Palo Alto Networks Software Engineer interview experience

Posted Jan 2024 · Candidate report, summarized by Dataford

After I connected with HR, the process ran in a fairly standard rhythm: I had a first and second interview that were technical, followed by a later pass where we reviewed the questions from earlier and filled in gaps with more general technical discussion.

The final interview with a director centered on my past experience and how I’d approach design questions, so it felt less like “can you solve today” and more like “can you reason about tradeoffs.”

Across the technical rounds, I was consistently asked coding-style questions along with broader knowledge checks. The vibe was pragmatic rather than puzzle-box—think DSA problems like merging linked lists and a stack-style push/pop/top task, plus behavioral questions that probed how I’d work in the real world. I also remember moments where a question was worded a little unclearly, and I had to

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