The interview process takes 4-6 weeks on average.
- Stage 1: Phone screen with HR (might be skipped) S
- tage 2: Phone interview to review portfolio with a senior designer/team member.
- Stage 3: Online design exercise followed by a 1:1 review/pitch with another team member. The design challenge consists of 3 prompts from which the candidate chooses 1.
- Stage 4: Onsite interview The onsite starts with a portfolio presentation, then 2 whiteboard challenges. After lunch, there is a demo on product and design work plus a meeting with the CEO. Interview Interview Questions
It takes 2 weeks on average to finish the entire process, however, in certain cases it could take longer
- Stage 1: Phone screen with HR (might be skipped)
- Stage 2: Coding challenge The candidate has 5 days to begin the quiz, but once its started it has to be completed in 90 minutes. Questions are mainly on algorithms.
- Stage 3: Technical phone screen with an engineer, with live coding challenge
- Stage 4: Onsite interview The onsite interview usually involves a very brief meeting with the CEO, followed by a series of 30 minute interviews lasting essentially all day. The questions are described as moderately difficult (coding is done in Java) and the interview sessions are quite intense. However, the atmosphere is described as friendly and welcoming.
Some (but not all) of the work the company does is incredibly exciting and impactful to real-world problems. Your co-workers will be smart, hard-working, and motivated. Theres a very small number of companies in the DC area that offer catered food 3 times a day and have a speakeasy. The perks are real, and while they shouldnt be a deciding factor, theyre definitely nice. Stop hiring software engineers to not do software engineering. Dont lie to prospective candidates about their job duties. Consider hiring some people who have demonstrated excellence in leadership, and actually let them be leaders and make decisions.
Palantir Interview Question
What is the interview process (phone and in-house) like at Palantir?
I had a great time interviewing at Palantir for a Software Engineering position — I came in the morning, left late at night, and spent a total of 8 1/2 hours there. They fed me lunch and dinner, not to mention all the tasty drinks I grabbed from their fridges in between interviews.
The technical questions were of moderate difficulty, and Palantir won some of my respect for asking interesting questions — any questions about trivialities, meant to gauge basic competence, were only cursorily asked in passing. The interviews weren’t much different from what I’d imagine holding 3rd year undergrad CS office hours to be like, with an above-average, bright student coming in and asking good questions — you take some time to digest the question, solve it, think of a clean way to explain the problem, and then patiently communicate it to the interviewer/student. After the technical portions of the interviews, the interviewers and I would generally exchange stories, share our philosophies and opinions on good software practices and pretty much just chat around to get a sense of each other’s personality.
I think the level of Palantir’s questions is appropriate. If they were any easier, I would’ve felt like they were wasting everybody’s time, and instead of having candid, open discussions, I would’ve been left wondering just what they were looking for in my responses. (This has happened with other companies, sadly — nobody wants to hold remedial 1st year undergrad office hours.)
All said, it was an enjoyable process, but I left pretty exhausted despite the much-appreciated generous gaps they gave me between interviews to consume my sugary beverages. Holding office hours for most of the day will leave you drained, no matter what your students are like
Palantir Technologies Software Engineer New Grad Interview Questions
- Signed NDA so I cannot disclose.
- To explain the time and space complexity of two different algorithms
- Karat interview, was asked technical questions ranging from complexity analysis to standard algorithms questions
- Why I wanted to work at Palantir
- Leetcode medium-level questions. Data structure knowledge and time/space complexity are important.
- Design a platform for teachers and students to create schedules and sign up to teach and enroll in various classes in different rooms.
- How would you design a course registration system.
What people are saying about Palantir Technologies
- The interview process is outsourced to a company called karat. The interview is about an hour long, there is a live coding session of 45mins, and 15 minutes of 3 oral questions and introduction. The live coding question is on DSA, it’s possible that they were sourced from leetcodes.
- Karat Interview with a external recruiter, was a good experience overall. 10 minutes of basic algorithmic intuitation / theory questions, followed by 50 minutes with 2-3 medium leetcode questions. Overall not that hard, be sure to be prepared.
- Tough questions during the Karat Interview, graph-centric problems that require more time than given to complete the necessary amount. Most other places would give only one, maybe two of these questions but there are at least three in this stage.
- For this position I was placed in a 1 hour coding interview where the first 15 minutes were logic questions and an introduction about yourself and your engineering background. They also allow you a no-questions-asked re-do if you feel you didn’t do well. When you schedule you have no control over who your interviewer is, only when your interview is (which may change the person). My first interview was late in the afternoon and the engineer did not seem pleased to be interviewing me which definitely made it difficult to perform. My second engineer was much more welcoming.
- I made it through 3 different interviews before being cut. The first was a simple behavioral phone call, then a standard hour long technical screen done with Karat. After this, I had the “onsite” interview which consisted of a systems design interview, “learning” interview, and then a standard technical interview.
- Completed a very easy HackerRank, followed by a Karat interview that was also pretty straightforward with simple algo/DS questions. Virtual onsite consists of 3 interviews — a standard algorithms interview, a decomp interview which is similar to a system design problem, and a learning interview where you learn a new technology/language and are asked to implement it. After the onsite, I was asked to return for another interview with an engineering manager. It was completely behavioral and mostly standard questions.
FAQ
How do I prepare for a Palantir interview?
- Find a quiet, comfortable place. You should be in a quiet environment where you feel comfortable interviewing. …
- Make sure your phone works. …
- Be prepared. …
- Have a pen and paper ready.
What is Palantir looking for?
Does Palantir pay well?
What is a Decomp interview?
One on One Interview: 22.16%
Skills Test: 10.19%
Presentation: 9.29%
Group Panel Interview: 3.98%
Personality Test: 2.77%
IQ Intelligence Test: 2.59%
Other: 1.88%
Drug Test: 1.39%
Background Check: 1.12%
