Ping Identity Technical Writer Interview Questions
& Process

It was a short chat with the recruiter. Then I got a writing test that they said would take 2 hours, but it was way more than that. The recruiter's communication was bad, and I got no feedback at all. There was no actual interview or request for my work samples.

Applied through the careers page on August 20, 2018, and got an automated confirmation. The next day, I had to do an automated cognitive and personality assessment. Completed those on August 22. Got an email on August 26-27 from HR to schedule a 20-30 minute phone chat. Since I had another offer, I told them my time was limited, so they skipped the usual HR screening and set up a call with the hiring manager. Had that call on August 29 with the Director of Product Development. Then, on September 3, I had to submit a writing assignment and two portfolio pieces. Got a call from the Director of Product Development on September 4 to set up in-person interviews. Had those on September 7 at the Vancouver office. On September 10, I got a job offer over the phone from the Director. The next day, September 11, HR sent the official offer letter and paperwork for a police background check. Started the job on September 24. The cognitive and personality tests were imposed by the parent company; they were video-recorded through the webcam to ensure no outside help. The cognitive test was like an IQ test focusing on pattern recognition and logic, and it was hard to finish all questions. For the personality test, I just answered honestly on a scale of 1-5. The phone interview was more of a casual chat about my history and projects, and even life overseas and languages. The assignment was to summarize an 80-page publication on OAuth 2.0 into a one-page Executive Summary, which took about 10 hours. I also sent in a technical procedure and a technical blog article from my portfolio. The in-person interviews at the Vancouver office involved two interviews. The first was with the Director of Product Development and the technical writer there. It was very relaxed, and although they had questions written down, it felt conversational. I got to ask questions and they shared a lot about the company and the technical writing role. The second interview was with two senior software quality engineers and a senior development engineer. They read questions from notes but it was still friendly and conversational, no STAR questions or tricks. The Director came back at the end to thank me for my time and asked about salary expectations, telling me when they'd respond.

So, I was going for two jobs and the hiring manager for one interviewed me for both. He didn't really have a background in tech writing, which made things interesting. First, you get an automated email for two online tests that need a webcam. One is a personality test, the other a competency exam with stuff like analogies and sequences. If you're not a good test-taker, you're out. Apparently, this test is hard to pass, which seems like a bad approach. If they like your test scores, you do a phone interview. They asked me to prove I understood tech, which is hard over the phone. They barely asked about my background, and the hiring manager forgot my answers anyway. If you pass that, you get an in-person interview. Before that, they send a writing assignment where you fix a bad paragraph, explain auth vs authorization, and describe solving a tech problem. It took me a couple hours, but they said 4-18 hours. It was good enough for an in-person interview. When you get there, they give you a tour of the office, showing off the design and free snacks. Then the in-person interview with the hiring manager and 5 team members. The writing assignment didn't seem to matter much. They asked stuff like 'how do you keep up with best practices,' 'do you know what minimalism is,' 'how do you get along with developers,' and 'do you prefer to work alone or in a team.' These don't show my accomplishments. The 'understand technology' question came up again, and I tried to explain a solution I'd designed, but I'd lost interest by then and just started messing up answers to finish faster. The interview ended early. It's a shame, it seemed like a great place until I got there. They're good at recruiting but not retaining.