Senior Software Engineer Interview Experience - Palo Alto, California
Process
It seems like Friday is their designated day for processing resumes and contacting applicants.
My interview experience consisted of a 45-minute phone interview. The questions were mostly computer science puzzles.
At the beginning, the interviewer asked me what I liked about their products. They expect you to play a bit with their free demos.
I stated in my resume that I have experience with both Oracle and MySQL. They asked me what the difference is between these two.
Questions
What is the difference between MySQL and Oracle DB?
Given an array, how do you find if there are three numbers whose sum is zero? What is the cost of this algorithm?
Given two arrays with lengths M and N, how do you merge them? What is the cost of this operation?
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 1 interview experience for the Palantir Senior Software Engineer role in Palo Alto, California.
Success Rate
Palantir's interview process for their Senior Software Engineer roles in Palo Alto, California is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Palantir's Senior Software Engineer interview process in Palo Alto, California.
Palantir Work Experiences
- 5.0Excellent place to workSenior Software Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Jose, California, United StatesMay 5, 2024Pros: Good leadership and compensation for engineering positions.Cons: Work-life balance is difficult, especially with a lot of travel for FDE.
- 1.0Highly Toxic Company. AvoidSenior Software Engineer • Current EmployeeLondon, England, United KingdomDecember 16, 2019Pros: There are a lot of hard problems that we try to solve. But that is becoming less the case over time.Cons: - Toxic company. New hires do most of the heavy lifting. - This is a consulting company. You are not working for a software company. - No product roadmap. No product strategy. - Extremely political. If you fight the big guys, you are out. - The loudest voice wins. Always. (contrary to Palantir claims). - Average age: 25, with a standard deviation of 2 years. 90+% of employees are under 32. In short, kids are leading the boat. - Cost cutting is happening now that the company is trying to IPO. No housing subsidy, less interesting pay, worse software quality, and highly questionable cost-cutting techniques/strategies. Corp cards for everyone (extravaganza), but cost cuts to product development. - People compete to see "who will stay longest in the office" as a cool thing. That’s because most employees, while extremely talented, have little to no social life outside of work. If you do, you’re losing that game. - Arrogance. Plenty of it. Masked in fake modesty.
- 5.0Great Mission, Quality PeopleSenior Software Engineer • Current EmployeeNew York, New York, United StatesApril 29, 2022Pros: Level of responsibilities, quality of people, missionCons: Flat hierarchy. Not many cons, to be honest.
Palantir Interview Questions
