freelance Interview Questions
& Process

It was good, basically the first interview was just with HR and now I'm waiting for the technical one. The cooperative is based in Brasília and they use Fireflies to monitor the interview. The interview focused on technology integration, specifically using Excel with Python, discussing project details and process simplification, while also touching on community engagement and capital considerations.

So, the whole interview thing is like, how a company checks people out to hire them. It goes like this: First, they look at all the applications to weed out people who aren't a good fit. This is usually done by a recruiter or someone in HR, and they're just checking if you have the right experience, skills, and education. Then, there's like a quick chat, either on the phone or video, which is super short, like 15-30 minutes. The recruiter or hiring manager is on this call to see if you can talk okay, if you actually want the job, and if you kinda meet the basic stuff. Sometimes they throw in a couple of quick questions about how you'd handle things. After that, if it's a role that needs special skills, they'll test you on those. This part is done by a team lead or a guru for that skill. It could be anything from coding to a writing task, or showing off your work, or even acting out a situation. The next part is where they really dig in, and it's usually more than one chat. The hiring manager, your potential teammates, or people from other departments will be there. They'll ask you a lot of questions about stuff you did in the past, or give you a problem to solve. They're trying to figure out if you're a good match and how you think. Lastly, there's a chat with a big boss, like a senior manager or the head of the department. This is for them to give the final nod. It's more about the big picture stuff, like where you see yourself going, if you're in line with what the company believes in, and how you'd make a big strategic impact.

The hiring process for a Community Manager role usually kicks off with introductions from both the candidate and the company. After that, the interviewer will ask questions to check your technical skills, like how you handle social media, create content, use tools like Meta Business or Canva, and manage your online community. They might also ask about personal traits like creativity, organization, and quick responses. Sometimes, a small practical task is requested. The interview wraps up with you asking your questions and an explanation of what comes next in the process.

So I got on the call and introduced myself, talking about my experience with PHP, Magento, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and MySQL. The interviewer gave a quick rundown of the company and the job, then we got right into the technical stuff. They first gave me a coding problem, a PHP task involving efficient array manipulation. I asked for clarification, explained my plan, and then wrote the code. I used built-in PHP functions for speed and explained the time complexity. Then, they hit me with a database question: write an SQL query to efficiently pull data from a big table with joins. I talked about indexing, query optimization, and why I picked certain joins. After that, a Magento-specific scenario came up: how to customize a module without touching the core code. I explained plugins and observers, plus best practices for extending Magento without breaking future upgrades. With a bit of time left, they asked if I had questions. I asked about their dev workflow, CI/CD, and how they manage Magento upgrades. They shared info about their tech stack and process. We finished by talking about the next steps. I think I did well, showing off my problem-solving and Magento skills in the limited time.