Interview Questions/Palantir Flashcards
(24 cards)
Tell me about yourself
Currently I work in Operations with a stealth stage start-up that’s focused on improving the patient experience around lab work. In this role, I coordinate with our executive team and department heads to better understand potential or existing problems, their impact, ideate on solutions and deliver on solutions for our team or for our patients.
In my last role I worked at a start-up as one of the first members of our sales team. I developed our sales charter and created a playbook for new sales reps to follow. I also led our team in sales helping advance the company from a Series A to a Series B.
Earlier in my career, I worked in government where I analyzed policy ideas and legislation and used different strategies to estimate its financial costs, and its social and political impact. I would also speak with legislators, committees, their staffs and the public and elaborate on policy and projected impact. “
What interests you about this role?
Why do you want to work here?
I’m passionate about making data accessible. I’ve seen firsthand how data can help us make better products and reduce our bias and intuitions especially at scale. In knowing how to access and interpret data it can provide us with the best way to prioritize roadmap decisions.
I was drawn to Palantir because of some of the major projects Palantir has been working on and the global impact the work has on everything from the financial sector to stopping terrorism.
Specifically I found the case study on Palantir’s technology informing Pacific Gas and Electric of generators needing inspection, repair or to be shut down completely to be a game changer in preventing and containing wildfires.
I also read the company’s culture of working hard and supporting those around you to align with what I’m looking for as well.
I want to level up in my operational skill set and work on bigger and more multi faceted projects.
Why do you want to leave your current position?
Ive been in this role for well over a year, Ive learned a tremednous amount and have had some great mentors as well as direct exposure to how a company is run from the ground up. However, I’ve found that the product isnt meeting some of the expectations that were made when I originally started. it appears that some of the technical aspects that were advertised aren’t coming to fruition and it resulting in some highly manual workflows behind the scene and for that reason I don’t see the company heading in the direction that I had originally anticipated. In addition, Ive worked at two start-ups with heavy focus on the clinical side and I dont feel as though the healthcare sector is where my interest lies.
What is your understanding of what we do?
Palantir has three main products, Apollo, Foundry and Gotham, which leverage machine learning and data analysis algorithms to collect, process, and analyze data to form patterns and connections that help predict outcomes through better operational decisions.
What are you looking for in your next role?
How will Palantir serve those ends?
I’m looking for an innovative and collaborative work environment where everyone is committed to working hard to achieve the goal of solving problems that will have a large impact on big problems. And from what Ive been reading, Palantir employees are known for giving it their all while having the freedom to work on different projects across the company.
Tell me some things about yourself that I cannot tell from a resume.
“Light hearted, don’t take myself too seriously, like to have fun. Easy to get along with and like to build relationships with my colleagues.
I enjoy finding new, hole in the wall places to eat in NY (especially cheap ones) and exploring parts of the city that Ive never been to. I love to stay active, after work Im typically at the gym where I like to lift weights or spin using the Peloton app.
Im also an avid NY sports fan. Hoping the Yankees can make up for the most recent disappointment of the Knicks and Rangers.
Tell me about your experience and why it is relevant for the position you are interviewing for. What makes you fit for this position?
I love tackling projects, big and small, and being able to pull different teams and team members together to achieve a common goal that has an impact on a project and the business.
I like to face complex questions head on and develop a strategy with my team members to figure out a solution that solves that problem and is scalable.
I love the process of creating a project plan and knocking off tasks as they’re completed
Putting together a giant Notion page, getting the team together, handing out responsibilities (whether to the CEO or CTO or our Interns) and getting everyone on the same page to complete the mission
What are your top three strengths? Give an example illustrating that.
Go getter/Get it done mentality – After working at two early stage start-ups I know that the typical day doesnt always follow the Monday to Friday, 9 to 5. Usually there are problems or projects that require stepping outside of your comfort zone to get the work done. For example, prior to some of the automation we now have in place as well as the additional team members we added, we needed to handle the tech workflow manually which required hours after work on weekdays and weekends. I knew we working towards more automation and additonal personnel but until that time I needed to step and deliver on the product sold to our practices as well as the patient experience we promised.
Listening and building relationships: I think I was able to hone in on this skill after working in government and in sales but I belive it comes down to really taking the time to listen to a person’s point of view, understanding their problems and aligning with them to discover a solution. For example, at my current company we signed a practice which already had a process for delivering their patient’s lab results which negated some of the value proposition we offered. We attempted to use their porocess and our porcess but this ended up creating confusion and tension between patients, the practice and ultimately our team. The knee jerk reaction would have been to blame Sales and let the practice churn, but instead I set up time with their admin team to grasp what was happening on their end, then collaborating with our teams in ternally to develop a plan then present that to the practie. We ultimately created a joint process where we each agreed to handle different aspect of the process.
Service mindset - A few months ago I was working with a patient who wasn’t very tech savvy and was having a lot of difficulty creating their account, logging in and doing their results. I could have sent over a email template or SMS template with instructions and let the patient figure it out on their own however I decided to pick up the phone call the patient and work with them for a half hour to ensure that they were able to login and see the results. and I think it’s these type of experiences that really go along way not just for the patient but also to set the tone for the rest of the company as well.
What are your top three weaknesses? Give an example illustrating that.
Self-critical - I think its natural to make mistakes int he workplace from time to time but I find when I do, especially with smaller things, I tend to dwell on the problem, extrapolate the issue and break myself down. On the flip side this has the benefit of analyzing the problem, understanding what happned and how to prvent it but more often than not can be overly critical. For example, a colleague asked via Slack if I could send along a spreadsheet of patients from one of our practices but I was in the middle of something else and totally forgot. it naturally presented itself later on and I apologized and brought it up to my manager where no one really seemed to be too bothered by it. I find that in these situations its helpful to break the problem into a few quesions, 1. is there a pattern? or was this a one time thing? and 2. if it is a pattern, how can we improve or implement a better system to stay organized and on track of things.
Take on too much responsibility - I think this comes from a place of striving to step up and be there for all of my colleagues when in their in need of assistance. A few months ago, one of our Product Managers asked if I could pull together a dataset that combined patient who accessed their results through our platform but bypassed our platform to schedule directly with their provider. This wasnt a normal dataset as it required manually searching each provider’s EMR for over a hundred patients to pull together the information. I knew I had enough on my plate but agreed to it anyways, I completed the assignment but ended up compromising the deadlines of a few other things I was working on. In these aituations ive learned to probe the requestor’s request to determine its urgency and need, and then whether I can delegate or direct them to someone else who might have the dandwith to complete the project.
Not trusting others to take over a process or system Ive been responsible for - Working in operations at two start-ups Ive had the privelage of designing and implementing processes for different teams. At a certain point, typically as the company scales and teams take on greater numbers of people, i need to hand those responsibilites off to others. For example at my current company, as part of my other responsibilities I was solely responsible for customer service and designing our playbook to handle CX issues. We eventually outsourced this to a team in North Carolina but I had difficulty letting go of the reigns and continued handled some of the CX requests despite it being outside the scope of my role. Here in this situation, Ive learned that if you prepare accordingly and design the processes and training correctly then you need to trust the people who you hired to carry out those responsibilities. “
Where do you want to be in ten years?
I want to have accomplished some big projects that have had a lasting impact on not just the company’s bottom line but in how the company does business overall.
Id like to be leading a team or multiple teams and being responsible for setting the strategy and operation for each of those people.
And I want to be seen as an expert in my field and being trusted and leaned on to provide valuable insight and direction to colleagues so that they can accomplish their responsibilities and goals.
Do you like to work in groups or alone?
I like to plan out a project together as a group, assign responsibilities then execute independently m. everyone goes off to work on what they’ve been assigned to do and reports back on their progress.
For example, a few months ago We released new clinical insights but prior to moving them to production, we did a bug bash as a team. I organized the bug bash, assigned everyone responsibilities and built a system around how to track errors, and then had each team member report back on their findings.  I think this is more efficient than sharing one set of responsibilities between another or multiple people which I think creates confusion and actually ends up slowing people down.
What is a contrarian view that you hold?
What important truth do very few people agree with you on?
I think the government should ban cars. A typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year and I think that if we ever want to change the course of global warming and alter the course of destruction that our industrialization has put us on then we need to stop allowing everyone to have a private carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide machine at their disposal. The head of the snake isnt Exxon, its ourselves but we’re too selfish to get out of our own way.
What is one world problem you want to solve?
Composting. Currently collection for composting is handled my municipalities in a few cities or by private companies due to its cost, lack of participation or knowledge, and depreciating effects during transportation. I would like to see a world where everyone participates in composting and we can reuse its byproducts through different consumer and commercial applications.
What is the most difficult analytical problem you’ve ever had to solve? Describe in detail a difficult problem you had to solve.
What was a difficult project that you worked on and how did you navigate through it?
Forecasting lab volume growth along with corresponding hiring needs.
“Name three supervisors, tell me how they would each rate you and why. What would each rate you on scale 1-10?
What would each say is your greatest strength? Why?
What would each say is area for improvement? Why?
What are three things your coworkers would say about you?
Nicole Bocskocsky, Rating (1-10): 8, Strength: Relationship builder –> Verbal communication, Weakness: Take on too much responsibility
Andrew Chae, Rating (1-10): 9, Strength: Team player, Weakness: Delegating
Tom Sauer , Rating (1-10): 9, Strength: Analytical –> Problem-solving, Weakness: Too critical
Matt Dill, Rating (1-10): 9, Strength: Passionate, Weakness: Impatient with bureaucracies”
What are the features of a superstar on a team?
- Communication, passionate, and have a high EQ. Able to easily get along with.
- Organized
- They know their stuff. They’re a reliable resource to rely on to do their job and understand the scope of their part of the project.
- Patient
Tell me about a time you didn’t manage to convince someone?
At my current company, we have an issue where patients cant communicate to their providers. We pull a provider’s comments but it doesn’t allow for a dialogue between patient and provider to answer questions regarding their lab results and how those affect their health.
I collected the data around how often patients are attempting to communicate with their provider but are unable to do so and vetted a few solutions that we could implement to work around this. I brought it to my manager who thought that it wasn’t worth the effort.
Explain a time you had a conflict with a coworker and how you resolved it. If you and a colleague we’ re collaborating on a project but couldn’t agree on something, how would you handle it?
Nikelson not transferring calls.
Hackathon: A team member and i agreed on a path for the hackathon and two other people came by and joined our group only to derail the progress we had made.
Grafman and his CL leads
How do you handle mistakes?
Tell me about a mistake that you made recently
Explain the issue
Admit that you messed up
Provide the alternatives
Face the consequences
Sending out Claudia Tenneys press release without her edits.
At my last job at Lively, we werent allowed to sell to customers with substantial hearing loss or those who havent had a medical diagnosis made yet. Despite whether they wanted to move forward we werent allowed to sell to them and I was working with one patient who told me they were on the edge but they wanted to try the platform. In the moment I was on autopilot and coasted through and made the sale. Only until I heard back from one of our audiologists did I realize my mistake. I could have let it slide but deicded it was to control the situation and avoid the appearance trying to hide anything so I set up time with my manager to explain the situation an what happened.
At Elaborate, we were testing an automtaic reply SMS feature and I was asked to test the automatic reply feature for all of the templates that we were going to send out. So I sent a reply to one of the texts and said we were good to go. What resulted was patients texting the automatic text and getting a jarbled mess of words and code back that made absolutely no sense. “
What would you do if you were completing a project with a tight deadline and realized you’d made a mistake early in the process, requiring you to start over?
Need example
I would let my boss or direct supervisor know immediately of the situation with the proposed solution and estimate of possible delays and costs. Errors are human and can always happen and typically they can be resolved. The problem is when you try to hide it and things begin to unravel.
And if it were a customer I would communicate the situation and also provide solutions and an estimate of delays.
Example??
what was a problem you needed to solve quickly but had limited or imperfect information?
When patients with existing accounts were sent a message tht they had new results they were also being instructed to create a new account again. This resulted in patients creating a duplicate account or not being able to use their credentials to create a new account (email in use) and ultimately not being able to access their latest lab results.
I noticed this problem and flagged it to one of our engineers who collected a list of all of the patients who had been affected by this. I suggested we reset their account email and send them the personalized link to access their account. The engineer who sent me those results said that it should work but couldnt confirm at the moment as it was late on Friday. I discussed the situation with my manager and I suggested we try it on a few patients, call those patients to walk them through the process to test if it works then if it does use it on the remaining patients who had been affected.
We tried it and it worked and all of the patients who would have been sent the bungled account creation text would now be able to access their latest results.
Can you provide an example of a time you had to test a hypothesis using data?
- Looking into whether patients were scheduling outside of the platform
Describe a process that you’re responsible for, a problem that you encountered along the way as well as the solution to that problem?
Manual integration and HIPAA compliance
Can you provide us with an example of when you had conflicting communication as well as how you overcame that
