

What questions to ask when hiring a Front End Developer - kedargj
https://www.gapjumpers.me/questions/mckinsey-digital-labs/qs-160/

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pedalpete
If you're asking 'is this a good interview question', I'd suggest no.

A few reasons. 1) I've only done a few code sample interviews, and some I've
really enjoyed. But I had two which were open ended like this and just said
"design a system that does x". Well, how far do I go in that design? If I
spend two hours doing something fairly simple, and somebody else takes a day
and ends up with the same and a third person takes a day and ends up with less
than I did. As an employee, would you be able to tell who spent what amount of
time? Would I loose out because I don't have as much time to spend as person
X?

2) 'similar to Wikipedia on Android'. Great, I don't have an android device.
Maybe I can find a video of it online, but will I get the nuance of the
interface you're asking me to design

3) A simple application to browse titles, might be too simple, I could just
create a list that grabs some json from a server and displays it. Is that
really all you need to judge a front-end dev?

You want to test their javascript and css, so give them a moderate interface
design, tell them to implement feature X, have that feature include something
like a filter function with animation. Something that lets them show you in
about 10 minutes, that they know their craft.

One suggestion on a previous HN post that I tried for fun, and it worked well
was to make a simple timer that you could change the direction of the clock
output from count down to count up. Took about 20 minutes.

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MichaelCrawford
Can you tell the difference between shit and Shinola?

But seriously...

Ask them to write a modest Javascript program, but not one that is commonly
done - so not like rollover links or drop-down menus.

Don't make them do it on a whiteboard. Give them a computer and let them do it
at their own pace. Put all the usual tools on it - Firebug and so on.

However, observe them while they are developing the program. Do they actually
_use_ any of those tools? If not, either they are 1337, or they don't actually
know that those tools even exist.

I am completely convinced that most JS coders don't even know there is such a
thing as the Javascript console.

