Software Engineer · Full Journey · Multiple Types

Palo Alto Networks — Software Engineer ❌ Failed

Level: Senior-Level

Round: Full Journey · Type: Multiple Types · Difficulty: 6/10 · Duration: 300 min · Interviewer: Unfriendly

Topics: Concurrency, Threads, Data Structures, Language Fundamentals, Algorithms

Location: San Francisco Bay Area

Interview date: 2025-05-15

Got offer: False

Summary

Interview Rounds Overview

• Round 1: Self
• Round 2: Project Deep Dive
• Round 3: Language Feature
• Round 4: Algorithm

Details

The interview consisted of several rounds. I started with a self-introduction, followed by a deep dive into the technical details of my most challenging project. The interviewer, then asked language-specific questions. I was not prepared for these questions, as I had focused on my past experiences based on the interview email's instructions. I was caught off guard and couldn't answer many of them.

Some of the language-related questions I remember include:

• What is the difference between Golang's goroutine and a regular thread?
• What is the principle behind Lock in Python? (I don't remember the exact wording)
• What are thread-safe data structures in Java?
• What are the roles, differences, and relationships between the three layers in Spring?

There were several other questions that I don't recall. The interviewer asked me quite a few questions in this section.

For the algorithm question, I was asked to solve LeetCode 772. Basic Calculator III. Despite having practiced this problem multiple times and even reviewing various solution approaches, I still struggled to implement it effectively during the interview. The interviewer provided two hints, but the code I produced still had incorrect results. Due to time constraints, the interviewer did not allow me to continue debugging.

LeetCode similar: LeetCode 772