How to Hire the Right Full Stack Developer?

A good full stack developer is still preferred by the companies who want an all-in-one attitude in the candidate. This type of developer knows more than just a specific technology. He develops full-fledged applications and revolves around both front and back end environment. A full-stack developer works around servers, databases, APIs, MVC, and hosting environments.

So when you hire a full stack developer, you hire a candidate that possesses expertise in various technologies. This saves companies from hiring multiple individuals that have worked on a particular technology only.

However, hiring the right developer wouldn’t be straightforward because since they know so many technologies, you also have to do your part. This would ensure that the hired candidate is what your company needs.

By assessing a few factors while interviewing the candidate, you can easily determine if he is what you would want to offer the job opportunity.

Look for the Technical Skills

Full-stack developers are often experts in more than one technology, that is why they are called so. While hiring the developer, these are the technical skills you should ask for:

• HTML, CSS, and Javascript
• Programming languages (back end)
• Databases
• Version control
• Deployment and hosting
• Third-party APIs/services

Looking at the resume always helps, but you shouldn’t solely rely on what is written. The resume defines the experience, organization, and technologies the candidate has worked in.

It should be a real-time assessment to measure a developer’s mastery of technical skills. Surely you two can have a brief discussion about what is in there in the resume, but practical knowledge is all that matters.

Additionally, you can check if the candidate has contributes to any open source as this always indicates a well-experienced developer.

Ask Questions

• You need to ask questions that help you verify the technical knowledge of the candidate. Some of the questions can be:
• Tell me about the recent projects you worked on and which technologies you used.
• Which technologies would we need to build a project from scratch?
• What is the recent technology or thing that you have learned?
• Are you a learner? Do you believe in upgrading your knowledge about technologies and how?
• What was the most recent challenge that you faced and how did you work on that?

Don’t Limit Your Search

Many companies still limit their search for the perfect developer because of factors like physical location. These days when virtualization is trending, you should spread your wings in all the directions, and find the best applicant.

If a person has talent, and if it matches your expectations, don’t mind hiring him virtually. As long as he delivers satisfying results, distance shouldn’t be a matter of concern.

Saying which, you should also display your requirement for a full stack developer on forum sites. Especially the forums where like-minded people meet. From there, you can easily have a chance to interview a deserving candidate.

When to Hire a Full Stack Developer

There may be several instances in a company when the need for hiring a full stack developer arises. Let’s see in which situation a developer would be needed:

When it is about Minimum Viable Product

The MVP technique is essential when just want to have the feedback from the users about the early development of the website or any technology. The aim of MVP is to give you an idea if your product would be a fit for the market. Accordingly, the full stack developer gets into further design to make the product a success.

When You Need Product Managers

Since these developers excel in so many technologies, they make the best product managers. They understand the value of each resource and make the best technical decisions.

When Cost is a Constraint

Full-stack developers never come cheap, but hiring this kind of developer is worthier than hiring different individuals for different technologies. Hiring a full stack developer lets you manage just one person, and in the long run, it saves you money and stress.

When You Have an Idea

Imagine if you have an amazing idea for an application that can be revolutionary in the market, but you don’t have anyone to develop that. In this case, a full stack developer is all you need since he knows every technology and has a strong technical background.

Key takeaways

Before you hire a full-stack developer, it is always important that you have the hiring manager as well. A person who has enough experience with the technologies and has worked in the same field would effectively interview the candidate than a person from a non-technical background. Identify your requirements and prepare your list of questions plus technical tests that you expect the interviewee to pass.