Updated by Palantir candidates
Forward Deployed Engineer Interview Experience
Interview process
Technical interview was enjoyable since it was less so rigorous LeetCode-style problems, and more practical coding to implement particular features. Prioritize a working solution over an unfinished, optimized code.
- Recruiter screen
- Technical interview
- Phone interview
- Final round
Interview tips
Be careful with the questions you ask during the learning round. High-level, clarifying questions are okay. But make sure your questions dont make you come across like you need too much handholding.
Company culture
I applied for FDSE - Commercial path, and was connected to a team working with the LA power utility company at that time. They were developing a system to detect peak hours for the electric grid so they can adjust the power delivery to minimize the risk of forest fire when the grids are overloaded during a dry season. The mission felt impactful and beneficial to the community surrounding it. The downside is that there are other parts of the company that deals with more government / defense work, that is more on the controversial side.
Questions asked
Question types asked
Specific questions asked
Learning round: given a documentation of an obscure coding language, solve problems.
You can't really prepare much for this one. Show up with the right attitude, and ask the right questions. Be careful on asking questions that can make you seem like you need a lot of handholding / guidance to solve the problem -- that caused me to fail this round.
Decomposition round: Design Yelp
I went back and forth with the interviewer and created a basic system design to implement Yelp. We discussed technical considerations, and add more layers of complexities as we progress. Be opinionated and be ready to support your design choices. Palantir values opinionated people.
Get full access with a membership, or share your experience to try it free.
