I heard Rackspace was hiring Technical Writers from a friend who attended a UTSA English Career Panel, featuring several local (to San Antonio, TX) companies. I traded a couple of emails with the Rackspace speaker, primarily seeking information about the industry in general and tech writing at Rackspace. My contact encouraged me to contact the recruiter and apply. Since I was planning to switch careers from computer developer to tech writer, my contact encouraged me to share not only my relevant experience (heavy on the technical side and light on the writing side) but also my passion for tech writing. It's more than ok to be enthusiastic at Rackspace! There were some delays in the application process as the recruiter had a vacation in the middle. Overall, the process took about a month and a half. The phone interview with the recruiter was primarily to make sure I met the basic qualifications for the position and that all the paperwork was in order. We talked about my background, what I was looking for, and how I was preparing for my new career. The on-site interview took place in one half day, on a Friday. I faced three panels of 2 to 4 people each. The panels included writers, writing managers, and technical folks from the development side of the business. They shared information about Rackspace in general and specifically about tech writing at Rackspace. They probed my development background and how I informally incorporated writing, documentation, and training in my day to day job. They asked some questions I didn't know the answers to, but I never got the sense that they wanted to trip me up. They were exploring my experience, my approach to problem solving, my people skills, and my fit with Rackspace. (My advice to you, job seeker, is (1) do your homework on the company, the industry and your fit, (2) be honest about what you know, what you don't, and how you fill the gap between them, and (3) let your interviewer know what you're thinking. If you need a moment to think about something, ask for it. And don't forget to ask them questions. An interview is a two way street - you need to be a good fit for them, AND they need to be a good fit for you). The surprise for me was when they presented a real technical scenario (how a particular piece of code took inputs, evaluated them, and produced outputs), and asked me to take a few days, and then send them the first draft of a document explaining the process to a customer who needed to understand it. So, even before getting the job, I got to show them how I interview SMEs, collect and verify information, and produce coherent and useful content. I sent my homework back to them a day early (on Monday), and was notified that the interview team would meet to review both my interview and my homework sample document. They promised to let me know by the end of the week whether or not they'd extend an offer. They did as promised, just after noon on Friday!