Palantir Technologies Software Engineering Interview Questions & Reviews
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Updated Apr 29, 2012 – Interview questions and reviews posted anonymously by interview candidates.
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Difficulty Rating [?] Based on 26 ratings 
“Difficult” Interview
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Interview Experience [?] Based on 26 ratings
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| 1–10 of 26 Palantir Technologies Interviews | Sort by |
Software Engineer at Palantir Technologies
Posted Apr 29, 2012
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5.0
Very Difficult Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Jan 2012 in Palo Alto, CA (took 2 months)
I first learned about Palantir from some of my classmates that had interviewed with them the year prior and they all raved about the company. They were very prompt with their reply and I had a phone screen scheduled shortly after I contacted them.
The whole interview process consisted of 2 phone interviews and an onsite interview. Most of their technical questions start off fairly standard -- but at the point where most companies stop asking you to improve your solution, Palantir goes further. I don't think I've had to pull out dynamic programming in an interview with any other company.
During the phone interviews you're expected to code up your solutions on a computer while you're talking with your interviewer, I actually enjoyed this quite a bit. The onsite interview consisted of questions I had never heard before, I had been interviewing all year long and most of them were boiler-plate, but Palantir had quite a few curve balls.
They were very fast with feedback, after each interview I didn't have to wait longer than a week before hearing whether or not I was advancing. At the end of the onsite interview I was asked to meet one of the founders. A week later they asked me to do a skype interview with another founder and shortly after I received a phone call extending me an offer.
All the employees I talked to at the company seemed very happy, Palantir seems to have a very open and collaborative atmosphere among its engineers. Also, it seems that they are incredibly flexible with working hours, which was a big selling point when I was making my decision. Also, they have dogs running around, one walked into my interview room while I was waiting, looked at me for a minute and then left. This place is too good to be true.
Interview Questions
Negotiation Details
Palantir offered me a choice of 3 different packages ranging in different levels of salary and equity. I had another offer that I was able to leverage during negotiation. Overall, I'm very happy with the package I got from Palantir.
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview and a Skills Test.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Software Engineer at Palantir Technologies
Posted Apr 27, 2012
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Apr 2012 (took a day)
Having heard how hard Palantir interviews were, I answered the phone expecting to fail.
They gave an introduction and asked what I would change about their product.
Then went straight into algorithms.
Asked how to find the median in a list. Then a more efficient solution than my answer. They helped/guided me through how to find the optimal answer, but I got there in the end.
Next asked how to keep track of minimum number in a stack without losing O(1) complexity. I answered and once again, was asked to improve efficiency, which I did.
I asked how I could improve in future interviews, he said that I did well and that there wasn't really anything I could have done better and that thinking a loud was good. Hung up the phone thinking I did very well, got sent rejection letter two weeks later. Not really sure what they wanted, perhaps you need optimal answers from the start.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Software Engineering at Palantir Technologies
Posted Feb 13, 2012
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Sep 2011 (took a day)
Dropped off my resume at the university career fair, where was asked a string manipulation question. Got an email a week or so later to schedule a phone interview a week from the email. Phone interview was technical and was asked to code and go over my code. Fairly tough with lot of questions related to string manipulations and tree related question. Got a reply a week later saying hadn't made it.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a College or University and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Software Engineering at Palantir Technologies
Posted Jan 16, 2012
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Oct 2011 (took a day)
I applied for a summer intern position at the university career affair. A few days later, a HR contacted to schedule a phone interview. The interviewer is generally very friendly. He called on time. The interviewer start straight with technical questions. Most of the questions are about basic knowledge in computer science.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a College or University and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Software Engineer at Palantir Technologies
Posted Jan 10, 2012
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Jan 2012 (took 2 days)
Palantir Technologies:
Recruiter called me up and described about the company i.e. how startup mode they are working, free food, benefits. I was not interested in knowing all these at the current step. I asked her about the job description in detail. She then happily arranged for a phone interview.
Now during phone interview, I was given Shared google document and started to analyze the problem statement and write the code. It was something to do with the implementation of Jquery. How would you do it and and write the sample code for it.
I was surprised that they directly went on to ask the question rather than giving me an insight into the job responsibilities and roles.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Software Engineer at Palantir Technologies
Posted Jan 9, 2012
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Dec 2011 (took a day)
Very professional. Called exactly on time. No preliminaries, except a "How did you hear about Palantir". I had gone to their talk on the University campus and in addition to dropping of my resume, I applied through their website as well. From my experience, it sounds like they require people who are top of the line coders.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Software Engineer at Palantir Technologies
Posted Nov 28, 2011
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Oct 2011 in Palo Alto, CA (took 2 days)
Palantir was part of an on-campus college fair, during which I approached them. After describing the two parts of their company, they took my resume and asked some preliminary technical questions. After about a week, they contacted me via e-mail and set up a first phone interview, which I did 2 weeks later. A few days later, they e-mailed requesting a second phone interview. The same day as that second interview, they e-mailed me saying that there were no available positions available for me.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a Skills Test.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Software Engineer at Palantir Technologies
Posted Nov 7, 2011
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Oct 2011 (took 1+ week)
Submitted resume job fair in my school. They setup a phone interview next week. Asked couple algorithm questions. First one was how do you find if sum of 2 numbers is equal to a certain number in an array. Then sum of 3, 4 and N numbers. I gave an answer. But the interviewer wanted a one that would work faster. There were awkward moments of silence. The other questions were easier. There is an array that has all the numbers from 1 to N but missing one. How do you find the missing number?
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Software Engineer at Palantir Technologies
Posted Nov 1, 2011
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Oct 2011 in Palo Alto, CA (took a day)
I submitted my resume at a campus job fair. A week or so later, I was contacted for a phone screen. The interviewer briefly described three different software teams and asked which I was most interested in. All of the rest of the questions were about data structures and algorithms. Specifically, all questions were of the form "give me an algorithm to do X. What are the time and space complexity?" Some of the questions were the same or very similar to others posted on this site (for similar positions). The interviewer was a new engineer (< 6 months) himself. I found him to be very polite and helpful, not arrogant or condescending in any way. There were no questions about my background, experience, or anything else on my resume. I received a rejection email within five hours of the interview. At least they didn't leave me hanging! There's no question that the bar is very high at Palantir.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a College or University and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Software Engineer at Palantir Technologies
Posted Oct 17, 2011
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Mar 2010 (took 2 weeks)
I initially talked with them at my university's career fair. Sounded like an interesting company, and the recruiter liked me enough to give me a follow up phone interview a couple weeks later. The person who interviewed me was about 15 minutes late in calling, but he was all business once he called. I had a few personal questions about my previous work experience and then he immediately asked me a few technical questions. I didn't do so well on the questions, although once I was told the answers it seemed like I just wasn't concentrating well when he asked the questions. Interview was relatively short, once he realized that I wasn't up to their standards he thanked me and told me they would respond shortly. The next response I received from them was a email telling me that I wasn't what they were looking for. Overall not bad, the company sounds like it has a really interesting atmosphere and challenging work. Although I definitely enjoyed talking to them more in person than on the phone.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a College or University and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
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