What’s the best way to interview a full stack developer for hire? How do you know when to move from the interview process to the hiring and onboarding process?
To hire full stack developers for your company can be quite a difficult task, it is by no means an impossible one. With the right interview script, you can breeze through interviews and find full-stack developers who are the perfect fit for your company.
Here are the top 5 interview questions to ask full stack developers:
1. Why did you decide to pursue a career as a full stack developer?
In every context, building rapport is important. In the context of interviewing a candidate for a technical position, many people forget to ask essential rapport-building questions.
Asking an interviewee why those chose a career as a full stack developer can help you build a professional relationship and gain insight into their career goals, passions, and experiences.
As an interviewer, you can more easily build upon your interview script with some personal information. You would be surprised how far a warm conversation can go. It can make interviews far more productive and enjoyable for both parties.
2. How many years of experience do you have as a full stack developer?
Asking an interview how many years of relevant experience they have is an absolutely essential question.
Obviously, the amount of experience your projects require is reliant on many details, such as:
- How large your development team is
- Whether or not you have senior full stack developers on your team
- How experienced your software project manager is
- How complex your app development projects are
- Whether or not you’re looking for freelance full stack developers for hire or full-time full stack developers
For reference, a junior full stack developer may have 1-3 years of experience. A more experienced full stack developer may have upwards of 5-7 years.
3. What platforms and tools do you use to complete your projects?
Every full stack programmer uses their own tools. Here is a list of popular tools they may employ to build, debug, and share their web apps:
- GitHub: Source control
- Bootstrap: Web framework
- MySQL: Database management
- Cloud frameworks like Google Cloud
- Trello: Project management platform
- Slack: Business communication
- Skype: Videoconferencing
4. Do you have a portfolio I can see?
Reading a resume, going through technical questions, and vetting the candidate with cultural questions can be tremendously helpful. None of these activities are as enlightening as peering at a portfolio.
A portfolio of live websites, web apps, and completed projects will be able to tell you just how skilled, talented, and devoted a full stack developer is to their craft.
Be sure to ask for a development portfolio as soon as possible so you can get a better feel for the candidate’s work.
5. How familiar are you with web programming languages HTML, CSS, PHP, and JavaScript?
Full stack web developers know every aspect of web programming, web development, and app engineering. They know how to code the front-end of a website (with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) and manage the back-end (with PHP or Python and MySQL).
A great full stack developer will be able to create and edit source code as well as understand how to utilize web development frameworks, understanding how to utilize existing codebases.
Conclusion
To hire full stack developers for your company, you must iron out an efficient and effective interview process. Without a firm grasp on the interview process, you’ll find hiring the right full stack developer unnecessarily difficult.
With an effective full stack interview script, you’ll be able to pull in candidates, assessing their skills and building a rapport as swiftly as possible.
Remember to ask full stack developer candidates about their career goals, favored platform, and tools, as well as their previous experience as a developer. Look through their portfolio to get a real feel for their quality of work and level of design and development talent.
Delve deeper into their experience by asking about web programming languages and their ability to read, understand, and manipulate existing codebases.
With these interview questions, you’ll be sure to find the right full stack developer for the job as long as you keep the interview process friendly, professional, and warm.
Paul Sciglar is a columnist interested in international policies and economic affairs. Certified Accountant with broad experience in strategic analysis, FP&A, investment banking, and investment management. You may connect with him on Twitter.
