Technical Writer at a Lisbon software company: applied direct, hired in 22 days

I'd been applying to technical writing roles across Europe when I found a listing on the careers page of a Lisbon software company. Nine applications in, and this one felt different right away. Not because of the job description, but because of what they asked for upfront. Before any call, before any recruiter screen, they wanted a writing sample. Take a 600-word section of their live public documentation and rewrite it. Submit it before the first video call would even be scheduled. I almost talked myself out of it. A 600-word rewrite sounds simple until you open their docs and see that the section they'd picked was dense API reference material with inconsistent terminology, passive constructions stacked three sentences deep, and a structure that assumed you already knew what you were trying to learn. I spent four hours on it, which was exactly what the brief told me to budget. I respected that they'd said so plainly instead of pretending it was quick. I restructured the whole thing, tightened the definitions, introduced consistent naming, and added a short summary table I thought would help skimmers. I had no idea if that last bit would land or just seem presumptuous. It landed. They moved me to three video rounds over the next ↓