How to Hire the Perfect Node JS Developer for Your Project in 6 Steps

Node.js is one of the most widely used back-end technologies and the foundation for numerous software solutions. It was a gift for JavaScript developers worldwide who struggled to integrate their code into a long-term development environment by switching between multiple languages and frameworks.

With Node.js, you can finally create web apps with two-way connections, allowing the server and client to communicate and exchange data in real-time. For developers who wish to build real-time web apps, Node.js has been revolutionary.

You might think as Node js is so revolutionary that hiring the perfect Node JS developer is easy. Let me warn you – It’s not going to be easy. Many people can’t figure out how to find Perfect Node.js developers simply because the demand for Node.js experts surpasses the supply of perfect skilled Node.js experts. Many developers started working as Node JS developers. Still, developers have to master too many modules, so there is always lackings of qualified node js developers to hire in the market.

In this article, we’ve covered everything necessary to make hiring Node JS developers efficient and successful. So, let’s figure out how to fine-tune your team with developers who are well-suited to your project’s requirements

Step 1: Identifying Your Needs and Preparing the Candidate Profile 

A ‘candidate profile’ overviews a company’s available position and the ideal candidate. It can also define the platforms and recruiting strategies that the organization will employ to locate people. A candidate profile, when used internally, can help the hiring team understand the position they’re filling and ensure that candidates are evaluated fairly.

A candidate profile can help you speed up the hiring process by allowing you to make important decisions about the position before meeting with candidates.

• You can recruit people that closely fulfill the job description before hiring
• You can select through all the applications more efficiently and find the best fit while sorting.
• You’ll be able to remove undue external influences from the hiring process by evaluating each candidate.

To prepare a candidate profile, you can start by setting a goal. For example, let’s say you want to develop a dynamic website for a startup with a complex database. It will require both back-end and front-end development skills.

To build the website, you can use  React, Angular, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for the front-end and Node JS or Express JS for the back-end. 

Once you have sorted the technologies, it’s time to think about the developers. You can hire one back-end and one front-end developer or a full-stack developer who can do both front and back-end development. Now, this is the time you analyze the pros and cons of hiring two developers or one full-stack developer. Hiring two engineers will reduce your development time. But it also might be overkill, and you can proceed with a full-stack Node JS developer. 

Now, depending on expertise/experience, you can find three types of developers-

Junior developer: Who is still learning about development and gaining practical experience in the workplace.  

Mid-level developer:  Junior developers with 2-3 years can use their skills and experience and become the mid-level specialist

Senior developers:  Because of their deep, specialized knowledge, experience, intuition and deep domain understanding, Senior developers are often referred to as problem solvers.

There are different levels of seniority for senior developers.

In reference to the example mentioned before, for your candidate profile, you can choose what kind of developer will best suit your project. In the case of a dynamic website, you can select senior developers. They can build end-to-end solutions fast and can give you suggestions on technologies and architecture. Most importantly, they have in-depth knowledge of the domain.

Summarising your ideal the candidate profile to build a dynamic website 

So, in this hypothetical case, “You need to hire a senior full-stack Node Js developer to build a dynamic website with a database for a startup in 3/4 months.”  

You can add additional qualities to your candidate profile as per your project requirements.

This stage will provide you with a clear image of the candidate you wish to hire regarding technical skills, experience, and responsibilities. You’ll also have a better concept of the specific objectives you want to achieve with the hire.

Once you’re done, it’s time to see how the candidate’s profile helps you prepare a Node JS Developers list.

Step 2: Prepare a List of Node JS Developers Based on the Candidate Profile 

The Candidate profile you prepared can act as a base while preparing the list of Node JS developers while hiring. You can easily search through applications to locate the closest fit with the help of the Candidate profile. But first, you need to know where you can find such developers.

Well, we have a shortlist of such places for you. You can find the best applicants from the following platforms to prepare the list according to your candidate profile.

1. Technext 

From the above discussion, I hope you get an idea of Technext’s work process. Since Technext also allows you to hire individual developers, it can be an excellent place to start looking for skilled Node JS engineers. It has been in service for the past 12 years and has completed numerous successful projects. The best thing about hiring from Technext is that they carefully maintain the quality of work. As it has a large team working under the same roof, you’ll get professional industry-standard results from the Node JS developer.   

2. Toptal

Toptal is a good place to go if your company requires just the top Node JS specialists worldwide. Toptal maintains its developers’ quality through a rigorous selection process. You can count on raw talent and high-quality work when you choose Total. But, Toptal is slightly expensive, and they won’t personally check or maintain the quality of work. These are the only disadvantages of hiring through Toptal. 

3. Upwork

Upwork is one of the largest work marketplaces for hiring freelancer developers. There you can find developers of all skill sets, even if your budget is low. The main problem with hiring from Upwork is that they don’t maintain the quality that much. So, if you are not an expert yourself, you have to gamble on the quality of the work.

4. Gigster

Gigster is a professional platform that uses its network of subject matter experts, proven delivery, methodology, and fully managed services to deliver enterprise applications at record speed. That takes care of the most challenging aspects of management. It combines human and artificial intelligence to quickly assemble a team of specialists who can go to work right now.

So, you can go to one of the places and make a list of potential Node JS experts for hire. After this stage, you have a list of Node JS developers based on your candidate profile.

Step 3:  Review the Candidates

Now, it’s time to review the candidates to hire Node JS Developer. This stage aims to get to know the candidate’s personality and evaluate their communication, critical thinking, problem-solving, and teamwork capabilities. It’s also a chance to learn about some other job-related characteristics.

Soft Skills Review

Typically, for the soft skills review, you can:  

• Check whether the candidate’s and organization’s values are compatible: whether they match project needs and goals, are good team players, are goal-oriented, etc. This is the most fundamental but crucial step in the soft skills review.
• Discuss the candidate’s salary expectations and the company’s benefits and advantages.
• If a position needs leadership or more advanced talents, the recruiter also verifies these.

Companies may use overly basic questions to pre-filter candidates’ technical or domain knowledge. This helps to speed the hiring process by avoiding a more extensive technical skills examination for candidates with more visible knowledge gaps.

Technical Skills Review

After passing the soft skills section, the candidate is given the opportunity to exhibit their professional web development knowledge and ability. Senior or higher-level engineers, such as tech leads, solution architects, and others, frequently conduct these interviews

Probably, you are searching for varying degrees of competence, ranging from junior to senior Node.js developers or even team leads, depending on the work complexity and project role. It’s always been difficult to identify between developer levels because there aren’t any specific guidelines for doing so; understandably, they differ between businesses and teams. 

Furthermore, because the languages are similar, most front-end engineers are familiar with the basics of Node.js. You don’t need a lot of Node.js knowledge to start with a simple HTTP server, construct a simple script, or use Node.js in specific third-party libraries.

After reviewing the candidates based on soft skills and technical skills, you have a short-listed candidate for further interview and hire as a Node JS expert for your project. 

Step 4: Interview the Short Listed Candidates

In this step, You have to interview the short-listed candidates. To make this process successful, you can start by preparing some interview questions. You can choose some topics to ask questions to the candidates.

Tell me about yourself

You can start the interview with some candidate-related questions such as:

• Tell me a bit about yourself?
• Interests you share with the company?
• What excites you about software development?
• Future goals?
• What is a recent project which you are proud of?

Hypothetical Questions

You can ask them some hypothetical questions to know their work style, recent achievements etc.

• Tell me about a time that you had to deal with a tricky bug. How did you fix it? What was the outcome?
• Do you prefer to work by pairing with others or on your own?
• What do you like about the programming language you use?
• Which new features of the language do you use most and why?
• Describe your team’s typical workflow for a project. What do you like about it? What don’t you want about it?

Technical Questions

For technical assessment, you can prepare a list of questions related to front-end, back-end, or full-stack roles and your other hiring requirements. You can find this type of resource online. It might seem like a lot of work upfront, but spending the time to prepare and convert your thoughts can help you to find your desired Node JS developer.  

• Recent problems you have experienced and the solutions you implemented for the problem?
• What is Node JS?
• Why use Node JS? 
• How does Node JS work? 
• Why is Node JS Single-threaded? Etc. 

To perform a successful interview, not only do you focus on questions, but there are other mistakes you need to avoid. Try to avoid the following common mistakes

• Not reading the candidate’s CV before the interview
• Being too quick to judge
• Poor timekeeping
• Giving a robotic introduction
• Appearing disinterested
• A poor questioning technique
• Not being ready for their questions
• Speaking negatively
• Not confirming the next steps

The job interview is a two-way process; the candidate must be convinced that you are the right fit for them as their next employer. As a result, make sure you’ve done your homework, shown interest, and, most importantly, shown the candidate why they should choose you over everyone else.

Step 5: Coding Assessment

If you ask what is the most crucial step in hiring a Node JS expert. It’s the Coding Assessment step. 

After all, profiles, work samples, and interviews will only tell you about a person’s personality. 

But seeing how the developers complete the real-life task will give you a brief overview of how someone will contribute to your team if they join it.

There are two ways: In-person and take-home tests. 

In-Person Assessment:

An in-person coding assessment is completed at your premises when you invite a developer to your workplace and give them assignments to complete.

Take-home Coding Assessment

A take-home assessment is a work sample where you ask candidates to complete a task that will show you their practical skills and thought processes. To accomplish these tasks, you can set a due date. 

You can choose any of these assessments to select your Node JS expert. Just keep in mind that this assessment needs fit within a reasonable expectation of invested time and effort.

Step 6: Make the Decision

You have all of the necessary knowledge to make the best decision when hiring Node.js web developers.

Now the final step, where you decide based on the entire findings you had through the different stages of hiring the right Node JS developer. If you want to hire a Node.js developer to receive the best results possible and for your project to succeed, It’s important you follow these steps.