Hiring front-end developers

Too true. These days front-end developers are expected to know frameworks and a plethora of lanauges which to me signals a company is trying to get not only a front-end developer but also is trying to get someone proficient in Rails or whatever language without paying more. "Oh, knowing Rails is a plus for this position" translates to, "We are going to pay you a $60k a year salary for a front-end position and get you to do the tasks of a Rails developer as well of which we pay $90k a year to" the line has been blurred you're either mostly front-end with a little knowledge of back-end and web apps like Wordpress and whatnot or you're backend with a little knowledge of front-end.<p>The wanky interview questions always make me laugh. Developers at their core are hackers, they know bits and pieces but not everything. A great developer doesn't know everything but knows what to type into Google when they need a solution to a problem. Collectively all of these tidbits create a cross-network of information developers share with one another. The questions that assume you are some all seeing, all knowing developer are a farce and you probably don't want to work at a place like that anyway.<p>The type of questions I would love to see being asked in front-end developer positions would be:<p>* What's the difference between display: inline-block and float: left?<p>* What is the default browser behaviour in a modern web browser when applying a padding left or right to an element with 100% with?<p>* How would you add a class to an element with the ID of, "content" via jQuery?<p>* Name two CSS browser vendor prefixes<p>* What is the difference between responsive design and adaptive design (bonus points for describing how and why one is easier and or harder than the other)?<p>* Which of these is not a valid CSS unit of measurement? px, pm, em, rem, %<p>* What is the difference between position: absolute and position: fixed?<p>These are questions good developers should know the answer too without Googling, they're not solutions they're somewhat basic things a front-end developer should know off of the top of his head.<p>Not:<p>* What are some of your favourite tech blogs to read?<p>* Can you please write a for loop that increments a counter?<p>* What web browser do you use?<p>* Can you recall a particular time when you found yourself solving a complex problem?<p>It's a tough economy and companies are always trying to get something extra for nothing. I've always had an issue with companies hiring so-called, designer/developers when we all know a true designer or developer doesn't fragment their time learning two crafts. You either become a great developer or a great designer not a mediocre hybrid who lacks full-understanding of each craft because you're too busy going back and forth with crafts.

&#62; I’m not advocating ignorance, but making that a part of the interview process is too much. Leave it. I’ll know that sort of thing when I need to know it by googling.<p>This is spot on, there are some JavaScript "advanced" topics that people should be aware of, but I don't think someone who doesn't know all the answers to this one: <a href="https://github.com/nathansmith/javascript-quiz/blob/master/README.md" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/nathansmith/javascript-quiz/blob/master/R...</a> is by definition a bad developer, yes variable scope is one of the things you have to know, and the meaning of "this", but there are things you can just experiment in the console, or as you said Google and not have to memorize and still be a great developer.

I've been to a few interviews recently for web stuff. I don't consider myself a developer, but I do know some programming. I think telling companies what they should or should not do is fruitless unless you know the background.<p>First thing is that many of these companies want something cheap, so they call around and get something built locally for under 10k or call India. The site, that should have taken 6 months to build, is still being worked on after 2+ years. The company finally realized they got screw-balled and now they want to post about as much as they could for insurance.<p>The other issue that this article ignores is that many times these half-assed dev houses actually do create a quagmire of development technologies that run the mill from WordPress / Magento / Ruby / and every new javascript framework that comes around, and yes, even a mix of HTML, XHTML, and HTML5. Companies could also be asking for this list of products because they want someone with experience. Someone that has been around the block will have programmed in HTML4.1 at some point.<p>The real problem isn't the customer. They shouldn't know about, or have to care about, technology any more than you should care about, or have expert knowledge, of your lymphatic system. You pay good money to doctors who know this stuff, and unlike the average mill web house, the doctor is actually educated and knowledgeable of the field.<p>The problem isn't the customer, the problem is that web development is a world of slick-tongued sales people and charlatans. Most of these morons can't code at all and they basically take the money and run. They run into edge-cases and they just pile poo on top of poo, or they just abandon the job when the going gets tough. Companies create these ads because they want to defend themselves from getting screwed over again, and they are hedging their bets the best they could. It's a sad state of affairs, but the web world sort of brought this on itself.

I find that the "front-end developer" title is overloaded.<p>On one end of the spectrum, it means someone that can create and design UI mockups, and implement them using CSS and jQuery. For that type of job, asking algorithm questions makes very little sense. A strong portfolio would be a much better gauge of that person's skill set.<p>On the other end, it means someone who's able to engineer a web client using MVC frameworks and say, CORS. In contrast, algorithm questions make a ton of sense here.

The thing that always gets me is when I'm interviewing for a front-end development position, and they end up asking me how to write algorithms during the interview. Do you really want me to write algorithms all day? Or do you really want me to build the front end of your website? I've written very few algorithms in my time as a front end developer, but nearly every day I have to deal with an obscure browser quirk, rendering optimization, or usability problem. Ask me about one of those problems!

&#62; &#62; You’ll be working on a greenfield project. Any tool you use is fine as long as you know it REALLY well. Except of course for Ext.js. There’s just no excuse for using it ever.<p>This definitely deserves extra emphasis.

If you're interested in a front-end position at SurveyMonkey, feel free to get in touch--we're hiring right now and, having joined recently, I can say it's an awesome place to work.