- The basic skill set of JavaScript developer
- Primary competencies of JS developers
- 1. Developing software products from scratch
- 2. Adding new user-facing features to existing apps, WPAs, and websites
- 3. Building MVPs and prototypes
- 4. Ensuring the technical feasibility of UI/UX designs
- 5. Optimizing application performance and scalability
- 6. Writing functional guidelines and documentation
- JavaScript outsourcing markets
- How to hire JavaScript developers in Eastern Europe?
- Conclusion
There’s a full-blown talent war when it comes to hiring JavaScript developers. JS ranks as one of the most demanded technologies on the job market in every annual StackOverflow survey.
As most Western European and American companies face hiring challenges at home, choosing offshore tech markets to hire JavaScript developers has become a major trend. Eastern Europe is undoubtedly one of the largest and most acclaimed providers of talented JavaScript software development workforce.
Here’s the guide on how to hire JavaScript developers in Eastern Europe.
The basic skill set of JavaScript developer
Developers use JavaScript to implement front-end logic and determine how the elements interact with each other. In case you haven’t worked with JS teams before, here’s the list of JS developers’ primary competencies.
- UI frameworks. Working with UI frameworks saves developers a ton of time when building the front-end. It gives access to lots of useful widgets and helps reuse the interface. To create high-level projects, a JavaScript developer needs to have a good command of the most popular UI frameworks and be able to work with them.
- HTML and CSS. Since top JavaScript developers have to work on countless web projects, learning the building blocks of web programming is common sense. The mastery of HTML and CSS is essential to understanding how the changes in code visually influence the page.
- Version control/Git. A JavaScript developer needs to be able to restore the backup of the project in case there is a need for a redesign or a change in the development strategy. As you hire JavaScript programmers, choose candidates who know how to use Git and other popular repositories.
- Debugging. Pinpointing bugs is essential to ensure that code flaws don’t jeopardize the functionality and performance of the entire system. A JS developer is not required to run complex integration or end-to-end tests; however, a professional should be familiar with debugging software, capable of reporting detected issues, and able to test his code.
- Automated testing. Running unit tests manually is cost-inefficient and takes a lot of time. That’s why small-scale testing activities are normally automated. A professional JS developer should know how to decide if a test should be automated or run manually. He also should write a script for automated testing and document the testing process in a clear and concise way.
Primary competencies of JS developers
To know how to hire JavasSript developers, a business owner should understand which responsibilities this job usually covers. Here are the competencies for JS developers you can list in a job opening and expect the candidates to be familiar with.
1. Developing software products from scratch
A JavaScript developer builds the architecture of the product, collaborating with the design team to create wireframes and prototypes. He also brings the idea to life using JS and related technologies.
Despite JS developers being highly involved in developing web applications, designing desktop and mobile software from scratch is one of their job responsibilities as well.
2. Adding new user-facing features to existing apps, WPAs, and websites
A JavaScript developer is involved in building client-side-based features for all operating systems and the web. A list of user-facing features a JS software engineer needs to be able to integrate involves:
- Replacing the default font size with a different one
- Changing the page format from a window to a sheet or a different view
- Ensuring the proper interaction of front-end components with the back-end one
3. Building MVPs and prototypes
A JS software engineer is the one to provide a designer with the tech backbone that brings visual elements to life. Adjusting and adapting complex designs during the wireframing and prototyping stage and mapping out user journeys are day-to-day responsibilities for JavaScript developers.
4. Ensuring the technical feasibility of UI/UX designs
A JavaScript developer has to provide the design team with feedback and reviews. In case empowering an element complicates the development and maintenance process, it’s a JS software engineer’s job to point out alternative ways to implement a feature without complicating the project structure on a code level.
5. Optimizing application performance and scalability
JavaScript has a lot to do with the loading speed of the project and its ability to cater to large audiences. Companies hire JavaScript developers to keep an eye on the JavaScript Cache API and ensure that the cache is observed regularly. Removing unused JS code and deferring the JS load are other ways to improve the performance of a product.
6. Writing functional guidelines and documentation
Since JavaScript developers work in a collaborative environment, working jointly with designers and back-end developers, creating guidelines and documentation is crucial for mutual understanding and stellar teamwork.
Documenting the development process will come in handy during maintenance when adding new features or scaling the project.
When hiring, choose a JavaScript outsourcing team that is familiar with bug reporting and documentation tools — Dropbox Paper, GitHub, and others.
JavaScript outsourcing markets
In case you are about to outsource your project and hire JavaScript developers for the first time, it is challenging to decide which market to use. We recommend you read out guide about offshore software development.
Since software development cost is a crucial make-or-break factor when choosing a JavaScript outsourcing destination, we decided to run a detailed workforce cost comparison for top worldwide development markets.
- North America — $80-100/hour
- South America — $30-50/hour
- Asia — $18-40/hour
- Africa — $20-40/hour
- Western Europe — $60-80/hour
- Eastern Europe — $30-50/hour
Out of the main Eastern European markets, choosing a software company from Ukraine is a reasonable choice. The country is considerably cheaper than other Eastern European regions, has one of the lowest tax return policies, and facilitated travel conditions.
Additionally, Ukraine boasts a high-quality tech education, with dozens of high-ranking polytechnic schools. Lots of skilled graduates later started working for JavaScript development companies in Ukraine. Most Ukrainian IT specialists have intermediate English-speaking skills; thus, business owners will not struggle while communicating with a JavaScript company from Ukraine.
How to hire JavaScript developers in Eastern Europe?
Knowing how to hire JavaScript developers directly accounts for the success of your project. Before making a hiring decision, a business manager should carefully assess the skills of job candidates and develop the evaluation criteria to sort through CVs.
Here are the top tips for JavaScript outsourcing in Eastern Europe:
- Decide on the criteria a candidate should meet. Before screening and assessing candidates, make sure you understand the needs of your business and the ways hiring a JS developer can help out. Otherwise, there’s a chance you need a specialist with a different skill set, and you don’t have enough relevant tasks to hire JavaScript developers.
- Find out what the most common ways to reach out to candidates are. Since you are exploring an international market, it’s useful to know where talent comes from to look for jobs there. Custom job-search platforms are the easiest and most popular way of JavaScript outsourcing — Clutch.com, ITFirms.co, GoodFirms.co, etc.
- Examine a candidate’s portfolio. Working experience is crucial when it comes to hiring JS developers. Other than asking a candidate or development team about their experience in a face-to-face interview, ask all prospective developers to attach a GitHub link to the cover letter. The number of projects hosted on the platform as well as that of followers, will give a better idea of a candidate’s proficiency than an easy-to-forge CV.
- Evaluate communication and teamwork skills. For JavaScript outsourcing, it’s crucial to find talent with a high level of discipline and organization. Your Eastern European Development team has to be comprised of self-starters. Other than that, ensure a candidate is comfortable communicating in English and has sufficient language proficiency in expressing themselves and understanding project environments.
Conclusion
Eastern Europe is a lucrative market for JavaScript outsourcing. In countries like Ukraine, college graduates are familiar with eastern practices, taken after Russian and Asian teams, as well as the Western ones, thanks to the proximity with the European Union.
As long as a business owner has outlined his expectations regarding future collaboration and familiarized himself with the market, he will not be challenged to choose the right software development company Ukraine has to offer.
To onboard professional JS developers for small- and large-scale projects, reach out to ELITEX. You can work with an experienced development team on a project or dedicated team basis. We use ES6, React, and Angular to help businesses build websites, web applications, as well as mobile apps.
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