Where and How to Hire React Developers: the 2023 Guide
React is the best JavaScript library to develop user-optimized interfaces effortlessly. No wonder React developers are highly sought after by Fortune 500 companies and are in very high demand.
That’s even more so as React developers need to work on different types of components (web, mobile…), which makes highly qualified profiles hard to find.
So how to find your next best-fit React.js developers?
In this article, we help you source and interview these specific tech talents, and make a confident hiring decision.
Table of Contents
Why hire a React developer for your team?
Open-sourced by Facebook in 2013, React.js is a powerful front-end JavaScript to create user interfaces.
It provides reusable components, fast rendering and time-response, and productive development workflow which makes it a prime choice to create in-app experiences.
You might need a React developer if your development team has projects such as :
Web Application
ReactJS was specifically designed to build large, complex web applications. It enables you to create reusable UI components, which can significantly simplify your coding process and enhance performance. It optimizes the SEO ranking of your web application by rendering pages on the server side before sending the browser-ready HTML to the client. React also only updates the parts of the web page that change (via the virtual DOM), resulting in a much faster and smoother user experience.
Mobile App
React provides its own framework for building mobile applications called React Native. React Native speeds up the development of native mobile applications for both iOS and Android platforms, as it reuses code across the platforms. It’s a great tool to build performant mobile application with less development time and with a unified look, feel, and performance across different platforms.
Desktop App
Although not as common as web and mobile application development, React can be used in conjunction with frameworks like Electron to develop robust desktop applications. Electron allows for the development of desktop applications with web technologies, which means a React developer can create a desktop application with the same look and functionality as a web application. This could be useful if you’re developing a suite of applications (web, mobile, desktop) that need to have consistent UI and shared features.
Virtual Reality App
React developers can also be beneficial if you’re looking to create a Virtual Reality (VR) application. React 360 is a framework that allows the creation of 3D and VR user interfaces using React. It’s a great tool for creating interactive tours, 360-degree videos, or immersive experiences on the web. If your project is innovative and looking to push the boundaries of typical applications, hiring a React developer with React 360 experience could provide unique value.
Static Website
Even for a static website, hiring a React developer can be advantageous. With tools like Gatsby, a React-based open-source framework, you can leverage React to build static websites that are secure, fast, and can handle large amounts of data. If your static website is content-heavy and might grow over time, a React developer can ensure it remains efficient and optimized. Furthermore, Gatsby also supports Progressive Web App (PWA) features, which means your static website can work offline and feel like a mobile app.
What are the required skill sets you need to look for?
When assessing your candidates’ technical skills, you should look at their understanding and experience with React programming. Whether for junior or senior positions, you should make sure they have :
Proficiency in React and its Principles
Your React developers should have a thorough understanding of React’s principles and syntax, including components, props, state, and the virtual DOM. They should be able to write and manage both class-based and functional components, and understand the lifecycle methods in class components and hooks in functional components.
Understanding of JSX
React uses JSX, a syntax extension for JavaScript, which allows developers to write HTML-like syntax directly in their JavaScript code. Your React developers should be comfortable with JSX syntax and understand how it translates into standard JavaScript.
State Management with Redux or Context API
Managing application state is often complex in large-scale applications. Your React developers should understand state management solutions like Redux or the built-in Context API, including concepts like actions, reducers, dispatch, and the Provider/consumer relationship.
Knowledge of React Router
For building single-page applications (SPAs), your React developers should be proficient in using the React Router library to create effective user navigation and page routing within the application.
Testing with Jest and React Testing Library
Given the interactive nature of React applications, testing is essential. Your React developers should be comfortable writing unit tests for components using Jest, and understand how to use tools like the React Testing Library to simulate user interactions.
What’s the average cost of a React developer?
According to Glassdoor, in 2023 the average salary of a junior is $85330, $112450 for a middle-level, and $133880 for a senior React developer in the US.
To that you can add the cost of the recruitment itself ($4000 on average), and the cost of the employment benefits (29,6% of the salary on average in the US).
For freelance developers, you can expect an hourly rate of $41 – $80 for junior-level, $61 – $100 for Mid-level, and $101 – $120 for senior-level developers according to Arcdev.
Where to source React developers?
Qualified React developers are hard to find, so you better make sure to be visible wherever they may be. You can leverage numerous channels such as:
Job boards
React Job Board
As its name suggests, React Job Board is a platform dedicated to job openings for React developers. The website is well-ranked on Google for many Western countries, so you’re sure to be visible for React job seekers. The paid job ad will also be promoted among the site’s extensive audience via email and social media.
Dice
Where to find React developers other than in one of the largest tech job boards? In Dice, you can post a job ad, choose precise skill taxonomies, and use employer branding tools. You’ll soon be getting hundreds of qualified applicants for your React position. There are many React talents browsing the platform, so there’s a good chance you’ll find the right fit there.
Indeed
Indeed is the biggest job board in the US. It’s undoubtedly a great way to make your job ad visible to as many React talents as possible. Many candidates have made their daily habits to check their Indeed job alerts, as they are hundreds of React job openings published every day on the platform.
Hired
Hired is a popular tech talent marketplace, and has a large pool of React talents. By registering on this platform, you can access a list of pre-vetted React developers fitting your requirements. You can filter based on primary skills, secondary skills, and domain expertise. This makes you save time sourcing talents that are usually scattered around the web.
Proactive sourcing
Stack Overflow
The React community is very active on Stack Overflow, a Q&A platform where developers answer the questions and problems of other programmers. There are many React experts advising junior members on complicated topics and sharing their knowledge of React programming. If you’re hiring for specific React skills, you can see if there are any related discussions and reach out to the main contributors.
Reactiflux
Reactiflux is a Discord community where React developers chat about the latest release and beginners seek help. You can post your job openings on it but also check all the discussions on the topics relevant to you. This is a great way to identify qualified prospects and connect with them if they are interested.
GitHub
GitHub is where all the Facebook development team’s libraries are published and a big place for the React community. On it, you can review the profiles of many React enthusiasts and practitioners. You can find users that share specific work and experience on this framework and maybe connect to them on their preferred social media.
Outsourcing
TopTal
Toptal is a high-quality freelance marketplace that rigorously assesses and interviews each candidate applying to the platform. They have a wide pool of highly qualified freelance React developers that can work on your ambitious projects. You just have to give your requirements and within 48 hours you’ll be interviewing freelancers that fit your projects.
Upwork
Upwork is the number one website for freelancers. Many freelance React developers check the new project opportunities on the platform every day and maintain a detailed profile. You can browse the Upwork database and select the one that fits your mission requirements and budget. You can also post a mission offering on the job board, wait for a hundred candidates to apply, and then interview the most relevant ones.
Aloa
Looking for offshore React developer talents? Aola is a mix of a freelance marketplace and an agency that connects you to pre-vetted remote talents. It helps you hire the right React developer from all over the globe, but also assists you when managing international payments and when you want to scale your operations a step further.
Screening and interviewing React developers: our best practices
When the sourcing part is done, you need to narrow down your list of candidates to the most promising ones. Our recommendation at CoderPad is to set up a screening and interviewing process in 3 steps :
Technical assessment
The first step is to make sure your React candidates have the right technical skills for the job. The best way to do that is to run technical assessments. You can provide them with online coding exercises with questions related to React programming that they can go through asynchronously.
For example, you can ask questions such as :
- What is the purpose of the useState hook in React? (junior level).
- Explain the concept of React Hooks and how they enhance functional components. (intermediate level)
- What is the Flux architecture, and how does it relate to React? Provide an example of implementing Flux in a React application. (senior level)
You’ll be able to make a first selection of your candidates depending on their objective performance on these tests.
Live Coding Interview
How can you know if your React candidate is the right fit don’t code with them before? That’s what live coding interviews enable you to do. In these types of interviews, you put your candidates through a React coding project while you can answer their every question and give them immediate feedback.
This will help you assess their thought process and communication skills in real time like no other interviewing method. The traditional method was a whiteboard interview, but now you can use an online interviewing platform to make it easier to communicate and talk with your candidates.
Our best practice for React live coding interviews is to enable your candidates to work in a realistic Java development environment (IDE). You want to give them access to the React.js libraries, and even provide them with React frameworks like Material UI or React Bootstrap.
During these interviews, you want to know some basic elements depending on their seniority:
- Junior level: do they have already some starting experience in Java? You can give them constrained exercises such as building a new feature or interacting with other APIs or datasets.
- Middle level: to assess their drive, you want to see how they get through a difficult concept and issue and resolve them.
- Senior: you want to evaluate their understanding of key concepts more than just surface-level. You can see how they handle concepts like function composition and closure. You want also to see how they feel about the libraries and frameworks they use, and how they can justify their benefits and trade-offs.
A live interview is the best way to evaluate your candidates’ Java coding skills in action. See how they handle unexpected challenges, whether they ask for help or not, and what they do to solve problems creatively. Make the most of it!
Cultural-Fit Interview
Like any other recruitment process, cultural-fit interviews are essential when recruiting your React developers. These types of interviews will help know if your candidate will feel like an integral part of your team and company. They will help you examine your candidate’s work ethic, expectations, and aspirations for the job.
Our best practice for cultural-fit interviews is to do a first short introductory call before interviewing. You can inquire about their background, motivation, and experience. This will give you an idea of their general professional goals and see whether they’ll be a good fit with your company culture.
You should also set up an onsite and peer interview with your final candidates. You can invite them to the office to discuss with the team members and even make them collaborate on a small project. That will also be an opportunity to promote your company’s employment benefits and share some of the fun office rituals. Remember, this is about securing your last candidates and showcasing how nice it is to work in your company.