Palo Alto Networks Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process
Real candidates share what happened, how many rounds they had,
and how the experience turned out.
Based on 198 interview experiences · FREE TO READ
Candidate interview experiences
First-hand accounts from people who interviewed at Palo Alto Networks.
Palo Alto Networks
Software Engineer
Entry Average Positive experience Accept offer 4 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen Onsite Offer
Interview formats
Behavioral Coding System Design
I applied online and the whole process took about two weeks. The interview process at Palo Alto Networks (Santa Clara, CA) in Aug 2025 involved two online assessments: Codility and HireVue. First, there was a recruiter screen which was a behavioral interview and covered logistics. Then, there were three rounds of technical interviews that also included behavioral aspects. I wasn't given much info on what to expect in the interviews, or even the type of interview for each round. I also didn't know the recruiter call would be behavioral.
Confirmed questions5 questions
- Did you discuss your projects from your resume?
- Tell me about your experience.
- Can you answer some coding questions, perhaps more focused on design than LeetCode style?
Palo Alto Networks
Principal Software Engineer
Staff Average Negative experience No offer 4 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen Onsite
Interview formats
Coding Technical
I interviewed for a role in the DLP team. After the hiring manager screened me, I had 4 rounds of interviews at the office. One round was a coding interview, which was pretty rough. The interviewer wanted me to implement their solution and gave me only 20 minutes for coding, but the setup took 10 minutes. After that, we moved to writing a SQL query, which involved CASE, LEFT JOIN, and UNION. I suggested a way to construct it, but they said the syntax was wrong. They were supposed to take me to lunch but forgot to order food.
Confirmed questions0 questions
No confirmed questions were included in this interview report.
Palo Alto Networks
Software Engineer
Senior Easy Negative experience No offer 3 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen Onsite
Interview formats
Coding System Design Behavioral
Started with a recruiter call to chat about the role. Then had a coding challenge with two interviewers from the hiring team. It was an hour long, with intros, the coding challenge itself, and then a review and Q&A. I skipped the next round with the hiring manager because the compensation offered was too low for the east coast, especially since they seem to be treating NY like a tier 2 city. I'd avoid this company's openings in the future.
Confirmed questions2 questions
- Implement an LRU cache.
- Design a system.
Palo Alto Networks Software Engineer Interview Questions
Quoted word for word from Palo Alto Networks interview reports.
“Given an array nums of n integers, find all unique triplets in the array which gives the sum of zero (a + b + c = 0).”
Read reports →“Given a JSON file detailing a process with pid, ppid, and process name for each row, construct and print a process tree.”
Read reports →“For an unsorted array of integers, what is the largest subset of numbers that, when sorted, exhibit a constant difference between adjacent elements?”
Read reports →“Given a binary tree, how would you remove all nodes that have only one child, excluding the root node?”
Read reports →“Given a dynamic programming question about the number of cars that can cross a bridge while staying within the maximum weight limit, where drivers turning back cause others to shift forward, find the minimum number of drivers who must turn back.”
Read report →“Then is a math problem, how to find the ball with a different weight by weighing the least time?”
Read report →“Could you write a Python method that accepts a file hash, queries a specific VirusTotal endpoint via GET request, and then formats the scan results into a Markdown string?”
Read report →“And for each of those links, could you then list all the links that appear on those pages too, and keep doing that until you've found all of them?”
Read report →“Regarding a file, what is the correct order of operations between compression and encryption, and what are the associated tradeoffs?”
Read report →Formats, difficulty and experience
Across all 198 Palo Alto Networks interview reports.