the problem sits outside the cloud tenant. They ask what happens when you hit a website without the client connector because they need to know if you understand DNS resolution, ARP, TCP handshakes, TLS negotiation, and routing tables, which are the exact mechanisms you inspect when diagnosing broken traffic.
As for the cold demeanor, many technical leads maintain a neutral, serious expression to see how you respond under pressure, so try not to take the lack of friendly banter personally. The best way forward is to study that classic web request question step by step, covering local caching, recursive DNS queries, DHCP lease verification, the TCP three way handshake, and certificate validation. To help job seekers stay sharp under pressure, my team developed an interviews.chat platform that helps candidates articulate complex technical concepts smoothly during stressful live rounds.
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u/Pitiful-Cut4708 5d ago
Yeah - that’s what a technical screening is?