How to Hire Front-end Developer: The Definitive Guide

Hiring the right person for the job is essential to complete every project smoothly. And when hiring comes to developers, choosing the ideal person is even more imperative. Today, we will discuss how to hire a front-end developer. As the market for front-end development grows, businesses are searching for their next best front-end.

A great front-end developer will improve the aesthetic value of your company’s website or application. They help create functional designs that attract and impress your audiences while inspiring them to engage with your business.

Must Read: Full-Stack vs. MEAN Stack vs. MERN Stack: How to Choose the Right Stack?

Defining a Front-end Developer

For hiring a front-end developer, you must first understand the configuration of a front-end developer. Wondering why we are mentioning a person in terms of a machine? Well, that is because front-end developers have taken on several responsibilities at once and deliver exceptional products.

Front-end development includes the programming process of building user interfaces of a website or application. In this, the developers include visual elements to make a digital solution look more inviting, pleasing, and functional.

Understanding the work of a front-end developer will also help you define your requirements from the person. Understanding your requirements is the first vital step in hiring a great front-end developer for your organization.

So, the work of a front-end developer includes the following;

• They design web pages with CSS, HTML, and JavaScript.
• They work with animations and other media formats to make the designs more interactive.
• They create strategies to deliver the front-end components while taking into account the client requirements.
• They codify all the design elements and collaborate with backend developers to build the solution.
• Front-end developers work with the goal of increasing the conversion rate.

At the end of the day, it’s all about making visitors stay loyal to your product or brand. And one of the ways to ensure this is by making them stick when they visit your digital storefront.

Front-end developers, while understanding the impact of a great design, are also great learners. They stay updated with the new trends in the market and customer behavior patterns. The average attention span of a human lasts for 8 seconds. Front-end developers deliver creative, functional designs to attract the visitor’s attention so that they continue browsing.

Process to Hire Front-end Programmers

In this section, we will list the important steps you must take in order to complete the hiring process and onboard an amazing front-end developer.

• Identify Your Ideal Candidate

  Taking the help of your hiring managers, tech experts, and project managers, build the profile of an ideal front-end developer. Consulting with these people will help you make a list of expectations from the developer. You must understand what the role involves and how the right person can deliver the solutions you need.

  Then create a list of the skills you need from your front-end developer. To hire dedicated front-end developers, you need to work according to the project and company requirements.

  Digressing from the topic for a few seconds, let’s take a look at the ideal skills of a front-end developer.

  • Front-end developers must have practical experience of the required programming languages. These include JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. 
  • In addition to the above programming languages, the developers must have knowledge of ECMAScript (ES6).
  • They need to understand React, which is a JavaScript library, and its applications for front-end development.
  • To complete the list of tools and technologies, look for their understanding of different JavaScript frameworks, Ajax, jQuery, and CSS Preprocessor.
  • Using these tools and technologies, the front-end developers should be able to build responsive designs.
  • Great developers are good at debugging and testing the code. They must know how to make the code error-free and reliable. You can also expect them to understand the Test-Driven Development (TDD) process.
  • They need to have an understanding of different web browsers and ascertain that every web browser is able to run the design as desired with perfection.
  • Teamwork and communication skills are also important.

  Now that you have a structural idea of what to expect from a front-end developer, create a list of requirements tailored to your project needs and company culture.

• Create a Job Description

  The next step in hiring a front-end developer is creating a job description. A detailed job description will attract highly qualified leads (as in potential employees), which reduces your work on checking and rejecting unwanted profiles.

  Don’t create a description before understanding your requirements. Cover all these points while writing a job description;

  • Title
  • Purpose of hiring
  • Duties and responsibilities
  • Qualifications and skills
  • Experience required
  • Additional work conditions

  Taking note of your needs from front-end development, write a job description that attracts the right talent. If you have written a good description, you will only attract people who have the right credentials.

  One of the purposes of writing a description is to get in touch with the right people. In the description, promote your company culture and the benefits you will provide to the selected candidate.

• Assess the Applicants

  Now comes the most challenging part of hiring a front-end developer. You cannot rush this phase as it can lead to hiring the wrong person for the job. As you take time to assess every candidate, make sure to test their hard and soft skills.

  Begin the evaluation process by checking the candidate’s profile and discard the ones which don’t meet the basic eligibility criteria. This is to ensure that you don’t waste resources and time on interviewing developers who don’t have the basic qualifications to work in the role you want.

  Shortlist the candidates who meet the basic criteria and have the expertise to work according to your requirements. Sit in a one-to-one interaction with the selected candidates.

  As you conduct the interview, ensure to build the interview questions according to the experience level of the candidate. Junior-level developers are just starting out. Hence you cannot expect them to provide solutions to complex problems.

  They will need some guidance from senior developers on your team to deliver the services required. At this time, they are also familiar with one programming language, framework, and library. As they won’t have much working experience, don’t expect them to have a work portfolio.

  Then comes the med-level developers, who might have previously worked with a front-end development company. Mid-level developers have several additional skills and understanding of two or more programming languages, libraries, and frameworks.

  They will have the experience to lead or manage a team of junior developers. Plus, they can provide solutions to complex problems by harnessing their work experience, understanding, and capabilities.

  Senior-level developers are the apex predators of this field and can help your organization leap forward in the industry. They are people sitting on more than 10 years of experience. At this point, these developers can work as CTOs and leading teams of several front-end developers. Moreover, they are confident about their work and can also predict problems while providing solutions.

  Here’s a list of probable questions you can ask from the candidates;

  • HTML tags, REST, and API services.
  • Differences between div and span.
  • Understanding of ReactJs and other front-end development technologies.
  • UI rendering process.
  • Understanding of the Grid system in CSS.
  • Meaning of user-centered designing.
  • Ways to decrease the page load time.
  • Understanding of ClickJacking.

  These are only suggestions; you can create a list of questions on your end according to the requirements. Make sure to consult with your technical experts and hiring managers.

  You need to assess the candidates on hard and soft skills. When it comes to hard skills, check their proficiency according to their experience. However, when it comes to soft skills, assess the candidate’s capabilities in terms of communication and compatibility.

  An ideal candidate represents the mix of competence and capability to work smoothly with the team. They should be able to collaborate with the team members to complete all the projects. Collaboration is visible when team members work together, have respect for each other, and are able to accept advice.

  Every design and development team must learn to communicate efficiently, which results in the creation of an amazing product within the stipulated time. While taking the interviews, we recommend taking care of the following points;

  • Check the candidates for patience and their capability to devise a solution.
  • Ascertain their self-direction and whether they can work without micromanaging.
  • For higher level front-end developers, know about time management skills.

• Onboarding the New Employee

  Taking the interviews can take a lot of time, but you must do it right. For the price of hiring a wrong employee is way more than spending time and effort on hiring the right one. Once you have your ideal candidate, give them an offer and start the onboarding process.

  Developer onboarding is a detailed process. Begin the onboarding process by introducing the developer to the team as the HR also makes them familiar with the company culture. You can share a digital employee handbook or send some presentations of the company for their reference.

  Moving forward with the onboarding process, give access to the tools you use in your work. When the employee starts their first day in your office, introduce them and set up a knowledge-sharing page for the employee. This way all the employees can know about each other.

  From here on, you can bring the new employee up to speed with the project they will work on. This is how you can hire front-end programmers and make sure that they are able to work comfortably in your organization.

Conclusion

Front-end developers are pivotal to building immersive and intuitive user interfaces that deliver immersive user experiences. Not only do these developers need technical proficiency they must also be super creative and have a knack for building unique interfaces. For an organization hiring the right front-end developer is like hitting a goldmine, as they have the potential to create highly advanced and innovative products.

However, the onus of choosing the right person for the job is on you. Always follow the right process to select a developer for your front-end development company. When hiring a front-end developer, take note of the steps we have mentioned in the guide above and hire the best person for the job.

You can also contact Mobmaxime, as we deliver front-end solutions relevant to your business and project requirements.