Palantir Technologies Reviews in Palo Alto, CA

Former Employee – worked at Palantir Technologies full-time for less than a year

Pros – The mission comes first, and everyone believes in Saving the Shire, and it is beautiful.
You know that person you meet that blows you away with how intelligent and introspective they are? Ok, now realize that everyone who works at Palantir is that type of "one-of-a-kind." The amount of brain power in one building is unbelievable.
The benefits are fantastic and people deserve the benefits with how hard they are working.
Your work is actually changing the world and Karp puts his people and the mission first.
Every support team is fantastic! They will go out of their way to take care of things for you.

Cons – It is hard to take time off. If you do, you end up being extremely out of the loop when you get back and it is stressful.
There are never enough people on your team to finish all of the work.
Be prepared to be on your computer on weekends and at night.
It is not a 9-5 job so be prepared to come early and stay late.
Sometimes you realize that you are taking the small things for granted because everything is taken care of for you. Ask your friends about their jobs and you will realize how lucky you have it at Palantir.
Feedback can be out of the blue.

Advice to Senior Management – As you grow, try to stay ahead of the work instead of being behind it. People will burn out if they are not given enough help and support from their leads and/or upper management. Implement some sort of training regimen for non-BD folks. It is daunting to be thrown in and only given feedback when you fail. Some guidance for at least the first month would be helpful. Encourage social interactions among Palantirians so that members of different teams can meet each other.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Palantir Technologies full-time for more than a year

Pros – -Nice/great/talented people
-The mission really does impact people in a great way
-Free Food

Cons – -Welcome to mini-Google, in other words recruiting hell without the great pay.
-A huge team for a company that has less than 1000 people.
-Located in downtown, huge parking problem!
-Broken recruiting process.

Advice to Senior Management – Stopping letting all these former Googlers recreate their mini hell, take a lesson from eBay, Facebook, or any other Fortune 500 company that isn't Google.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Palantir Technologies full-time

Pros – - You have a lot of freedom to make decisions about what you're doing day in day out.
- Fun environment, friendly people, great perks.
- The problems you are solving are quite complicated.
- The company is making a real world impact.

Cons – -Culture of entitlement
-Interpersonal conflicts

Advice to Senior Management – Hire more people with industry experience.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Palantir Technologies full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – 1. First and foremost, Palantir is working on some of the hardest and most important problems in the world. Working on these is both intellectually stimulating and extremely rewarding.

2. What initially drew me to the company, and what keeps me here today (in addition to 1 above), are the amazing people who work here. They're some of the smartest people I know and also some of my best friends. It's a great environment to work in, learn in, and enjoy life in. Also, there's a no a-hole policy, meaning we don't hire people we wouldn't want to work with on a daily basis, so everyone is someone you can easily enjoy working with and being friends with.

3. Meritocracy: the best idea wins, even if it's proposed by an intern. Seniority and experience will likely give you the ability to have better ideas, but it doesn't mean you're always right.

4. Lack of politics: similar to 3, you don't have to "know someone" or be a "senior engineer" or whatever to move up in the company or get your ideas heard.

5. Transparency: I ask a question, I get an answer. It may not be what I wanted or expected to hear, but will be the truth.

6. At Palantir, I have a chance to grow as an individual and take on leadership roles in a variety of ways. My primary responsibility is writing code to solve hard problems, but this past summer I mentored several newcomers and have been heavily involved in our recruiting efforts for quite a while. It's like a choose your own adventure where the transitions are based on your career goals and how you want to grow.

7. Decentralized decision-making and individual ownership: everyone owns pretty large portions of the codebase, and decisions are made at the level of project teams, not by "senior management" (which is hardly even a thing at Palantir). Sure, we have people who help drive the vision of the company and products as a whole, but like all of the people in leadership positions here, they're less controllers and decision-makers and more resources to help you make the biggest impact you can and solve the most important problems as effectively as possible.

8. Experimentation, agility, and investment in the future: Nothing is sacred here. Deleting code can be just as important (or more) than writing code. We're not afraid to try things out and discard them if they don't work. Process is a tool you refine and hone to serve you, not something you're a slave to. We're willing to be wrong and learn from it. Which may cause some short-term pain, but in the long-term it's well worth it.

Cons – 1. Growing pains: Palantir is growing very, very fast, which is both good and bad. It's hard to keep up with all the new things that are happening constantly, and it's hard to get to know all the new people starting continuously. And a lot of people are really tired of all the recruiting we have to do. I happen to like it, but that's just me. We're also running low on people who are interested in taking on leadership positions, which means our current leads get overworked and we have to look externally to hire new leads. Still don't know how that's going to turn out.

2. Working in challenging environments: This is really less of a con and more of a reality of working on the most important problems we can find in the most important places. When your deployment lives on a classified network or even just contains sensitive data, it can be a PITA to diagnose and fix problems.

3. No consumer product: It's really hard to explain what we do to people. Especially non-technical people. Work at Facebook or Amazon? Show mom the website. Palantir? Not so much. Most people here aren't much bothered by this, but it is kind of lame.

4. Occasional lack of direction for projects: Sometimes when you're working on something completely new, there will be times when you just...aren't really sure what to do next. We have great ways to get feedback from customers and our Forward Deployed Engineers, but that can take time during which projects can stall, which can be frustrating.

And now for some things that others might see as cons, but I don't

1. Work-life balance: people work really hard here. Really, really hard. I'm here 60+ hours a week usually (though not all of that is time spent working). However, I don't have any set hours. I can come in whenever I want as long as I'm getting things done. And I really like the work, so it's not really an issue for me. Plenty of people have families and work more "standard" hours while the younger crowd tends to come in later and stay later. And there's no vacation policy, so if I need a break, I can just take it, again provided I'm getting done what needs to get done.

2. Compensation: Salaries here are pretty low by Valley standards, but the equity more than makes up for it. Of course, this becomes less true over time, but as of now, it's still very true. Also, the other benefits are great, including 3 meals a day, 5 days a week (plus lunch Saturdays!). Though honestly, people who are primarily financially motivated would probably be less likely to find Palantir a satisfying environment than someone like me who is more motivated by purposeful work and learning from other awesome engineers.

Advice to Senior Management – Of course, I've already talked with "senior management" about this, but there is such a thing as growing too fast, and we have to be careful not to do so. When I was an intern 3.5 years ago, the whole team was my "mentor". Nowadays, new people have to share their one mentor with 1-2 other new people. It's necessary, but it makes it harder for new people to meet and learn from those who have been around for a while and really feel welcome and important in the company.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Palantir Technologies full-time for more than a year

Pros – - Almost all employees are extremely competent, friendly, and have a great attitude. The "No A-hole" policy works.
- The software and the team are actually making a difference in the world. The missions in antifraud, law enforcement, national security, and others are really inspirational.
- A real commitment to protecting privacy and civil liberties. I, personally, feel much better about the government agencies that have my personal info using Palantir, than any other software that does similar things (and probably hasn't built protections in from the ground-up.)
- The technical bar is high, and there's lots of opportunity to learn from others who are better than you (and not stuck up about it... see the first point.)
- Lots of individual autonomy. Employees are treated as adults in regards to time management, resource usage, technology choices, etc.
- Company leadership has a commitment to transparency, which is especially important in the face of some of the tricky moral dilemmas that come with access to lots of data. When there are issues, they're brought out in the open and discussed.
- Lots of perks (meals, snacks, swag, laundry, massage, chiro, physician, events). Other reviews have mentioned meals as a way of chaining you to your desk, but that hasn't been my experience. Nobody cares if I fill up to-go containers and bring dinner home to the family, or invite outside friends to eat a nice leisurely lunch (see point about being treated like an adult).
- Equity that will actually be worth something.

Cons – - There have been some growing pains as the company expands rapidly. It's starting to feel less like one big happy family and more fragmented.
- There is always so much to do, and always too few hands to do it. Since we have a lot of autonomy to dictate our own load/pace, we can often self-impose too much, and/or try to keep up with the next guy who is inevitably whip-smart and hard working. I almost always feel like I'm behind (which, admittedly, may be my own anxiety - nobody is harping on me to catch up.)
- All leads are promoted from within, which means that while they will definitely understand your engineering challenges, they may still be honing their management and people skills.
- The recruiting/interviewing load can eat up a lot of time during the heavy seasons, killing whole weeks of independent productivity. It's important work, but can be draining.
- People outside the company call us "secretive" and "shadowy" and accuse us of doing nefarious things that we don't do. Inevitably, arguing and feeding the trolls just makes you sound worse.
- Salaries are lower than other silicon valley companies. It's enough to live comfortably, and all those pros definitely soften the blow.

Advice to Senior Management – Keep up the trend of reaching out to employees to hear their concerns, and don't be afraid to take bold moves to keep the company as great a place to work as it grows.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Palantir Technologies as an intern for less than a year

Pros – - Very fun atmosphere and people. Lots of exciting events and weekly traditions (pizza night, ultimate frisbee, Halo, etc.)
- People are mostly friendly, happy to see you.
- Great mission that everyone's working for.
- Everyone is super willing to help you out if you have a problem. I would IM people I'd never met but whose names I found on the Wiki and they would answer my questions right away.
- They don't waist your time with administrative stuff.

Cons – - Very high expectations. People often work long/hard hours. People seemed to be a little fearful of keeping their jobs.
- The older engineers were hard to approach in person, didn't seem interested in making friendships (at least with interns). I often felt like they thought I was wasting their time and that my questions were dumb.
- There's an attitude that some may find to be "elitist" that most of the employees and executives often give off.
- Some, if not many, engineers didn't seem super enthused about the mission. Some seemed to just be there because it was a job, or because it was fun.

Advice to Senior Management – - Limit the amount of times you say "we're the best." Don't say/imply that you're perfect. You have your flaws and difficulties (mostly code-based) like every company does.
- Be more approachable. Don't always be in a hurry everywhere.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Palantir Technologies full-time for less than a year

Pros – - Software being used to tack important problems. It's gratifying to see the projects I've worked on being used on real problems.
- Coworkers are, by and large, fantastic. Fun people to work with who you can trust to do good work. I feel like I have a lot to learn from the people around me.
- I can see why the culture might seem intimidating at first but as a bona fide antisocial developer stereotype, I would say that my experience here has been quite welcoming.
- I believe the company has a large potential upside. Having seen our software deployed and used, I think we have the potential to be very successful.

Cons – - There are definitely growing pains. With the size of the company and by which it's trying to grow, there is a large burden of recruiting on everyone. This can be tiring but the load will be better distributed as we grow.
- Work-life balance could be better. I definitely work a lot, but I wouldn't be willing to do so if I didn't enjoy the work I'm doing.
- A lot of effort is being put into "preserving the culture" as we grow but I think care should be taken not to let this alienate new people. I think if I had interned/started a year later than I did, I would not have felt as at home and welcome here as I do.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Palantir Technologies full-time for more than a year

Pros – - Important work. We have opportunities here to leverage technology against our customers' hardest challenges and make a significant impact.
- Incredibly talented and motivated colleagues.
- An amazing product. Unlike other companies where I've worked, Palantir does not send their BD/implementation teams out to sell and service a product with gaping holes and bugs.
- The company and employees don't take themselves too seriously, but we take our work very seriously. At Palantir, we have a laid-back meritocracy favoring problem solving and entrepreneurship.
- Great benefits and perks. Palantir covers 100% of our health insurance premium, as well as other perks to make life easier.
- We are moving towards a better work-life balance. We will always have plenty of work to do here, but as we are able to recruit and hire more employees, and the average age of employees increases, the culture is shifting subtly towards better balance.

Cons – - Though transparency is a corporate value here, as we continue to grow, decisions are made by a smaller percentage of the company and the results and reasoning behind those decisions is disseminated slowly.
- Professional development has not been a priority during the company's first years.
- The culture is changing. We're not a start-up anymore and fewer new hires act like owners, despite stock options.

Advice to Senior Management – Protect the culture and atmosphere. Don't pretend that there are no politics or true managers here, because those issues do come into play. More experienced team members need to cultivate a positive environment, as well as recognizing valuable contributions that new hires can make. I think we're in danger of creating an elite that has been here for a few years and excludes newer team members from decision making and opportunities.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Palantir Technologies full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Important work that creates new technology, solves important problems - work with real meaning.
Talented coworkers always have something to teach and to learn - collaboration is amazing.
Equity packages with little risk and still lots of upside (even for new employees)
Upper management is filled with super sharp and hard working people who care deeply about the success of the org and its people. They're not perfect, but the best I've ever seen.
A great culture where people who want to take initiative are rewarded and lauded. The culture is protected and cared for to make sure this place doesn't lose its magic.
A management team that's very introspective, transparent place always trying to learn and do better.
A true meritocracy, where the best idea wins and seniority and titles are not important, just good work.

Cons – Some managers are sharp individuals but poor managers. Despite best efforts to train them, some folks suffer due to this.
Company is growing fast and growing pains abound. The company is working hard to offset these issues, but new ways of doing things need to be implemented.
Another growth issue: upper management is overworked more than anyone, leading to some pressing issue slipping through the cracks. They get fixed eventually, but there's pain in the meantime.
People work hard and some groups try to maintain an unsustainable pace that leads to burnout and jealousy of people perceived to have "cushier" jobs.
Overall compensation is high (due to stock options that are/will be worth real money) but cash compensation is lower than industry (not ridiculously so, but low, yeah)

Advice to Senior Management – Raise salaries or talent will flee (I've heard this from new and old-timers alike)
Listen to reports of crappy managers seriously and take them to task instead of letting them punish their reports

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Palantir Technologies full-time for more than a year

Pros – - Good Benefits
- Interesting Customers
- International teams

Cons – - It is really hard to work with so many people with big egos
- It's all about moving data from one side to another side (from customer side to Palantir). After some years becomes quite boring.
- Everybody thinks to be the best talent in the world, but it is mostly a marketing strategy

Advice to Senior Management – - Being more transparent about the internal process.
- Being more transparent with people who quit.
- Doing what saying during the company meetings.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend