What’s the first thing you’d expect to look for in a front-end developer role?

When hiring for a front-end developer role, you could safely assume that the first thing that I look for is experience. While you may be correct in assuming that, there are still a load of other qualities that I look for when hiring.

When hiring for a front-end developer, there are a few elements on a C.V. that help candidates stand out from others. I’ll list them out below.

The first thing that always stands out when looking for developers is their education background. While education does not equate to experience, getting off on the right foot can mean wonders for your career when it comes to front-end technology.

Not all computer science programs are created equal. In the U.S., is widely expected that a Stanford or MIT graduate could code better than a Duke University computer science graduate. The same can be said for certain educational institutions in Australia.

While education matters, it isn’t the be all or end all when it comes to technology. There are many, many developers I’ve seen that have been self-taught and extremely talented. In this way, the education also matters a lot. If someone is self-taught, it shows they had the drive and motivation to make something happen, instead of simply being spoon-fed information from their University.

Generally speaking, strongly branded companies deliver candidates with strong personal brands. For front-end developers, this is no different. Quite often you’ll find people who have worked for companies that are quite successful will have a much better experience of building successful products, and in doing so, will have a better understanding of successful implementations.

Of course, that’s not to say that they’re guaranteed to be a perfect fit for their company. The difficulty in finding a culture fit for developers can be tough, but it’s always important to be able to see where someone has worked to determine the likelihood of culture fit.

Finally, front-end technologies are always the thing that we look for when hiring a front-end developer. As front-end technology is forever changing, finding people that have previously developed in the specific library or framework is always a key factor in hiring decisions.

For example, Front-End developers that have never developed in NodeJS will have a tough time learning the technology while on the job. The difficulty for developers in upskilling on the job remains a key driver behind whether we look at making a placement, because most of the learning for the new language is expected to be done beforehand.

So, there you have it.

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