If you’re looking to improve your site’s server-side rendering or a reliable user experience, a React developer can help you with it. So, how do you hire the best React developer? Read our complete guide to recruiting a skilled React specialist for your team.
You probably come across this blog hoping to find a skilled web developer to help you set up your website or mobile apps from the ground up. But, a question now lingers in the back of your head—what kind of developer should you hire to work on your project?
Nowadays, it’s not enough to hire just any software developer. You need someone who specializes in building a robust web development technology such as React.js. Essentially, React.js is a JavaScript UI library for building interactive interfaces for web and mobile apps. So, how do you find and hire a React developer?
Before hiring one to work on your project, it’s a must to understand the foundation of ReactJS. This is to set the right expectations on what the job entails and bring the expertise you need to accomplish your overall project scope.
What is React?
React (also written as React.js or ReactJS) is an open-source JavaScript library used to build interactive user interfaces. ReactJS was built by Facebook and used as a foundation for a single web page or mobile apps. It is highly beneficial when your data changes rapidly.
There are hundreds of thousands of websites built on React.js. It is extremely popular due to its flexibility, simplicity, and speed. Examples of popular sites using React are Facebook, Instagram, Netflix, Reddit, Airbnb, and Uber.
React.js makes it easy to build UI test cases, build SEO-friendly sites, reuse components on any platform, implement existing code for a website on a mobile app, accelerate performance on resource-intensive web applications, and it can be used wherever JavaScript is needed.
What are the important skills of a React Developer?
Since its initial release in 2013, React.js has grown in popularity and usability. This paved the way for an increasing number of ReactJS developers to specialize in it. However, to filter for the A-class talent, here are some important things to remember.
Aside from in-depth experience in React.js, a highly skilled React developer should have 1-3 years of minimum work experience with different technologies.
Technical Skills
For programming languages, they should have a deep understanding of JavaScript, HTML, CSS, C#, SASS, SQL, LESS, Python, Stylus, and TypeScript.
- As for frameworks, a skilled React developer is skilled with ReactNative, AngularJS, Angular2, Bootstrap, Backbone, and SocketIO.
- They should have a working knowledge of these libraries: JQuery, MomentJS, and Loads.
- Having a strong background working with databases such as MySQL, NoSQL, Redis, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Blockchain is a great plus.
- An expert ReactJS developer knows how to use these JavaScript tools: Grunt, Browserify, Gulp, Webpack, and Bower.
- A good background managing these cloud platforms is a great plus: SaaS, Amazon AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, GitHub, OpenStack Apache, Yarn, and npm.
- When testing their coding, they should be able to use these testing tools with confidence: Jest, TDD, Unit-tests, Karma, Mocha, VCS, Selenium(base), and Enzyme.
- Look for someone with skills in these software application platforms: Content Management System (ex. WordPress), servers (ex. NGINX), project management tool (ex. Jira), and office documentation tools (Microsoft Office).
Soft Skills
Technical or hard skills are job-specific skills necessary to perform a job. They are learned and developed through education, seminars, training, and certifications. On the other hand, soft skills pertain to the interpersonal abilities of a person. By nature, they are quite tricky to measure or quantify.
Soft skills define how an employee interacts with others and if they have the qualities that fit into the company culture. Some examples of these soft skills are:
Excellent communication skills
A web developer should be able to communicate effectively and consistently to their clients and the team. Even when working alone, web developers who communicate ideas or proactively feedback on project results are successful at completing their projects on time.
Teamwork
Even if you want to hire one React developer, they need to demonstrate that they can collaborate well with you as the client and other stakeholders.
Problem-solving
Part of the challenges experienced by web developers in resolving issues and managing projects on a daily or weekly basis. Like any job out there, sometimes things don’t always go as planned. So, find a developer that has a problem-solver mindset.
Creativity
Developing digital assets makes a web developer truly in demand in this digital age. Creating web page structures, updating web design, keeping them mobile-responsive, and providing a great overall experience for users takes a knack for creativity and willingness to adapt and learn the latest updates on technology.
Be able to handle criticisms
Again, results may not always go smoothly. An effective developer should be able to learn from their mistakes and be humble enough to take criticisms from their peers, owners, and end customers. It’s a great character trait that will go a long way, even outside the tech industry. So, aside from being reactive to criticisms, it helps to be proactive by seeking feedback or advice from the team.
Stress-Free Hiring Process of a React Developer
Depending on the requirement of the project, budget, and screening steps involved in recruitment, the timeframe of hiring a software developer varies. More screening methods used will have an impact on time-to-hire. So, how do you hire an ideal React developer? Follow these steps for a smooth hiring process.
- Write a detailed and clear project description. Before you go into interviews and exams, have a clear understanding of your project scope. Write a complete project description about your potential React developer. A detailed job brief will give candidates an idea if their work experience, skills, and education will be a great fit for your project. Make sure to include details about your company, the products or services you offer, the team they’ll work with, project scope, and timeline.
- Screen candidates. This is the time to screen CVs, review their work experience and portfolio. Check if they have the qualifications and skills you need that matches what the job requires.
- Technical interview. Before you invite a candidate for a technical interview, prepare technical questions related to the position—their knowledge, skills, achievements from past companies, etc. Also, don’t limit the questions to only about ReactJS. Include questions that gauge their communication skills, creativity, problem-solving skills, and others.
- Give a practical exam. This is the right time to give a practical test to check on their technical and problem-solving abilities.
- Hiring decision (To hire or not). Sometimes, the hiring process ends at a final interview with the company owner or a development manager (for medium to large-sized companies). Based on the results of the CV screening, exams, and interviews, you can then decide whether or not to hire the candidate.
Where to Find a React Developer
Thanks to digital technology, it’s quite fast to find potential React.js candidates nowadays. Here are some places you can try to search for your next React developer.
- Word of Mouth – Yes, friends and former colleagues can be a good source of referral so reach out to those who know someone with expertise in React development.
- Online Job Platforms – These are great sites you can use: GitHub Jobs, Stack Overflow, Toptal, Freelancer, We Work Remotely, Guru, and Glassdoor.
- Social Media – Nowadays, hiring specialists are active on LinkedIn to look for possible candidates. LinkedIn is a social media platform built for connections between professionals.
- Traditional Media – We may be in the digital era, but doing it the old-fashioned way still works. Post your React developer job ad in local newspapers or send out flyers if you fancy this.
Hiring for Success
Hiring the best React developer can pose a great challenge, especially if you’re doing all the dirty work yourself. The steps involved may require tons of patience in dealing with all the paperwork and interviews.
These online job boards and marketplaces are a great place to start if you’re hiring on a project basis. But, for huge projects that require a long-term commitment and budget, you need a remote software development company with a solid recruitment process.
Consider going for an expert in offshore software development that does all the process for you. From screening, profiling, testing, interviewing, and a job offer.
Full Scale is an offshore web development company with headquarters in Kansas City, USA. We take the headache out of the messy process of hiring a web developer.
We have a pool of React developers ready for deployment. They have extensive skills and experience to help you accomplish your project goals. To get started, contact us and we will soon help you get the best results for your business!
Check out our Guided Development video to know how you can grow your software development team through Full Scale.
