I applied for technical writing but interviewed for both technical writing and QA, so this will be a review of the interview process for both.

I applied online via Epic's website, though I was simultaneously referred to Epic by my partner who had just started working there. In a few days' time, I was contacted by a recruiter who had me fill out a Rembrandt personality profile and complete a timed writing sample. The writing prompt wouldn't be revealed until the timer was started, and I had no idea what to expect I'd be writing about.

It ended up being to write a book review of my own autobiography, which threw me for a loop. Desperate to come up with something, I ended up writing about some personal and not-so-pleasant aspects of my life which, on top of being pretty embarrassing, I felt I had described so poorly that I was certain they wouldn't be contacting me to move forward for the phone interview.

Needless to say, I was pretty surprised when I got an email asking to schedule a phone interview with one of the writers. The phone interview was about as basic as phone interviews get - he asked about me, my professional experiences, why I wanted to work at Epic, and also gave me some general background on what technical writers at Epic do. I think it took about 20 minutes in all.

After the phone interview, I was offered the on-site interview, which is very long but not incredibly difficult (if you're coming right out of college like most Epic applicants, it's definitely stressful, though). I actually got food poisoning the night before my interview and couldn't make my originally scheduled date, but they were glad to reschedule for the next day.

For the on-site interview, you'll spend part of the day in a small group with other candidates for the tour, a demo of Epic software, and lunch. You start with a tour of Epic's campus, which is pretty impressive the first time you see it (it wears away the longer you work there... believe me). Then you'll go into a small conference room and get the demo. Then they'll take you off to lunch in Cassiopeia, Epic's main dining hall, where you'll have a casual conversation with the employee who brought you there (who may or may not be in the role you're applying for) as well as your fellow candidates.

The tough stuff is saved for the afternoon, where you'll spend a few hours doing an HR interview, a technical/skills interview with a person in the role you're applying for, an aptitude test (questions similar to the SAT), and, in the case of technical writing, a technical writing test.

After my day was up, I waited about a week before Epic contacted me to say they wanted to bring me back for a second interview, but this time for a Quality Assurance position instead of technical writing. I accepted, and soon after I came back to Epic's campus to repeat pretty much exactly the same process I had completed before. Luckily, I didn't have to retake the aptitude test, and the technical writing test was replaced with some QA-specific assessments.

Me and two other QA candidates were interviewed briefly by a QAer and asked how we would QA a pen he set down in front of us, and later, I was given a sheet of paper with a "typical Epic workday" scenario on it that asked me how I would prioritize the issues that came up in the scenario. I talked them over one-on-one with a different QAer.

After that, my interview was over, and in about a week, Epic contacted me to make an offer.

For technical writing, be prepared to write anything for the initial timed writing assessment. Don't assume it will be a technical writing prompt. Be prepared to write something like "a book review of your own autobiography."

For QA, be prepared to think about how you would prioritize tasks. I wasn't ready for this and hadn't given any thought to it, and I felt like that kind of showed in my interview. If you're coming right out of college, be especially prepared for this, since prioritizing issues is likely not something you've had to deal with regularly.