A Non-Technical Manager’s Guide To Interviewing Full Stack Developers

The nature of work itself is changing. In the ever-expanding technology sector, remote employment has become a staple of the modern business.

Remote employment offers incredible advantages over traditional employment in terms of cost-benefit and productivity.

If you’re thinking of hiring a remote full stack developer for your company, then you will need to prepare some sure-fire interview questions. Here are 4 questions you should ask a remote full stack developer before you hire:

1. What are your favorite web development frameworks and tools? Why?

Websites aren’t made from scratch. Do they use AngularJS, JSON, or the framework Bootstrap? GitHub for source control? LESS for compilation? Notepad++ for coding?

These questions are important to ask the potential remote full stack developer because it showcases their familiarity with the technologies and helps gauge their dedication to honing their craft and learning new things.

This is also an important question in determining whether or not they can fit within your architectural scheme. Their explanation as to why is an invaluable resource as it can show how they learn and how they logically come to their conclusions.

Certain methodologies may not blend well, even in a remote environment. Teamwork is teamwork no matter the location.

2. How do you keep code readable?

This will test their knowledge of software design patterns as well as their coding standards. Do they mention tools they use to keep up coding guidelines or are they at least willing to learn how to keep code clean and readable for other members of the development team?

Make sure to see real examples of how they code and how they provide documentation. Things like READMEs, comments and naming conventions should be closely examined to see if they are up to the standards of your company.

Of course, their code should be very readable and have clearly stated comments with logical placement. These are the best indicators of their skills which are even more important in a remote environment.

3. What are some of the advantages of HTTP/2?

HTTP/2 is an important technology as it makes websites load faster, perform efficiently, and support improved technologies such as:

• Server push requests- The process of generating requests from a central server and “pushing” them to specified nodes or pages. Do they know how to implement and schedule them?
• Prioritization- Do they showcase logical skills when deciding the order of events and which requests should be prioritized? This is an important point for those working remotely as they may need to make higher level decisions when working.
• Data compression-  What data does HTTP/2 compress? Is it important? This can be a critical question for certain development teams depending on the technological requirements.

4. What have you learned that's new in the last year?

A key element in remote work is being a self-motivated full stack developer. This can be easily by the question of self-education. The importance of this question is perfectly elucidated here:

"The world of development is changing all the time—as the word 'development' suggests. Therefore, it is vital that a full stack developer has his or her finger on the pulse of what's happening," Steve Pritchard, HR manager at Cuuver.com, told TechRepublic in an interview.

"You need to be able to come back at the interviewer with a new software you have tested recently or a new skill you have acquired in the field,” he continued.

“Showing that you have an up to date knowledge of development and that you are keen to keep learning, will show them that hiring you means their website will not be stuck in the dark ages with a full stack developer who hasn't learned anything new since 2010."

Conclusion

Many companies are seeing improved performance when employees are allowed to telecommute. However, the process of hiring must take in some special considerations to ensure that your developer will not only succeed but, flourish in a telecommute office environment.

Hiring a remote full stack developer is a pragmatic and fiscally responsible way to flesh out your technology department. However, there are certain elements of remote work that must be accounted for when hiring remote.

Questions about their mastery of the full stack development technologies are, of course, important, but, questions regarding their self-motivation can be even more important for telecommuting work.

When hiring, always consider that you are dealing with people and what matters most is their willingness to be a part of your team.