Pros
I can't think of a better place to work than Palantir. I've worked at several tech companies during my time including several big names you have all heard of, and I could never imagine going back to those places after having worked at Palantir. I'd like to mention early on that Palantir is a VERY intense place to work. You're surrounded by super smart people who are incredibly passionate about our mission, and those of us in the field are working directly with customers whose job responsibilities include keeping citizens safe. I've noticed a few very negative reviews of Palantir but I suspect most of those come from people who arrive at Palantir thinking it was a 9-5 job. It's not -- everyone is expected to execute as strongly as the person next to them, and those who don't contribute are obvious to the rest of the team. Some folks may be surprised that they didn't realize what it was that they signed up for, but I assure you everyone is given notice and a fair warning if they are underperforming. Working at Palantir is different from anything else out there. How many computer science students can say they've worked in war zones as rockets exploded 100 ft away? How many Silicon Valley startups have offices around the world and encourage you to explore international opportunities? How many of us can look back and say we honestly worked on projects that saved countless lives or made the world a better place? In the Valley most people are either working on advertising systems (Google) or tweaking social networking platforms (Facebook, Twitter). The only other companies I can think of with such world-changing ambitions are Tesla and SpaceX. Beyond the mission itself, the people at Palantir are top tier. When you sign on as a member of the business team, the Forward Deployed Engineers, you're joining a regiment of the best of the best. I've never seen any environment where so many super smart people are so passionate about their work, and it certainly shows. You also get a chance to experience first-hand what a profound impact we're having in so many areas. It's not something we can typically talk about publicly, but it's more rewarding than anything I've ever done before. The company also treats its employees really well. There are the usual perks on the level of Facebook and Google, including the best corporate food I've ever experienced (the HQ office has a full cooking staff with locally sourced organic/grass-fed/free-range/etc food). We also have a world class ops team that takes care of us so we can focus on our work. When you join Palantir, know that you're immersing yourself into a different experience than anything else you have seen before, but even though people joke about us working too hard and getting too involved, I wouldn't trade it for anything else.
Cons
If you're looking for a 9-5 job, you're looking in the wrong place. Try Google or Facebook if you want a cozy California life. The company has done a great job at adapting to its growing pains as they come up. I think the only real con I can think of is the salary cap -- people have been with the company for many years and raises are rare, even with top performance. Yes, we get equity bonuses and our cash bonuses can convert into more equity, but the once-youthful staff is aging and real life catches up eventually with marriages and mortgage payments. I'm not suggesting we need anything like 15% raises per year or something structured like you see in the big firms, but even keeping up with inflation would be a good start.
