What Skills to Test When Hiring a React Native Developer?

Introduction

React Native is obviously a great mobile app development framework. It’s good if you have chosen React Native for building mobile apps, but you also have to hire great developers in order to build exceptionally high-quality apps.

A developer with poor skills will produce poor results, so you need to hire someone who is a master of React Native and knows the art and science of building user-friendly apps.

But how can you know if he’s a good developer or not? What skills should you test while interviewing a programmer to check if they know the ins and outs of React Native?

In this post, I’ll tell you what skills you should test while hiring a React Native developer. Once you know what skills you should test, your hiring process will become, hopefully, a lot easier.

JavaScript

JavaScript is at the heart of React and React Native. All these technologies are based on JavaScript. So an excellent understanding of this computer language is crucial to work with React Native.

If your candidate doesn’t understand JavaScript well, you have to know that he’s not a right fit for your work. A good React Native programmer must know the JavaScript programming concepts very well.

ES6 and React

A React Native developer must have strong foundational knowledge of ES6 and React, so you should ask your candidate whether he knows these technologies very well. You can ask him a few technical questions to test how well he knows ES6 and React.

React Native

Ask your candidate how much knowledge he has of React Native. Is he learning React Native or does he have some experience in it? The best thing you can find out from him is whether he has worked on a React Native project.

If he can show you a mobile app that he has developed using React Native, it means he has working knowledge of React Native. I suggest you hire someone who has already built React Native apps.

Backend skills

If your projects involve backend development, you should hire someone who has good backend skills. Ask your candidate which backend technology he is familiar with. Does he know Meteor? Has he worked with Parse Server? These are the relevant questions that need to be asked.

Redux

While working with React Native, some knowledge of Redux is also useful. So know whether your candidate has some Redux skills. You can ask a few technical questions related to Redux.

Navigation

Navigation is an important part of your mobile app. You should have a very user-friendly navigation for your app. User-friendly and smooth navigation can be built using tools like React Navigation and React Native Navigation. Is your candidate familiar with these tools?

Debugging and testing

In the process of developing an application, errors need to be fixed and your app needs to be tested to check whether it’s working smoothly or not. So debugging and testing skills are very important skills that you should test while hiring a React Native developer.

Performance optimization

Your app users will love using a fast app. A high-performance app can take your business to the next level. Nobody likes to use a slow app. A slow app can kill your business. You need people who can develop an app for you that is super fast and runs smoothly.

So an ideal candidate should know how to improve the performance of a React Native app. There are many ways to improve app speed. You can ask them exactly how he will improve the performance.

Your React Native developer should have strong communication skills.

Communication skills are extremely important. You should hire someone who can not just produce high-quality apps for you but also can communicate well with people in your company. You need someone who doesn’t just write code but also can motivate others.

A developer with great communication skills can give you so much more value than one who only knows how to code but doesn’t know how to properly talk with people. A coder with excellent people skills will not only write high-quality code for you, he will also inspire others to be better at their work.

Understanding your client’s requirements is important. A coder who is good at English can easily understand the client’s requirements, assuming that the client provides their requirements in English.

If you want your developer to write app documentation or a user manual for you, test whether your candidate has some writing experience/skills. Writing skills are necessary not just for writing documentation but also for giving instructions to junior developers or for replying to the messages of project managers in clear English.

Dale Carnegie wrote in this famous book ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’,

<blockquote><p>“One can for example, hire mere technical ability in engineering, accountancy, architecture or any other profession at nominal salaries. But the person who has technical knowledge plus the ability to express ideas, to assume leadership, and to arouse enthusiasm among people-that person is headed for higher earning power.”</p></blockquote>

Conclusion

In this post, we talked about the skills that should be tested while hiring a React Native developer. We have learned from this article that while hiring a React Native developer we need to know whether our candidate has good knowledge of JavaScript, ES6, React, React Native, and a backend technology.

We also need to know whether the candidate knows the basics of Redux and navigation in React Native. Knowledge of debugging, testing, and performance optimization are also necessary. Above all, your candidate must have strong communication skills!

Depending on the type of mobile app that you need to be developed, you may need to test other skills as well. So take your time to think about what other skills your React Native developer should possess.