An engineer who worked for Palantir for 8 years says the company's interviews were 'impossible to prepare for'

In an manufacture known for quirky interrogation questions, immoderate of Palantir's aboriginal hiring practices basal out.

In an occurrence of Lenny's Podcast released connected Sunday, a erstwhile Palantir technologist and startup laminitis talked about hiring practices and enactment civilization successful the company's aboriginal days.

In bid to get hired, a campaigner had to beryllium interviewed by 1 of the founders, said Nabeel Qureshi, who worked astatine the information investigation institution for astir 8 years until 2023.

"The interviews were beauteous strange," Qureshi said connected the podcast.

"You'd beryllium chatting astir doctrine for an hr and a fractional and it would precise overmuch conscionable beryllium similar helium would prime a taxable retired of bladed air," Qureshi said, referring to interviews with the Palantir cofounder Stephen Cohen.

"It was intolerable to hole for," Qureshi added. "He would conscionable spell very, precise heavy and effort and trial the limits of your understanding. But it would truly conscionable beryllium a amusive speech and past if you walk the vibe check, you'd beryllium in."

Qureshi did not notation if the institution inactive engages successful these hiring practices.

Palantir was founded successful 2003 by Cohen, Peter Thiel, Joe Lonsdale, and Alex Karp. It provides businesses and militaries, including those of the US, Israel, and Ukraine, with AI models. It went nationalist successful 2020 and faced backlash past year due to the fact that of its concern with the Israeli Ministry of Defense.

Qureshi said that Palantir screened for 3 peculiar types of people: radical who were independent-minded and weren't acrophobic to propulsion back, radical with broader intelligence interests, and those who were "intensely competitive."

He added that Palantir besides attracted radical extracurricular of tech, specified arsenic subject vets, due to the fact that it was looking for radical who were not conscionable technically qualified but besides aligned with the company's mission.

Palantir and Cohen did not respond to requests for remark from Business Insider astir details astir the company's interrogation process, and whether it inactive asks candidates astir topics similar philosophy.

Qureshi besides talked astir however the company's civilization and concern practices were a fertile crushed to rise aboriginal founders.

He said Palantir instilled founder-friendly mindsets, specified arsenic telling employees to lick 1 customer's occupation archetypal due to the fact that that solution could aboriginal beryllium expanded to bring successful much business. The institution besides asked employees to leap connected a level and conscionable customers successful idiosyncratic due to the fact that "the vibe is wholly different," helium said.

Palantir has astatine slightest 39 alumni who tally their ain startups, including Lonsdale and the founders of the defense-tech startup Anduril. "Palantir mafia" companies person been backed by apical Venture Capital firms, including a16z, Sequoia, Accel, and Y Combinator.

Karp, the company's CEO, has connected respective occasions boasted that the company's employees are among the champion successful the business. Earlier this year, BI spoke to fractional a twelve tech recruiters astir the powerfulness of having Palantir connected your résumé — and portion immoderate said results substance much than the sanction of a company, they mostly agreed that Palantir employees are "top-notch" hires.

Palantir is worthy adjacent to $280 billion. Its banal is up 57% due to the fact that of its vulnerability to AI.