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Content Strategy Take-Home Prompt

Developer Relations

What it tests

Strategic thinking about developer content — whether the candidate approaches it as a craft based on audience research and data, or defaults to intuition and personal taste.

Format

  1. 1Candidate receives an open-ended prompt: 'How would you approach figuring out what topics to write about? What data sources would you consult?'
  2. 2Response is written asynchronously — no page limit, no format constraint
  3. 3Hiring manager reviews the submission and runs a 30-minute debrief to probe depth and hear the candidate think out loud

What to look for

  • Does the candidate name specific, real data signals — search trends, GitHub issues, Discord questions, support tickets — or speak in generalities
  • Understanding of the difference between what developers search for vs. what they actually need
  • Evidence that they've shipped content before and can retrospect on what worked and why
  • Debrief reveals whether the written answer was their real thinking or a polished performance

Adaptation guide

Adapt the prompt to your product: 'What content would you create in your first 60 days for [your API/SDK/platform]?' This grounds the exercise in your actual developer audience. Evaluate the thought process, not polish — rough edges are fine if the reasoning is sharp.

Full description

Format:

  1. Candidate receives an open-ended prompt: 'How would you approach figuring out what topics to write about? What data sources would you consult?'
  2. Response is written asynchronously — no page limit, no format constraint
  3. Hiring manager reviews the submission and runs a 30-minute debrief to probe depth and hear the candidate think out loud

Time: 2–3 hours

What to look for:

  • Does the candidate name specific, real data signals — search trends, GitHub issues, Discord questions, support tickets — or speak in generalities
  • Understanding of the difference between what developers search for vs. what they actually need
  • Evidence that they've shipped content before and can retrospect on what worked and why
  • Debrief reveals whether the written answer was their real thinking or a polished performance

Adaptation: Adapt the prompt to your product: 'What content would you create in your first 60 days for [your API/SDK/platform]?' This grounds the exercise in your actual developer audience. Evaluate the thought process, not polish — rough edges are fine if the reasoning is sharp.