It’s a job seeker’s market these days for sure! Companies are hiring web developers at an incredible pace. According to Venture Beat, there has been a 25% increase each year in web developers and designers in the United States and other major technology-rich countries. Finding the right fit in this type of market can be difficult, so getting the interview right can make all the difference.
There are several important questions that you need to ask to determine if you are getting the best candidate available for your company. To avoid hiring the wrong candidate for your company, consider the following questions for your web developer interviews.
Can you explain “X” as if I am not in the tech field?
There are a lot of different cogs in the machine of any company. Not every employee is tech-savvy. It’s important that your web developer is able to communicate virtually with everyone in the company in a way that they can understand.
Give them a concept, like explaining the differences between the front end and back end of a site to someone that doesn’t know anything about technology. If the candidate has a hard time communicating the concept, there is a real potential for lots of lost time and high levels of frustration.
Do you prefer to work with a team or alone?
This is not a loaded question, but it can be important. Every company has a different atmosphere and philosophy when it comes to this concept. Some of the best developers fly solo, but that doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t fit in with your company.
If you take a team approach to your web development, you will want to make sure you hire someone that is comfortable with that type of work environment.
Can you identify code errors?
Web developers frequently spot errors in code. Instead of making them write code for you, print some examples that have errors so you can test how detailed the candidate is and how quickly they can work under pressure.
Explain your approach to a project from A to Z.
How a web developer begins a project and works through it will speak volumes! By asking them to discuss this, you will find out what kind of problem solvers they are, how they collaborate with others, and respond to feedback. You can also determine their level of interest in the process.
What are some of your favorite development tools?
When they talk about the tools they use, be mindful of how much feedback they are providing. Try to get them to elaborate on why they like certain tools. You will also get a feel for how current they are in the field. If they are talking about antiquated tools, then you may have the wrong candidate.
How do you problem-solve when an application isn’t working?
Web development is largely about solving problems. Getting into their process for how they deal with these problems will show you a lot about this candidate. While you may have discussed it in earlier questions, it is worth finding out how they respond specifically to applications that stop working.
Hopefully, they are including some type of willingness to get help if there is something they don’t know. A web developer that doesn’t know how or where to find help is someone that may not be the best candidate for the job.
Ask about Namespacing
JavaScript is very important for web developers. Namespacing is used in reusing code in applications on the web and it prevents conflicts in naming. It holds methods with a unique name. This is a pretty easy question for anyone familiar with JavaScript and will weed out candidates who are not the best fit.
These questions will go a long way to sift out candidates that won’t be a good fit for a web development job. Getting down to the important details of the job and assessing their level of knowledge and their methodology as a web developer is crucial. It can mean all the difference in terms of productivity, corporate culture, and a successful web platform.