Pros
Great people. Everyone you work with is smart and scrappy. I went to an Ivy League and most everyone else did as well. Overall the culture is humble and hard working. I genuinely believe what we do makes the world a safer, better place though coming from someone with immigrant parents there are times when our work tows the line of what I personally support. That being said, I believe a lot of this lies in the nature of most government contracts. Leads are hit or miss. I’ve had really good ones but lead training is amateur at best. Performance reviews don’t exist so there’s a lot of he said/she said with handoffs. Your upward trajectory depends heavily on your lead and advocating for yourself. Benefits are top notch. Perks are good but expect those to continue to be cut as we cut costs. Pay is competitive. Catered food and snacks in NY office is legit.
Cons
Recent layoffs have most questioning the direction and effectiveness of leadership. Many of my friends on events, recruiting, and operations were laid off without notice. I heard they lost access to their laptops same day without being able to hand off work or say goodbye. Leadership said “downsizing” was due to decreased hiring goals but they let go some of the best who I know had active work. Individuals who started long before me that were here 5-10 yrs. A lot of top performers that made positive change at Palantir in advocating for diversity and working with engineering. They laid off leads but kept newer hires. The logic seems to be about short term bottom line. Most of us can’t wrap our heads around how they picked who they did unless it’s in preparation for an exit. My recruiter friends told me even the recruiters feel the same. No one knows who’s next. Leadership said at a townhall that they worked with the downsized individuals looking for other positions they could rotate to but I heard this isn’t true. When leadership is repeatedly asked about diversity, female leadership, and the lay offs, nothing gets a real answer. They sent an email about the recruiting layoffs with reasoning that didn’t tie to the people that were let go. Growing tired of the same old story. A lot of people talking about leaving though there’s talk of IPO. Karp is a ticking time bomb. Treated like royalty at our office in NY but everyone is walking on eggshells waiting for the next egregious comment he’ll make to the media or an all hands.