Palantir FDSE interview questions

1. A city transit agency says its buses are unreliable and riders are leaving. You have a week with their team. How do you approach it?

   DecompositionDifficulty 2 of 5

   • Candidates report this round type at Palantir; the prompt is ours^{[1, 2, 3]}Source 1Palantir FDSE Interview (Blind)PublisherBlind (Teamblind)Source typecandidate report on BlindSource 2Palantir Interview London HELP !!! (Blind)PublisherBlind (Teamblind)Source typecandidate report on BlindSource 3Palantir Deployment Strategist Interview Prep (Blind)PublisherBlind (Teamblind)Source typecandidate report on Blind
2. Parse a CSV export with inconsistent dates, stray quotes and repeated header rows into clean records, and report what you dropped.

   CodingDifficulty 2 of 5

   • Reported at Palantir^[1]Source 1Palantir Technologies Forward Deployed Software Engineer Interview Questions (archived)PublisherGlassdoor (archived by the Wayback Machine)Source typecandidate’s personal write-up
3. What are your compensation expectations?

   Recruiter screenDifficulty 2 of 5

   • Published by Palantir^[1]Source 1Apply: Forward Deployed Software Engineer - US Government (Washington, D.C.) - Palantir on LeverPublisherPalantir Technologies (Lever)Source typecompany job posting
4. Why forward deployed engineering, and not a software engineering role?

   Recruiter screenDifficulty 2 of 5

   • Published by Palantir^[1]Source 1Apply: Forward Deployed Software Engineer, New Grad - Commercial (New York, NY) - Palantir on LeverPublisherPalantir Technologies (Lever)Source typecompany job posting
5. Here is a table of events from a fitness app. Pick one feature to build from it and scope it to something you could ship in two weeks.

   DecompositionDifficulty 3 of 5

   • Reported at Palantir^{[1, 2, 3]}Source 1Update: interview experience - Palantir new grad FDSE interview (Blind)PublisherBlind (Teamblind)Source typecandidate report on BlindSource 2Palantir Decomposition Interview Tips (Blind)PublisherBlind (Teamblind)Source typecandidate report on BlindSource 3Palantir Deployment Strategist Interview (Blind)PublisherBlind (Teamblind)Source typecandidate report on Blind
6. Tell me about a failure that was your fault. What did it cost, and what do you do differently now?

   BehavioralDifficulty 3 of 5

   • Published by Palantir for all engineering roles^[1]Source 1Getting Hired - Palantir CareersPublisherPalantir TechnologiesSource typecompany hiring page
7. Before you write code for this parser, list the inputs that will break it.

   CodingDifficulty 2 of 5Pro

   • Published by Palantir for all engineering roles^[1]Source 1Writing Good CodePublisherPalantirSource typecompany hiring page
8. Model a small inventory system with classes in about a page of code. Then add a new requirement I give you.

   CodingDifficulty 2 of 5Pro

   • Reported at Palantir^[4]Source 4Palantir FDSE Full Interview Loop Process (post by u/Not_the_Sauron)PublisherReddit r/csMajorsSource typecandidate report on Reddit
9. State the time and space complexity of your solution and say when it would matter in production.

   CodingDifficulty 2 of 5Pro

   • Published by Palantir for all engineering roles^[1]Source 1Analyzing the Efficiency of CodePublisherPalantirSource typecompany hiring page
10. Tell me about a time a user or customer showed you something that changed your mind about a technical approach.

    BehavioralDifficulty 2 of 5Pro

    • Published by Palantir^[1]Source 1Apply: Forward Deployed Software Engineer, New Grad - Commercial (New York, NY) - Palantir on LeverPublisherPalantir Technologies (Lever)Source typecompany job posting
11. What is the most technically ambitious thing you took on outside your comfort zone, and how did it go?

    BehavioralDifficulty 2 of 5Pro

    • Published by Palantir for all engineering roles^[1]Source 1Getting Hired - Palantir CareersPublisherPalantir TechnologiesSource typecompany hiring page
12. Here is a short piece of unfamiliar code with one bug that customers hit. Find and fix it, and explain how you found it.

    CodingDifficulty 3 of 5Pro

    • Reported at Palantir^{[1, 2, 3]}Source 1Palantir re-engineering interview (Blind)PublisherBlindSource typecandidate report on BlindSource 2Palantir re-engineering interview (Blind)PublisherBlindSource typecandidate report on BlindSource 3Working Inside Existing SystemsPublisherPalantirSource typecompany hiring page
13. Here is the documentation for a library you have never used. Use it to implement a small feature in the time we have.

    CodingDifficulty 3 of 5Pro

    • Reported at Palantir^{[1, 2, 3]}Source 1Palantir FDSE Full Interview Loop Process (post by u/Not_the_Sauron)PublisherReddit r/csMajorsSource typecandidate report on RedditSource 2Palantir Learning & Decomposition Interview (Blind)PublisherBlindSource typecandidate report on BlindSource 3Palantir learning interview (Blind)PublisherBlindSource typecandidate report on Blind
14. Tell me about a time you got a group that did not report to you to hit a date.

    BehavioralDifficulty 3 of 5Pro

    • Published by Palantir for all engineering roles^[1]Source 1Getting Hired - Palantir CareersPublisherPalantir TechnologiesSource typecompany hiring page
15. This team supports government customers. Do you hold or can you obtain a clearance, and how do you feel about that work?

    Recruiter screenDifficulty 3 of 5Pro

    • Published by Palantir^[1]Source 1Apply: Forward Deployed Software Engineer - US Government (Washington, D.C.) - Palantir on LeverPublisherPalantir Technologies (Lever)Source typecompany job posting

All FDE interview questions, by round