How to hire a full stack developer

Who is a full stack developer?

A good full stack developer is like one of those celebrities who can do it all. They can act, sing, be a DJ, host a show, even direct, and produce! They may not have won an Oscar or a Grammy, but they still have the breadth of experience.

They are capable of developing full-fledged applications (Web, mobile, or desktop). They understand both the front-end and back-end and know their way around servers, databases, APIs, MVC, and hosting environments among others. (Also read – Top skills a full stack developer should have)

A good full stack developer is always in demand. There are over 10,000 open positions available on Indeed alone. However, they may not be the best option in all cases.

When to hire a full stack developer

The demand for a full stack engineer is often driven by the requirements of the role. Hiring a full stack developer is a good idea in the following instances:

1. When you need an MVP

   When your operation is lean and the company’s aim is to validate ideas by building a minimum viable product, then full stack developers are your best bet. If there is an ideal role for a full stack developer, it would be to take an idea or feature and turn into a fully-functional prototype.

2. When you need Product Managers

   Full stack developers can make excellent product managers. They understand the business requirements and, at the same time, they are aware of the engineering capabilities. When decisions have to be made by taking all the parameters into account, they are an extremely valuable resource.

3. When cost is a constraint

   When you cannot afford to hire a specialist for each layer of the development process, full stack developers are your saviors. That being said, good full stack developers don’t come cheap. Nevertheless, instead of spending $70,000 each for a front-end, back-end, and network engineer, it is better to opt for one $100,000 full stack developer. (Also read – How to recruit on a shoestring budget)

4. When you need a CTO/Co-founder

   “I have an idea for a brilliant app, but I just need someone to build it”. This is a common infuriating phrase that developers often hear. When you are looking for a CTO or co-founder for a truly symbiotic relationship that involves combining their technical expertise with a shared vision for the business, full stack developers can make great CTOs or co-founders.

When not to hire a full stack developer

Do not hire a full stack developer, when you cannot see a clear value-add. For example, a full stack engineer can be a valuable asset when you are trying to optimize your application for 20,000 users. However, when you have reached a scale where you have millions of active users every day, you will definitely need a specialist or a team for each layer such as a data and infrastructure team. In such cases, a full stack developer will not add as much value as a specialist will.

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How to hire a full stack developer

When hiring a full-stack developer, you should look for certain qualities and technical skills.

Qualities of a full-stack developer

With reference to qualities, look for someone who:

• Is interested and passionate about learning new things
• Understands not only the stacks but also different technologies
• Can point you in the right direction for a solution even if they cannot solve it
• Is aware of the latest trends and developments
• Can see the big picture, the vision of the business, and understands the customer’s requirements

Technical skills to look for in a full stack developer

They should have the knowledge and skills across all the layers. For example, if you are hiring a full stack developer for a web application, then these are ideally the technical skills that you should look for:

• HTML, CSS, and Javascript (it is pretty much mandatory!)
• Programming languages (back end)
• Databases
• Version control
• Deployment and hosting
• Third-party APIs/services

(To read more about the top skills a full stack developer should have, go here.)

Things to look for in a resume

Reduce the dependency on a resume as much a possible. When it comes to technical skills, resumes are usually not a true indicator of the technical skills of a developer. The role of a resume ends with the sourcing of candidates. While scanning a resume don’t just look for relevant experience.

Also look for other indicators of a good programmer such as contribution to open source, exposure to various technologies and previous projects. If you have an alternative mechanism for sourcing candidates like sourcing from Github, it is much better.

Technical assessment

This is the most crucial step in your hiring process. How you assess the candidates determines the quality of the hire.

Conducting a generic algorithmic test as a mechanism for assessing a full stack developer is a total waste of your time.

Instead, give them a real-life problem, which will allow you to assess the technical skills and knowledge across all stacks. Here is a sample problem that would give a better idea of how to use a real-life business problem for technical assessment.

Things to assess in the interview

Once you have a handful of candidates who you know to be technically qualified for the job, look for these two things in the interview:

• Ability to deal with uncertainty
• Interest and passion for learning

Apart from gauging their technical skills, give the candidates a problem that they are not familiar with. Don’t just look for a successful output, also look for candidates who are ready to try irrespective of the outcome.

So when you hire your next full-stack developer, ensure that you:

• Look for inherent qualities
• Make technical assessment mandatory
• Choose an appropriate mechanism to assess the technical skills

Now that you have a good idea about how to go about hiring a consummate developer, try HackerEarth developer assessment software to make candidate assessment easy, effective, and efficient.

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Vivek Siva Author 14 Blogs