palantir | Software Engineer | Interview Experience
Interview Date: Not specified
Result: Not specified
Difficulty: Not specified
Interview Process
The interview involved converting a single-threaded package manager into a multi-threaded one. The interviewer first explained what a package manager is, and provided various code snippets for class definitions related to packages and repositories. Candidates were asked to explain the code, with documentation provided for any new libraries or code introduced. A solid understanding of threads and thread pools is beneficial.
Candidates were also given a piece of code that iterated through a list of repositories and called get(package) on each one, leading to blocking calls. The solution involved queuing the calls and checking for their completion rather than blocking on each call.
The second part of the interview focused on caching strategies. Candidates were advised against caching large packages directly and instead suggested caching the repositories containing them, requiring fixes to cached values in a hash table.
Additionally, candidates learned an internal SQL-like language used at Palantir to answer simple questions, similar to basic SQL queries but with an object-oriented approach.
Technical Questions
- Multi-threading
Tips & Insights
Expressing ideas clearly and making progress during the interview is crucial. If performance is lacking, the questions may be repeated to the hiring manager, which could impact the overall interview process.