I applied through an employee referral. The process took 4 months. I interviewed at Palantir Technologies
Accepted offer
Neutral experience
Difficult interview
Application
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Palantir Technologies (McLean, VA) in May 2012
Interview
Initial communication: Asked about my resume, and gave a quick background on my history.
First Interview : Asked to describe a mechanical process. I used a diagram on paper as a prop. This was a reasonable question, since it was directly in my background
Second Interview: Describe a project I have worked on before. Looking for engineering processes, overall problem solving capability.
Third Interview: More a description of what the job would entail from my interviewer. Basically had to listen and learn more than anything else.
Fourth Interview: Division lead.
Fifth Interview: One of the founders of the company. Asked what about the company I found attractive.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
Describe a process that you used before, and teach it to me
Phone interview -> in person interview -> in person interview -> founder interview.
Standard non-programmer tech questions. Less focus on brain teasers and more focus on reading and understanding data (they brought in papers with charts for me to read and interpret). The (last) founder interview actually has a fairly low pass through rate, so don't think that meeting the founder = offer.
Only problem was entire process lasted a few months for me - you need to stay on top of the recruiting department (through your referrer most likely) to keep the process moving quickly.
I applied online. The process took 9+ months. I interviewed at Palantir Technologies
Interview
I applied online and received a phone call a few weeks after I applied. The whole process took probably around 9 months-- many, many interviews, usually around 8PM EST, with various people. In total, I had about 8 interviews, not including the final site visit. Each of the interviews were a little draining, consisting of about half an hour of getting-to-know-you type questions to determine if I was a jerk (their words) and then half an hour of engineering questions.
After months of phone interviews, they flew me to Palo Alto, where I had a full day of interviews with a variety of people, to include lunch with potential co-workers. The final two interviews of the day were with the two founders.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Any of the engineering questions, like, "If you had a client who wanted to measure the water speed in the Potomac, how would you approach that?" Google-style questions.
I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at Palantir Technologies
Interview
Several conversations over the phone, then 3 interviews on site. Very positive experience, kind people. interviews did consists of a few brainteasers, as well as how to apply the platform yourself, so make sure you understand it. Also just your standard motivation questions and affinity with technology.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How would you apply the platform at xyz? How would the system be organised?