When it comes to developing a great app, hiring the right React Native developer becomes a top priority. You need someone who is not only a great developer with a firm grasp on React Native itself, but is also great at understanding and communicating, so that together, you can build an app that your users truly love and enjoy using.
For that, you need a React Native developer who understands your vision and can translate it into clean code. You need someone who has their hard skills spot on, as well as their soft skills in place. What are those you ask? I’ll tell you all about them in a minute.
React Native has emerged as a savior technology for businesses that want robust apps that are budget friendly, faster to build and easy to maintain, without compromising a bit in the performance. Having crossed 556 million downloads per month in March 2020, it is surely a big hit among developers.
A good React Native app is ready to go on iOS, Android and other platforms with just one codebase.
For a technology that robust, you need a developer who can make the best of it.
Since React js technology has gotten so popular among developers recently, surely there are plenty of great developers out there. It’s your job now to single them out from the crowd and pick one that best gets you and your vision.
So here’s how you go about doing this:
Know the essential skills your React Native developer must have
Look in the right places
Write a job requirement that attracts the best talent
Conduct a decisive interview – ask the right questions
Pick the best fit for YOUR project
Step 1 – Know the skills you’re looking for
So, before we jump into the actual process of hiring React Native developers, let’s talk about the hard skills and soft skills we spoke about a minute earlier.
Essentially, you are looking for a React Native developer who has a firm grasp on the core technical concepts of React js and some experience (or a lot of experience, depending on your requirement). That is broadly the hard skills aspect of the equation.
Hard skills to look for in your React Native developer:
1. Excellent knowledge of JavaScript
JavaScript is the core programming language used in React Native app development and hence, your developer must be proficient in it. Your candidate must be proficient in building components in JavaScript, application logic, structure, services and flow.
2. Proficiency in React assumptions
A good React Native developer must be well versed in basic React assumptions like Virtual DOM, JSX and component lifecycle.
3. Experience with React Native
Even a junior developer must have a net experience of working on adequate React Native projects, enough to make them well versed in the nuances of React, the components, libraries, frameworks, APIs and more.
4. Experience with iOS and Android
React Native developers are required to build cross-platform apps. This means that their app must look Native to the platform it is on. They must therefore be conversant in iOS and Android UI to make sure their app conforms to all major guidelines and imparts Native performance.
5. Familiarity with essential tech tools
The best React Native developer must know some of the essential tools like Redux, Hockeyapp and Enzyme, like a pastry chef knows his dough.
Soft skills your best React Native developers must have
When it comes to building a great product and running a successful business based on it, there’s more than technical skills your developer needs.
The developer must also be a team player, someone who is easy to work with, has effective communication skills, and other interpersonal capabilities that fall into the umbrella of soft skills.
Look for people who are creative problem solvers, who don’t confine themselves to the conventional way of doing things.
Step 2 – Look for Candidates in the Right Places
So where do the best React Native developers hang out? Not all hiring portals are created equal. You need to look in the right places to find the right talent.
Some of the best sites where you can post your job requirement and vet your candidates are:
1. Stack Overflow
You’ve heard about this one I’m sure.
Yes, Stack Overflow is a thriving community of programmers who are highly engaged and constantly answering tough questions about development. It’s a great place to find some of the brightest minds in programming, including React.
Stack Overflow has a job board where you can hire locally or remotely. Just create a company page for free and post your requirement. It is by far, one of the most reliable job boards for developers.
2. Toptal
If you’re looking for the very best React Native developers who have been pre-vetted and chosen, head to Toptal. It is said that only 3% of applicants make it through Toptal’s rigorous screening process.
It does cost a bit to hire on Toptal but you are spared the tedious task of filtering through heaps of unsuitable applications and are guaranteed the best talent, so it’s definitely worth the money you spend.
3. CodementorX
CodementorX is an offshoot of Codementor – the learning platform for programmers. Codementor houses a community of over 1.5k expert React developers from around the world. You are not only very likely to find well qualified and talented React developers here but also, you are assigned a project manager to help through the hiring.
4. X-Team
X-Team owns bragging rights to React specialists who have worked with companies like Fox, Twitter and Riot Games. They guarantee some of the brightest minds as well as responsible communication and exceptional work quality.
5. BrainHub
BrainHub can help you hire React Native developers for a one-time project or a dedicated full-time team.
Apart from these, you can always look around in spaces such as UpWork, Freelancer, Hired and a number of other online portals to find the right React Native developers for your project.
You could look at directories like Clutch and GoodFirms to check out the best React Native app development companies.
In addition to looking online, do as for references from people you know and trust. Person to person contacts are still an effective way to find talent.
You could also post requirements on LinkedIn and leverage your own professional community for hiring the right talent.
Job sites like Monster.com are an option too. Although they do involve a lot of weeding out the sub-par applications.
Step 3 – Write The Perfect Job Description
You’d think this one is a rather simple step. Just write the set of skills you need your candidate to have and you’re done. Right?
Well, there’s more to writing a good job description.
You need to write in a way that positions you as a desirable employer in the eyes of talented developers seeking challenging roles. Boring and conventional job descriptions might not attract the best and brightest minds.
You can also use your job description to effectively scare away unsuitable applicants by suggesting your preference for quality. You can specify that you only want serious candidate, or candidates with a certain experience or specialty.
A bit of length is a good thing in a job description. Write one that sums up all the qualities you need in your React Native developer as well as reflects your company culture.
Step 4 – Ask the Right Interview Questions
This could well be the most important step in your journey to hire the best React Native developers for your project. Once you’ve secured applications from some truly promising React Native developers, choosing the right one can be a difficult choice.
You must remember that you don’t just need the one with the highest degree or the longest experience or the highest number of apps developed, (though the last one could be very useful).
More on point, you need someone who shows a better aptitude to handle your project in specific. Someone who may have less credentials than the next applicant, but knows your industry and shows a greater acumen for learning on the job.
How do you spot that one applicant from the crowd? A carefully chosen set of questions is your answer.
So here’s a roundup of some of the questions you could ask during the interview to single out the right React Native developer for you out of the many suitable options:
1. What is ReactJS used for?
2. Can you explain the difference between React and React Native?
3. What are the biggest strengths of ReactJS technology?
4. What do you think are the limitations of React Native?
5. Can you explain the lifecycle of a React component?
6. How would you optimize the performance of a React application?
7. What is the significance of hooks in React?
8. What are stateless components in React?
9. What is the difference between Real and Virtual DOM?
10. How do you create an event in React?
11. What are Keys in React?
12. Can you compare MVC with Flux?
Those are just a few of the questions you could ask to access the developer’s knowledge of React.
Step 5 – Pick the Right React Native Developer for YOUR Project
Having asked the above question, do ask a few questions pertaining to your industry. Assess the applicant’s familiarity with ecommerce/ restaurants/ cloud/ data or whatever your business is.
It isn’t necessary that the right applicant is adept at all things you do. But they must show a healthy level of curiosity and willingness to learn. Only the candidate who is excited to work on your project would add value to your team.
Conclusion
Hiring the best React Native developers is the most important thing you will do for your app. It can be a trying process to choose the perfect fit, but the rewards will be worth it, for your product is only as good as your team. So put your people skills to test and find the React Native developer who fits your requirement, complements your team, understands your vision and is technically adept at bringing that vision to life.
