Hiring guide for React.js developers in 2022

About React

React.js is an open-source JavaScript framework that focuses on creating user interfaces. It is one of the greatest front-end development frameworks since it allows developers to create robust and complex products while still being simple to integrate into existing apps.

Developers use React to create large-scale web applications that can change data without reloading the page. The core goal of React is to be quick, scalable, and user-friendly.

Additionally, React is compatible with various JavaScript libraries and frameworks and is used by a number of famous companies, such as Meta (formerly Facebook), Netflix and more. However, do not mix it up with React Native, which is mostly used to develop cross-platform mobile applications.

The whole development and maintenance of UI components are handled by a React.js developer. They create applications and front-end designs, application components, and user interfaces. And as any professional in software development, the best ones are not that easy to find!

React.js developer stats

If you think React.js would be the right software solution for your project, it doesn’t hurt to learn about some general statistics about developers well-versed in this framework and other compatible programming languages.

According to Stack Overflow’s 2021 report, React.js is now the most popular web framework, surpassing the second-rated jQuery by almost 6 percent. And this data is based on the response of 49941 professional developers, of which 19864 choose React as their most preferred programming framework.

The volume of respondents alone shows you the large number of developers that are fluent in this framework, although it is hard to determine how many React developers are there globally. But that doesn’t mean there is a surplus of good React devs: in fact, more than 8700 globally use it for their web development projects.

And when it comes to the cost of hiring a React developer, the hourly rates alone can get up to 60 dollars. Not to mention the cost of job advertising, recruitment, onboarding, vetting and the cost of disruption in your developers’ team until you find the best person for the job.

Interviewing a React.js developer

Tips for your pre-screen

The road to hiring an amazing developer full-time starts with a pre-screen call. This call is less focused on technical skills, and more on “weeding out” the candidates you deem unprofessional or simply not to be a good culture fit.

Our Head of Recruitment Nadya Pokhyla uses a practical approach to scoring candidates in pre-screens with a useful scorecard.

“I pay high attention to their professionalism, self-presentation and communication skills; as well as motivation, enthusiasm, English-speaking skills and many other important points we evaluate during pre-screen. I like to ask myself this question: ‘Would I work with this person as a colleague?‘“

Talent Acquisition specialist Evgenia Kashchuk adds:

“After conducting a lot of interviews, I can say that the main non-technical skills are presentability (everything starts with a call with a recruiter), openness, sociability, honesty, curiosity, flexibility.”

Top technical skills to look for in React.js developers

Since finding the best React.js devs can be a pretty daunting task (and costly too!), we’ve asked our recruiters and technical interviewers to help us pinpoint the most important skills they should possess, apart from great knowledge of React.js itself and their years of experience.

According to skilled React engineer and technical interviewer Terri Prifti, these are the three most important technical skills a React.js dev should have:

“A React.js developer should be able to write HTML + CSS and be aware of responsive web principles. They should also be familiar with JSX syntax and understand the fundamentals of JavaScript language (for example data types, DOM manipulation, “this” keyword, callback functions).”

He adds that a great React developer should be familiar with:

• High Order Components (HOCs);
• Shallow rendering components;
• Being able to avoid prop drilling;
• Writing tests.

Talent acquisition specialist Catherine Fialkova underlines that “a good React.js developer should work with HTML tags, write CSS selectors, understand the box model and how to reset the border-box, and have an understanding of flexbox.

"Every React developer should also have an understanding of how Git is handled and have a profile on GitHub or GitLab. JSX is an abstraction of React. It is vital for a developer to have knowledge of this extension of HTML.”

Top non-technical skills in React.js developers

Some other qualities that you should consider when doing the first-ever interview with a candidate, according to Fialkova are:

• Clear and professional communication approach;
• Upper-Intermediate or higher English level;
• Ability to get on well with any team;
• Leadership ambitions;
• Ability to support and mentor the junior colleagues;
• Punctuality when it comes to attending the meetings or completing the tasks on time.

Interview questions to ask

For Fialkova, the golden five questions to start an interview with are:

1. What are the features of React?
2. Why use React instead of other frameworks, such as Angular?
3. What is an event in React?
4. What are synthetic events in React?
5. What is the difference between Hooks and Redux?

Prifti would also ask them about previous projects that were built on top of React.js; how they manage folder structure; React component lifecycle and how to avoid component re-rendering.

What sets apart a great React.js developer from a good one?

When it comes to the fine-tuned technical details that a great React dev could have, Prifti looks deep into the details of the code.

“I see all the differences in the import order, object destructuring, usage of memoized components, avoid defining functions inside render, usage of object literals.”

For Catherine, beyond mastering the expected tech stack, the most important criteria is that the developer can work without being supervised and reminded about their tasks:

“They should be able to present themselves and their work without constant supervision. Extra points if they take on more than only React-related tasks, have the agency to make their own decisions and a desire to learn new things.”