I lasted 14 months. Not a failure story, more of a calibration story.
Honest take on the Palantir work-life balance question since I see a lot of either "it's amazing" or "it's a grind" and neither is the full picture.
The hours vary massively by team. My team was on a government contract with hard delivery milestones. There were three stretches of 2-3 weeks where I was working 60+ hours. Between those, it was actually pretty manageable, maybe 45 hours on average. I know people on commercial product teams who said 40 hours was their normal. It really depends on which deployment you're on.
Culture is... distinct. A few real things I noticed:
They take the mission seriously. Like, genuinely. People talk about impact in a way that doesn't feel performative. Some people find that energizing, some find it suffocating.
Feedback culture is blunt. I had a manager who was very direct to the point of sometimes being unkind. But at least you always know where you stand. No performance review surprises.
Meetings are lean. Fewer than anywhere I've worked before. There's a culture of written communication and actually reading docs before showing up. I appreciated that.
Politics exist but at a different layer. At my level (mid-level SWE) it was mostly merit-based. I heard the politics got heavier at more senior levels.
The thing that made me leave wasn't hours. It was the sense that I was optimizing for one type of problem and wanted broader exposure. Also the NYC cost of living relative to comp started to sting after year one.
If the mission genuinely interests you and you can get on a team with a predictable schedule, it can be a good stint. I'd go back for the right role.