How to hire the best Front-End Developer

Over time, developer roles have become increasingly specialized; while before a developer was expected to be able to do everything (which is still valuable in any case, when found), it is now common to divide developers' roles according to their specialization. This is the case of Front-End Developers, developers specialized in the "face" of the application, unlike Back-End developers, who focus on the processes that run behind the scenes.

As expected, a developer specialized in Front-End requires a specific set of skills, knowledge, and experience to do the job well.

Firstly, although Front-End work is still programming, it requires knowledge and command of HTML and CSS, which are not really programming languages, but rather languages for specifying the visual aspects of a user interface.

Also, Front-End developers should have notions of design and ideally have basic graphic design skills to edit images, buttons, or other elements of the user interface. It is important for the Front-End developer to have an aesthetic sense in order to design a user interface that looks professional (although it is also common for the Front-End developer to receive a graphic specification from a designer).

Last, but not least, is the issue of usability, the so-called User Experience. In fact, little by little this is becoming a specialization in itself. UX design (User Experience Design) is about designing a user interface that not only looks good but is also intuitive and easy to use.

Therefore, if you are looking for a Front-End developer, you need to validate all these skills. Here are some recommendations on how to do it:

Validate programming skills: A Front-End developer is still a developer and, therefore, validating their development skills is vital. For this, it is best to use technical interviews and, ideally, to pre-filter and evaluate with practical programming exercises. For the latter, Evalart's online coding tests are a good alternative. Usually, the Front-End developer is expected to master a particular language (such as PHP or Java) and also to master Javascript, which is the language par excellence for web development on the client side (browser), as well as specific frameworks that the company wants to use (such as Angular, Bootstrap, etc.)

Validate knowledge and skills in HTML and CSS: These can be validated with theoretical questions or practical exercises. The objective is to validate that the person can write HTML and CSS code, which follow a logic different from programming languages. Reviewing previous work can also give you an idea of how effective they are at using these languages.

Validate design skills: Here, it is best to review previous work. In general, a serious Front-End developer should have a portfolio of their work to show. Also, ask about their command of specific design tools such as Photoshop or Illustrator, which would always be a plus, especially if you do not have a graphic designer and you expect the developer to design the interface themselves.

Usability: To validate experience and knowledge in the area of UX, it is best to validate these skills in a technical interview, where the candidate explains and discusses the UX decisions they made in their previous work and the theoretical justification for these decisions. You can combine this with written tests of UX knowledge. Here, it is important to highlight the importance of usability across various media (desktop, mobile, tablet, etc.) and that the user interface looks good on any type and size of screen.

In addition to all these skills, a Front-End developer must have good communication skills and be able to talk to both a user and technical staff. Keep in mind that many Front-End developers started in the design area, so they may not have the same theoretical/academic background as traditional developers, and this must be taken into account during evaluations.

Finally, it is important to note that a "classic" developer will not necessarily be a good Front-End developer. Therefore, it is important to make sure that the candidate meets all the points mentioned above (or those that the company needs) and not to assume that a successful developer not specialized in Front-End will be able to do the job well.