Tools For Screening Front-End Dev Candidates

For a tech company navigating today’s economic and workplace environments, hiring a new front-end developer can be a high-stakes decision. Because their work will be user-facing, a candidate’s technical skills and experience are certainly essential. But they’ll also be working closely with colleagues across departments—perhaps in a remote workplace—so their interpersonal skills and style also need to be a good fit.

The members of Forbes Technology Council have years of experience in hiring and managing tech staff, and they’ve developed hiring processes that ensure new team members can make a real, positive difference from day one. Below, 17 of them discuss the tools and techniques they rely on to screen front-end developer candidates and why they find them so effective.

1. A Multistep Process To Check For Fit

For us, screening is a four-step process. It begins with a 15-minute chat to introduce our company and role. Next, candidates are given a coding challenge on HackerRank so we can assess their technical skills. Those who succeed participate in a live problem-solving session, which helps us understand their thought processes and communication styles. Finally, a values interview ensures alignment with our mission, values and team.
- Josh Dunham, Reveel

2. A UI Design Experiment

Front-end developers should have extreme customer empathy. In most cases, their work will be directly used by customers and/or users. One effective screening method is to ask a candidate to design a certain user interface. If they jump straight into the design, that is usually a red flag when it comes to the customer empathy side of things. First, they need to ask questions, including, “Why are we doing this?” and, “What problems are there with the old UI design?” - Ayman Shoukry, Specright Inc.

3. A Real-World-Focused Technical Exam

Instead of administering algorithm tests, give front-end developers technical exams that resemble real-world, on-the-job scenarios as closely as possible. Allow them to use outside resources to solve issues as quickly and efficiently as they can. This will give you good insight into their thinking when working through problems. - Ryan Barone, RentRedi

4. A Portfolio Review

Portfolio reviews can showcase a candidate’s design skills, creativity and ability to produce high-quality front-end work. Also, portfolio reviews can provide insights into a candidate’s problem-solving approach, ability to identify and address design challenges, and ability to translate design concepts into working prototypes, as well as their attention to detail. - Shelli Brunswick, Space Foundation

5. A Goal-Specific Coding Test

Give a candidate a goal-specific coding test. For example, it could involve creating a simple, real-time video conferencing app. This not only tests their technical skills, but also their understanding of real-time communication protocols and standards. This method is effective because it allows hiring managers to gauge the candidate’s practical coding skills, problem-solving abilities and knowledge of RTC’s application in the real world.
- Kuk Jiang, ZEGOCLOUD PTE. LTD

6. A Look At Their GitHub Profile

We evaluate candidates using a universal approach, which always includes a review of an interviewee’s GitHub profile. This allows us to understand the candidate’s level of interest and coding skills. It shows us how they work on real projects, how they collaborate with others and how they write and document their code. We can also see the quality and diversity of their portfolio, as well as the feedback they have received from other developers. - Prashant Ketkar, Parallels (part of Alludo)

7. A Mini Web Coding Test

We use a mini project test in which developers write code to make a small part of a website. This shows us how well they can use website building tools such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript. It’s a good test because it’s just like the work they’d do on the job, and it lets us see their skills in action, not just what they say they can do. - Margarita Simonova, ILoveMyQA

8. A Behavioral Interview

With projects becoming more and more complex and collaborative, technical skills are no longer enough for a developer to thrive, so it’s crucial to assess a candidate’s soft skills. Behavioral interviews that dive deeper into a candidate’s communication style, teamwork abilities and problem-solving skills can give valuable insight into how they would fit within our team dynamics and culture. - Neil Lampton, TIAG

9. A Personalized Coding Test

I don’t like to use preset tools. Rather, I use personalized coding tests for recommended candidates (generally recommended by our existing staff) that simulate real-world scenarios. This helps me assess the candidate’s communication, collaboration and critical-thinking skills. It’s also helpful to include a code review session to understand their approach and ensure they’re a cultural fit for a small to midsize company. - Dr Vivek Bhandari, Powerledger

10. A Peer Programming Session

To gauge a front-end developer’s expertise, we initiate a peer programming session that simulates a day-to-day work environment. This approach not only tests their coding skills, but also their communication abilities and how they handle feedback under pressure. - Dmitry Mishunin, HashEx

11. Interviews With Multiple People

In nearly all recruiting situations, you need to eliminate not only bias, but also noise. The following are the most effective methods. Multiple people should interview the applicant and rate them based on predefined criteria. Assign points for skills, and use weighting systems for measurable results. Discuss, compare and rate the results with the decision maker who will make the final call. - Yusuf Sar, Hardwarewartung 24 GmbH

12. A Cross-Functional Exercise

Emphasize collaboration by organizing a cross-functional exercise. Pair front-end developer candidates with individuals from other roles, such as designers or back-end developers, and assign them a project to work on together. This evaluates the candidate’s communication skills, teamwork and adaptability in a collaborative work environment. - Jagadish Gokavarapu, Wissen Infotech

13. A One-Page Application Build Test

When evaluating a front-end developer, we are looking for attention to detail. After prescreening, our technical evaluation is to have the candidate build a one-page application. The app they build must take input from a query and an API endpoint and display the data returned from the endpoint in the UI in a friendly way. Evaluate the app on aesthetics, code quality and architecture. - Matthew Cloutier, Sticky Strategy

14. A Check Of Their Communication And Collaboration Skills

A different perspective is to assess front-end devs based on their collaboration and communication skills. Given that front-end development often involves working closely with designers, project managers and back-end developers, evaluating a candidate’s ability to collaborate effectively can be crucial. This can be done through group discussions, teamwork exercises or behavioral interviews, along with a portfolio review. - Deepak Gupta, Cars24 Financial Services (FinTech)

15. Task-Based Assessments

Conducting task-based assessments to simulate real-world project responsibilities ensures that evaluators assess candidates within a real-world context, covering coding, problem-solving and communication skills. Also, it may be helpful to provide a limited time frame for these assessments, allowing for the comprehensive evaluation of technical skills and leading to well-informed hiring decisions. - Cristian Randieri, Intellisystem Technologies

16. A Challenge From An Online Testing Platform

Use a testing platform. Platforms including HackerRank, Codility and LeetCode offer coding challenges to test problem-solving skills and technical knowledge. They foster critical-thinking and problem-solving skills and offer immediate feedback. This will help you spot candidates who can apply their technical knowledge strategically. - Gergo Vari, Lensa, Inc.

17. A Mix Of Methods

To evaluate front-end developers, we use a mix of methods: online tests for core concepts, questioning them about libraries and add-ons, assessing their architectural pattern knowledge, and assigning custom take-home exercises. This multifaceted approach ensures a thorough assessment of their skills and fit for our specific project needs. - Sebastian Avila, Novatech