Hire Front-End Web Developer

When developing any project, including front end development (except for a purely server-based solution without a user interface, where seamless user experience is not required), you need the help of the people who create the front end part of the application, i.e., the front end developer.

It’s another matter when the front end development is handled by a Full Stack expert, but there are nuances here, in particular, because of the cost of services.

So, most likely, you really need to hire front end developers for your project. And today we will tell you how to recruit a front end specialist, what to look for, and how to build an effective front end development team for software development projects.

Importance of Front End Developer

Front End is not just a user interface but also a functional part of an application, service, or platform with which the user interacts. This element can play a critical role, especially in the context of the marketing success of the application. That’s why you require a specialist who can implement Front End features in a high-quality manner.

However, before hiring a developer for this part of the project, you should prepare yourself. In particular, you need to study:

• Hiring platforms.
• Critical factors that will affect the success of cooperation with a front end developer and development in general.
• Potential risks you may face when hiring a remote front end developer.
• Features of cooperation with a remote developer.
• Methods of establishing cooperation and deep understanding of management principles, leveling challenges.

You will learn more about all of the above in the following parts of the article.

Defining Your Front End Development Needs

Hiring front end developers means that you have identified your front end and web design needs. In particular:

• outlined user interface design requirements for the front end developer;
• planned methods of interactivity and user interaction on websites or applications.

Determining the needs of the page establishes the requirements for a candidate for a role in a front end development project in terms of technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, the ability to create responsive designs for different devices, and performance optimization. And not only that.

Project Scope

The potential goals of the project and the timeframe, tools, and methodologies that allow you to complete the tasks in a timely and high-quality manner without unnecessary costs.

Required Skills

We define the list of software development and mobile app development skills that your front end developer should have to complete the current project without any problems, ensuring that it meets the needs of the business and end users.

Timeline

The timeframe allotted for the completion of the Front End part of the project is set. Usually, a certain buffer is added to them, which allows you to slightly shift the release if necessary.

Budget

This is the range, or the budget limit, that your company can allocate to the Front End part of the product. It is this indicator that will determine whether you are ready to cooperate with an experienced front end developer to implement the interface component.

In-House vs. Freelance vs. Agency Hire Front End Developers

Before hiring front end developers, you need to decide where to look for candidates and how to hire them. Here’s a brief classification of the three most common options:

• In-House:
  • An in-house front end developer is 100% engaged in internal corporate projects.
  • Maximum control and synchronization of workflows.
  • Higher costs, including salaries, do not depend on the actual implementation of projects, operations, licensing, training, and equipment.
• Freelance front end developers:
  • An affordable solution for short-term projects, rapid staff expansion, etc.
  • Minimizing costs as you pay only for the actual work performed.
  • Lack of guarantees and long-term commitments, as cooperation is usually one-time.
• Agency:
  • Guarantees access to individual or team talent and has the ability to dynamically adjust the number of specialists involved in the project.
  • It can provide services to expand the staff, perform certain parts of the work within an ongoing project, or even implement large-scale products on its own.
  • It is a fairly balanced option in terms of price/cost ratio, as it provides a much wider range of services than a freelancer and is not accompanied by typical staff costs.

The choice of this or that type of recruitment depends directly on the needs of your current project, its specifics, available budget, and urgency.

Writing a Compelling Job Description

The hiring process for a front end developer begins with the creation of a list of requirements for a candidate and is displayed in a recruitment ad. Therefore, it is crucial for you to first formulate project goals, then define the tech stack app development, based on the required skills.

All of this should be described in the body of the ad, not forgetting to indicate the benefits of working with you, the range of payments, and the project timeline. You can discuss the information protected by the NDA during the interview or when concluding the employment agreement.

Where to Find Remote Front End Developers

There are several common ways to hire front end developers. For example, you can attend a thematic event where your front end developer may be present. However, this is not always possible due to the frequency of such events or their physical remoteness.

You can ask for recommendations from your clients, familiar representatives of companies that have also recently been looking for a front end developer. Sometimes you can find really highly skilled, world-class experts through word of mouth.

The third and fourth methods are to turn to platforms such as UpStaff, which most often publish profiles of talents such as front-end developers. At the same time, not only those who are positioned as freelancers but also ordinary candidates for the corresponding role in the company.

Let’s take a closer look at each of the options.

Job Boards

The hiring process through recruitment platforms is a fairly reliable but costly option. In terms of time, this is a rather lengthy process of searching and screening jobs and candidates, especially if you are waiting for offers from specialists.

In terms of cost, you also pay commissions for finding and hiring talent for the platform owners.

However, in the case of UpStaff, you not only get access to a pool of experts but also, if necessary, can use the services of qualified HRs who will independently select a front end developer for you, focusing on the project’s needs.

Freelancing Platforms

Freelancers, including dedicated front end developers, back end developers, full stack developer, are most often chosen for web development, as they publish their profiles on relevant portals. However, you do not always get a full list of advertised services or the quality you expect.

If you require a one-time contractor for a fairly simple task, then such platforms can be a profitable solution.

If you want to get guarantees of quality and timeliness of work, it is still better to look for front end developers on recruitment portals that are administered and moderated, and the experience and skills of candidates are checked by staff.

Referrals

Referrals are not a reliable and constant source for recruiting and finding the necessary expertise. Yes, indeed, you can get in touch with highly qualified full stack developer based on the feedback of your friends or reputable representatives of businesses in your segment. However, no one can guarantee that you will be able to hire them.

Therefore, this option is quite situational. If you are lucky, you will hire a front end developer in time; if not, you will still return to the previous platforms.

Networking Events

You can start the front end developer hiring process even while attending various IT events. For example, at developer conferences, you can often find promising newcomers or well-known professionals. You can even hire a front end developer or agree on future cooperation.

However, this option, like the previous one, does not guarantee results and urgency. Therefore, it is better to give preference to classic recruitment platforms, such as UpStaff, or portals for freelance designers if your budget is too limited.

Screening Candidates for Front End Developers

To hire front end developers, you need to make sure that their experience and skills are enough to successfully work on your front end development or web development project. To do this, we recommend following the following algorithms.

Reviewing Portfolios

To start the hiring process, conduct a detailed study of candidates, including their front end development portfolio and feedback from previous employers. This way, you’ll know if the candidate (full stack developer) is a good fit for you based on the information about completed projects.

Technical Assessments

It’s not always the case, but the availability of certificates that indicate a certain level of specialist skills is a strong indicator that it’s worth cooperating with them. Usually, this information is published in the candidate’s portfolio, but you can additionally ask if they have taken any qualification courses and how successful they were.

Cultural Fit

Wherever you hire front end developers and according to what model, they should be able to integrate into the team. Firstly, this applies to freelancers, who are often loners who do not know how to cooperate with the rest of the team. Another issue is the actual cultural differences that should be taken into account when you hire experts from regions where culture and religion are different from yours.

Interviewing Techniques for Front End Developers

Before you hire front end developers or back end developers for mobile app development, back end development, you have to make additional preparations. In particular, you should identify candidates who are suitable for your vacancy and then invite them for an interview.

The key tip is not to mix everything into one communication subject. Plan the interview in such a way as to consistently reveal the specialist’s talents and thoroughly investigate whether the full stack developer candidate is a good fit for you, or postpone the selected portfolio until a better time.

Technical Interviews

Here are a few examples of technical questions to ask a candidate for a front end developer and support role in a team:

• HTML/CSS:
  • Explain the box model in CSS.
  • What are HTML semantic elements?
  • How do you solve browser compatibility issues?
• JavaScript:
  • What is event delegation in JavaScript?
  • Explain the difference between let, const, and var.
  • How do you optimize website performance using JavaScript?
• Frameworks/libraries:
  • What is the difference between Angular, React, and Vue.js?
  • How would you implement responsive design with Bootstrap?
  • Have you worked with CSS preprocessors such as SASS or LESS?
• General:
  • How do you ensure accessibility in your front end development?
  • Describe your experience with version control systems like Git.
  • Can you tell us about your latest project and the challenges you faced?

This is specifically about the technical aspects. Please note that you don’t have to use the list provided, just create your own list based on the needs and specifics of the project.

Behavioral Interviews

When hiring a web development specialist, in particular, hiring a front end developer, you need to assess their related (non-technical) skills. Here’s an example of questions you can use for this purpose in an interview:

• Teamwork:
  • Describe a time when you had to collaborate as a front end engineer with a team to solve a problem.
  • How do you resolve disagreements or conflicts with team members during a project?
  • Share an example of a successful experience of teamwork on a project.
• Problem-solving:
  • Tell us about a challenging technical problem you faced and how you solved it.
  • How do you feel about learning new technologies or tools?
  • Describe a situation where you had to think creatively to overcome a developmental obstacle.
• Communication:
  • How do you communicate with non-technical team members or clients?
  • Describe a time when you had to explain a complex technical concept to someone with no technical background.
  • How do you respond to feedback on your code or design?
• Adaptability:
  • Share a time when you had to quickly learn a new technology or framework for a project.
  • Describe an example of adapting to new project requirements or priorities.
  • How do you keep your focus on the latest trends and technologies in UI development?
• Motivation and passion:
  • What inspired you to pursue a career in front end development?
  • Share a project you’ve worked on that you’re particularly proud of, and tell us why.
  • How do you stay motivated when performing complex or boring tasks at work?

Soft skills may not seem to be too critical for projects that involve front end or just software development crucial. However, in practice, they will determine the further nature of cooperation, integration, and adaptability of your new front end developer in the team.

Checking References

To hire front end developers, you need to make sure that the candidate is one of the best front end developers, who claims to be. To do this, you can summarize the interview or even extend it and ask the following questions (but to previous employers):

• Technical skills:
  • Can you confirm the front end developers‘ knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript?
  • How would you assess the specialist’s experience with front end frameworks and libraries (e.g., React, Angular, Vue.js)?
  • Has the specialist demonstrated strong problem-solving skills in the technical aspects of their duties?
• Work ethic and reliability:
  • How would you describe the candidate’s work ethic and reliability?
  • Has the candidate consistently met project deadlines?
  • Were there any instances when the expert went beyond his/her role, for example, to help colleagues from other departments?
• Teamwork and cooperation:
  • How well did the developer work with team members?
  • Can you provide examples of teamwork?
  • Did the candidate communicate effectively with colleagues and stakeholders?
• Ability to adapt and learn:
  • How did the specialist cope with new technologies or challenges in their position?
  • Was the developer open to learning and implementing new tools or methodologies?
  • Can you discuss cases where the candidate quickly adapted to updated project requirements?
• Overall performance and impact:
  • What is the most important project the specialist has worked on during his/her time at your organization?
  • How would you rate their overall performance and contribution?
  • Would you hire the developer again based on their previous performance?

Indeed, an employer who has experience of working with your candidates will say more about the than all the interviews and web development portfolios.

Negotiating Compensation and Benefits

The services of an experienced front end developer cannot be cheap, especially if expert not only in creating the technical part of the application but also, say, in web design. However, in the process of recruiting, you can somewhat reduce the cost of maintaining a team by reducing the cost of each expert.

In particular, you can provide other non-material benefits for specialists, which will reduce the hourly rate by at least a few dollars. However, remember that too cheap services are almost always equivalent to low quality work.

Creating a Positive Candidate Experience

Just as you look at front end developer skills, your candidate is looking at you. The way you conduct a consultation and how professionally you behave will also affect your potential recruitment chances. Yes, you will also be assessed, for example, on your approach to communication, communication culture, etc.

Hiring talent is a two-way process where both stakeholders make decisions about cooperation.

Onboarding Process for Front End Developers

Even an experienced front end developer needs your help as a hiring manager to successfully integrate into the team. In particular, you need to give the candidate an introductory tour and familiarize them with the team’s values and culture.

You should also help them set up their work environment, including deploying systems for collaboration and version control and connecting them to key communication channels.

It’s also a good idea to hold at least a few team meetings to get to know each other and establish rapport.

Setting Expectations and Goals

Before you start a conditional web development project, you should set realistic goals for your recruited employees and tell them your expectations from cooperation, also without fanaticism. And don’t forget to detail the working aspects.

In particular, it can be the following points:

• Let them know how, when, and with whom they should communicate within the team and the organization.
• Provide a detailed description of the projects they will be working on, including timelines, priority deliverables, and any specific client requirements.
• Establish coding standards and guidelines for the developer to follow to ensure consistency and maintainability of the codebase.
• Organize regular feedback sessions to discuss performance, issues, and priorities for improvement.
• Set specific goals for project deadlines and quality of work.
• Emphasize the importance of collaboration with other team members for the front end developer, designers, and stakeholders to achieve the defined project outcomes.
• Ask for clean, efficient, and well-documented code that is easy to maintain and scale.
• Set priorities, such as improving website performance, load times, and overall responsiveness.
• Encourage the developer to respond to feedback from team members, users, and stakeholders.
• Discuss long-term career goals with the developer and identify opportunities for growth within the organization.

If you discuss these points before you start working together, you will save yourself and the employee discomfort and uncertainty.

Providing Necessary Tools and Resources

Remote front end developers may have trouble collaborating. Therefore, you should provide them with the appropriate tools, accounts, and access to the necessary workspaces, documentation, etc.

Training and Development Opportunities

Even experienced front end developers need to develop to meet the modern requirements of the industry. So, whenever possible, help them with this to get better results from your cooperation.

Collaboration with Other Team Members

Front-end developer skills alone are not enough to cover the needs of a project. So make sure your experts can communicate and collaborate with each other.

Ensuring Work-Life Balance

Your experts can’t live on web development alone. Value their personal space and time, provide opportunities to relax and do their favorite things outside of work.

Performance Evaluation and Feedback

When working together, it’s important to measure the performance of your experts, evaluate it, and give feedback. This will improve performance and help to eliminate problems.

Retaining Front End Talent

For web development, you require a reliable team. Therefore, if you are satisfied with the cooperation with the contractor, you can offer them a place in the staff. However, you should offer more favorable working conditions than they already have.

Career Growth Opportunities

Front-end developers can develop, move to higher skill levels, lead front end development teams, etc. Your task is to give these opportunities to promising employees, to retain them.

Competitive Compensation

Even remote developers want adequate income. If you really need specialists, find extra funds in the budget or offer non-material benefits and keep them in the team.

Recognition and Rewards

Sometimes, even moral incentives can be enough to motivate experts to work more efficiently. Therefore, whenever possible, encourage your employees and reward them with some, at least nominal, distinctions.

Engaging Front End Developers

Front-end developers are also people who want to feel valuable to the project. So, you need to demonstrate that the influence of experts is important to you.

Projects with Impact

Remote developers don’t feel their role in the work as vividly, so you should demonstrate more often that they are the reason the project’s development vector is correct and successful.

Learning Opportunities

Encourage your front end developer by helping them grow. In particular, give them free access to valuable training materials, courses, and workshops.

Cross-Training

Use the experience of the team and its individual members to train the rest of the staff. Every employee can add value, so use it to help the overall development of the department.

Building a Strong Front End Team

Front-end development requires team cohesion and communication. And these are the key points you should focus on to achieve perfect results.

Diversity and Inclusion

Create equal conditions for all team members and value them as individuals in the context of front end development. Emphasize the strengths of the experts and try to compensate for their shortcomings.

Team Building Activities

Even in the context of front end development, you can conduct certain team-building activities. For example, brainstorming sessions where each project member can show their potential.

Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement and development are important for front end development and for your experts. Therefore, invest in the intellectual asset of the business to get the best results.

Challenges in Hiring Front End Developers

Challenges in hiring front end developers include finding candidates with diverse skill sets in HTML, CSS, JavaScript frameworks, and responsive design. Competition for experienced developers is high, leading to a shortage of talent. Ensuring cultural fit, assessing soft skills, and keeping up with evolving technologies are additional obstacles recruiters face in the process.

Overcoming Hiring Obstacles

To launch and develop a front end development project, you will have to make an effort and find truly expert performers. It is essential to thoroughly check their skills and compliance with the project requirements, business budget, etc.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a front end developer for a front end development project, use the UpStaff platform. You will find the right experts here. If not, our HRs will find the best talent for you.