Interview Front-End Developers. A Guide for Hiring Managers
Last updated on March 17, 2023
Interviewing and hiring front-end developers doesn’t have to be painful – for the company or the candidate. A good interview is fun and creative, and reflects real on-the-job skills and the working environment.
You can’t do that with a whiteboard or a clunky screen share.
A better approach? Collaborative pair programming sessions that quickly showcase a candidate’s true skills in a familiar environment. A standardized process that is fair and fast. And interview questions that go beyond algorithm trivia by using technologies that a candidate would actually use on the job.
You’re strapped for time–so we’ve put together everything you need to create a great hiring process for front-end developers:
How do you conduct a technical interview for a front-end engineer?
Recruiting technical talent can be a complex process, but with the right tools in place, it doesn’t need to be.
1. Choose a tool that supports the right language and framework.
Select an assessment platform that can accurately measure a candidate’s technical skill level. When looking for the ideal fit, you’ll want one that supports the languages and frameworks needed by your organization and allows audio/visual calls so that you can interact with potential hires while they’re in action.
2. Code playback is a must-have
Additionally, it’s essential to have a playback feature that will help you and your team review how candidates performed after the interview is over.
3. Make sure you assess technical skills relevant to the job
Once you have your platform ready to go, ensure you assess them on only those skills that apply to the job – particularly if they’re front-end developers – including JavaScript fundamentals, basic design principles, and an understanding of accessibility.
To back this up, create an exercise that resembles tasks they’d likely encounter while employed at your company.
4. Don’t forget to assess developer soft skills
Lastly, when making your determination, don’t ignore their soft skills either; consider questions such as how well they communicate during the interview and how they handle challenges or stress.
Other useful resources on how to interview a front-end engineer:
Other useful resources on how to interview a front-end engineer
What are the core technical skills required by a front-end developer?
When looking for talented front-end developers, it’s important to find the right candidates who:
- Is proficient in HTML, the DOM, modern CSS, and Javascript for building and styling web pages
- Is familiar with web development frameworks such as React or Vue
- Have a good understanding of web design and user experience (UX) best practices.
- Ability to interact with APIs (REST, GraphQL)
With this set of qualifications, you can be sure to find front-end developers that bring positive contributions and value to your team.
Other useful resources about front-end developer skills:
Front-end Developer Interview Questions
Here’s a question you can use to assess the front-end skills of a potential React engineering candidate:
Examples of front-end interview questions per technology
Examples of front-end interview questions per seniority
Front End Mock technical interview
Preparing for a frontend software engineering interview – either as an interviewer or a candidate – it helps to know the structure of the interview and what kinds of questions are asked. To get this information, you can either ask someone to conduct a mock interview with you or watch videos of mock interviews being conducted.
We have set up a series of mock coding interview training videos so you can learn the best ways to prepare for your upcoming interview.