An example interview for an FE dev position

1. An example of a conversation between a recruiter and a front-end programmer

Recruiter: Hi there, how are you doing today?

FE dev: Hi, I’m doing well, thanks for asking. How about you?

Recruiter: I’m good, thanks. I saw your resume on LinkedIn and I wanted to reach out to you about an opportunity I think you might be interested in. We’re a technology company that specializes in creating digital experiences for a variety of clients, and we’re currently looking for a skilled front-end developer to join our team.

FE dev: That sounds interesting. What kind of projects would I be working on?

Recruiter: We work on a wide range of projects, from building responsive websites to creating interactive web and mobile applications. Our clients come from a variety of industries, such as retail, finance, and healthcare. You would be working on a team with other experienced developers and designers to bring our clients’ ideas to life.

FE dev: I’m definitely interested in hearing more about the position. Can you tell me a bit more about the company and the team I would be working with?

Recruiter: Sure! Our company has been around for about 10 years, and in that time we’ve built a reputation for creating innovative and user-friendly digital experiences for our clients. We have a team of around 50 people, including developers, designers, project managers, and business development specialists. Everyone here is passionate about technology and we all work together to deliver the best possible results for our clients.

FE dev: That sounds like a great working environment. What are the main requirements for the role?

Recruiter: We’re looking for someone with a strong background in front-end development, including experience with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It would also be beneficial if you have experience with JavaScript frameworks like React or Angular, and if you have experience working in an Agile development environment. Additionally, we’re looking for someone who is able to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

FE dev: I have experience with all of those technologies, and I’ve worked in an Agile development environment before. How does the hiring process work?

Recruiter: Great! Our hiring process typically starts with a phone interview to get a sense of your background and to answer any questions you might have about the position. If we feel like you’re a good fit, we’ll then invite you to come in for an on-site interview, where you’ll have the chance to meet with some of our team members and learn more about the company. We’ll then follow up with you to let you know if we’re extending an offer.

FE dev: That sounds great, thank you for taking the time to talk to me about this opportunity. Can I give you my contact information so we can schedule the phone interview?

Recruiter: Of course, please send me your contact information via email and I’ll reach out to schedule the phone interview. Thanks for your interest in the position, and we look forward to talking with you more about it.

FE dev: Thanks! I’ll send you my contact information shortly.

Recruiter: Great, I’ll be looking out for it. Thanks again, and have a great day!

FE dev: You too, thank you for your time.

2. An example of a conversation between a recruiter and a front-end developer named Tony where the recruiter wants to test Tony’s English language skills:

Recruiter: Hi Tony, it’s nice to meet you. Can you tell me a bit about your background and experience as a front-end developer?

Tony: Hi, nice to meet you too. I’ve been working as a front-end developer for about 5 years now. I have experience with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, as well as experience using JavaScript frameworks like React and Angular. I’ve worked on a variety of projects, from building responsive websites to creating interactive web applications.

Recruiter: Excellent, thank you for sharing that with me. I noticed on your resume that your primary language is not English, is that correct?

Tony: Yes, that’s correct. My primary language is Spanish.

Recruiter: No problem. I just wanted to mention that, as the position we’re interviewing for requires a high level of proficiency in English. Can you tell me about a project you’ve worked on where you had to communicate with a team that primarily spoke English?

Tony: Yes, I have worked on several projects where English was the primary language of communication. One example was when I was working on a project for an American based e-commerce company, where I had to collaborate with a remote team that only spoke English. We used a variety of tools like Zoom, slack and Trello for communication and it went smoothly. I had to make sure that I understood all the requirements clearly and was able to convey my ideas effectively, and it was a great experience.

Recruiter: That’s great to hear. Can you give me an example of a technical problem you faced on that project and how you resolved it?

Tony: Sure. One problem I faced was that the client wanted the website to be fully responsive but the images were causing layout issues on different screen sizes. To resolve the issue, I used CSS to create a flexible grid layout for the images and used the CSS property object-fit to ensure that the images fit into their respective containers properly across all screen sizes.

Recruiter: Thank you for explaining that. Can you tell me about a time when you had to explain a complex technical problem to a non-technical team member or client?

Tony: One time, I had to explain to a non-technical project manager about a performance issue we were experiencing with the website. I realized that the problem was caused by the way the website was loading too many resources at once, which was causing delays. To make it more understandable, I used an analogy of a “bottleneck in a traffic jam” and explained that it was causing slow loading times. I also provided visual aids such as a flowchart to make it more easy to follow. And then I propose the solution which was lazy loading resources only when it was necessary.

Recruiter: Great, thank you for sharing that. I can tell that you have good command of the language and your ability to explain technical concepts clearly. And you are also able to understand and communicate in English effectively.

Tony: Thank you, I really appreciate that.

Recruiter: Of course. Well, that concludes our interview. We’ll be in touch with you regarding next steps.

Tony: Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you.

Recruiter: Of course, have a great day!

3. A conversation between a recruiter and a back-end developer named Alex

Recruiter: Hi Alex, it’s nice to meet you. Can you tell me a bit about your background and experience as a back-end developer?

Alex: Hi, nice to meet you too. I’ve been working as a back-end developer for about 7 years now. I have experience with a variety of programming languages, including Java, Python, and C#. I’ve worked on everything from small projects to large-scale enterprise systems.

Recruiter: That’s great to hear. Can you tell me about a particularly challenging project you’ve worked on and how you overcame the challenges?

Alex: Sure. I recently worked on a project that required building a highly scalable and fault-tolerant system for a large e-commerce company. One of the main challenges was dealing with a large amount of traffic and ensuring that the system could handle it without any downtime. To overcome this, I implemented a microservice architecture and used load balancers to distribute the traffic across multiple servers. Additionally, I used a message queue to handle any asynchronous tasks and ensure that the system could handle any spikes in traffic.

Recruiter: That sounds like a complex project. Can you tell me about how you ensure the security of the system you developed?

Alex: Security is always a top priority for me, especially for e-commerce systems that handle sensitive user data. For this project, I made sure to implement proper authentication and authorization using OAuth2 protocol and I also used encryption for sensitive data such as credit card information. I also kept the system up-to-date with the latest security patches and regularly performed penetration testing to identify and address any vulnerabilities.

Recruiter: That’s great to hear. Can you tell me about a time when you had to work with a team that had different technical abilities or levels of experience?

Alex: One time, I worked on a project with a team that had a mix of experienced and less experienced developers. I made sure to clearly communicate project goals and expectations, and provide guidance and mentorship to the less experienced team members. I also set up code reviews to ensure that everyone was adhering to best practices and that the code was of high quality. Additionally, I made sure to be available to answer any questions and provide support as needed.

Recruiter: It sounds like you have a great approach to working with a team. Can you tell me about your experience with cloud computing platforms such as AWS, Azure or GCP?

Alex: Yes, I have experience working with all three of those platforms. I’ve used AWS for a variety of projects, including building and deploying microservices, setting up load balancers, and creating database solutions using RDS and DynamoDB. I’ve also used Azure for deploying and scaling web applications, and GCP for data processing and storage using Big Query and Dataflow.

Recruiter: That’s great to hear. Well, that concludes our interview. We’ll be in touch with you regarding next steps.

Alex: Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you.

Recruiter: Of course, have a great day!

4. An example of a conversation between a recruiter and a front-end developer named Ryan, where Ryan has identified himself as introverted and less communicative but has a way to overcome it:

Recruiter: Hi Ryan, it’s nice to meet you. Can you tell me a bit about your background and experience as a front-end developer?

Ryan: Hi, nice to meet you too. I’ve been working as a front-end developer for about 3 years now. I have experience with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, as well as experience using JavaScript frameworks like React and Vue.js. I’ve worked on a variety of projects, from building responsive websites to creating interactive web applications.

Recruiter: That’s great to hear. Can you tell me about a particularly challenging project you’ve worked on and how you overcame the challenges?

Ryan: Sure. I recently worked on a project that required building a complex user interface with many different interactions and animations. One of the main challenges I faced was communicating my ideas effectively to the design and development teams. As an introverted and less communicative person, I found that I needed to come up with a different approach for this project. I started creating detailed wireframes and annotations for my design ideas, which helped me explain my ideas more clearly. Additionally, I made sure to schedule regular check-ins with the design and development teams to ensure that everyone was on the same page.

Recruiter: That sounds like you found a good way to overcome your communication challenges. Can you tell me about a time when you had to work with a team that had different technical abilities or levels of experience?

Ryan: One time, I worked on a project with a team that had a mix of experienced and less experienced developers. I found that I needed to tailor my communication style to match the level of experience of each team member. I made sure to clearly communicate project goals and expectations, and provide guidance and mentorship to the less experienced team members. And also I made sure to be available to answer any questions and provide support as needed, and I found that creating detailed documentation and visual aids helped me explain complex concepts more effectively to the less experienced team members.

Recruiter: It sounds like you have a great approach to working with a team, regardless of their level of experience. Can you tell me about your experience with modern front-end development tools, such as Webpack and Babel?

Ryan: Yes, I have experience using both of those tools. I’ve used Webpack to optimize and bundle my code for production and Babel to transpile my code to be compatible with a wide range of browsers. I also make use of modern front-end development tools like Jest, Enzyme, and Cypress for testing purposes.

Recruiter: That’s great to hear. Well, that concludes our interview. We’ll be in touch with you regarding next steps.

Ryan: Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you.

Recruiter: Of course, have a great day!