Hire The Top 1% Freelance Fullstack Developers

The concept of Full stack development has existed since the beginning of programming, but the meaning of the term in its current context is not the same as it was before. The current definition of full stack development only came to light in 2008, when both web and mobile development became mainstream. Back then, there was no difference in programmers as such. A programmer was responsible for handling both hardware and software end of operations.

Over time, the distinction between both ideologies grew, and two different streams of application came into the picture, frontend and backend development. Full stack gained momentum in 2008 and has now become one of the most in-demand job roles.

If you’re looking for a freelance full stack developer, this guide will come in handy. We’ve included everything you need to know about hiring a freelance full stack developer.

We have broken the sections into the following parts:
1. So what is full stack programming?
2. Why is full Stack development widespread?
3. What are the tools used by full stack developers?
4. Writing the Job Description to hire a full stack developer
5. Interview Questions for hiring a full stack developer
- Basic Questions
- Advanced Questions
- Data Structures/Algo Questions

1. So what is full stack programming?

• Origin story: Randy Schmidt, the managing director of the Burns & McDonnell Terminals and Pipelines group, introduced the term “full stack development” on June 03, 2008. He described a full stack developer as someone that does design, markup, styling, behavior, and programming.


• Widely popular: As of 2019, according to Evans Data Corporation, there are about 26 million software developers in the world. The USA has the highest number of software developers, approximately 4,2 million.


• Width of knowledge: A full stack developer is a programmer with knowledge across all layers of an application.
  1. Presentation Layer: The front-end of an application built using programming languages like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, and various JavaScript libraries such as Foundation, AngularJS, Backbone, Ember.js, and React JS.
  2. Logic Layer: The backend of an application built using programming languages like Java, PHP, .Net, Ruby, and Python.
  3. Data Layer: A sub-group of the logic layer that deals with how data is created, modified, read, managed, and deleted using databases like SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, and PostgreSQL.




2. Why is Full Stack programming widespread?

• Full stack developers can solve many problems: Companies hire based on what issues the candidates can solve for the company. Full stack developers can work on both backend, frontend, and the protocols that connect the two. Being able to create a software product end to end independently gives them an added advantage as compared to other developers.
• Role flexibility: Full stack developers with the knowledge to work on different projects provide managerial flexibility to move people between teams as businesses always need change.



3. What are the tools used by full stack developers?

Fullstack developers make use of a broad range of tools. Some of these are as follows:

1. Fullstack development IDE - VSCode

Visual Studio Code or VSCode has been rated as one of the best JavaScript IDEs available for development. It has in-built support for JS languages as well as extensions for other programming languages like Python, PHP, and C#.

2. API Testing - Postman

Postman is a reliable API testing tool that makes of easy-to-use configuration. It is particularly great for REST API testing.

3. CI/CD - Jenkins

This is an open-source automation software tool. Fullstack developers as well as others alike use this tool for building, testing, and deploying their apps. Getting familiar with the Jenkins pipeline is quite crucial for fullstack developers.

4. Version Control - GitBash

GitBash allows for easy source control management. The tool uses versioning and commit history to make the code management process simpler.




4. Writing the Job Description to hire a full stack developer

Below are some key points that we at Flexiple have learned through trial and error - a process of filtering through over 15,000 developers.

• Years of software development experience: Be specific about the technology you’re looking for and the number of years of experience needed. A proxy to years of experience can be the number of production-level apps worked on.


• Expertise in a specific language: All languages have their peculiarities and nuances. While good Full Stack developers can pick up other languages, it’s a plus point to hire a developer who already has expertise in it.


• Type of products built in the past: Based on the type of product you are trying to build - social network, SAAS product, etc. - you can prioritize certain developers over others.


• Exposure to specific industries: Developers who have built products in certain industries will already know key aspects of laying the foundation for a great product and will be able to predict possible problems.


• Experience working remotely: A developer with past remote work experience is an added advantage as they would have first-hand experience of everything - right from how contracts work to streamlined communication, as well as timelines and deliverables.


• Strong communication: An essential thing to look at when hiring a freelancer is excellent communication skills. Since all the interaction happens online, a freelancer should be able to effectively communicate to ensure a streamlined execution of all work.



5. Interview Questions for hiring a Full Stack developer

Now that you have made a quality JD, it can still be tricky to evaluate the skills of your applicants. To help you with that, we have created a pool of questions that a good Full Stack developer should be comfortable with.
It is important to note that the ability to answer these questions doesn't imply that you have a top quality candidate. But it definitely is a big step in that direction.

To help you navigate through these questions, we’ve categorized the interview questions in 3 parts:


A. Basic concepts: Includes all basic concepts used across languages. This section will give you an understanding of how strong their programming foundation is.

B. Advanced concepts: Includes all concepts that someone with higher expertise should know.

C. DS/Algorithm questions: To test the logical capability of the candidate.




A. Basic concepts

Observables are used to pass messages between various parts of your Angular application. Observables are declarative and are used to deliver multiple values of any type.

Observables are commonly used in asynchronous programming and to handle multiple values.

A few noteworthy advantages of using MySQL are

1. High Performance - MySQL was built with a lot of focus on power/ performance
2. Flexibility - MySQL can be used on all operating systems
3. Security - Good security and storage management system
4. Query Caching - Increases the speed of MySQL drastically
5. Replication - MySQL servers can be very easily replicated

B. Advanced concepts

This Maven plugin provides Spring Boot support to Apache Maven. This allows users to create and package an executable jar or war archives. It also allows you to start your application before running integration tests.

To add the plugin to your project, add this XML code in the plugin section in your pom.xml as shown below.

The following code can be used to configure a MySQL database and is the answer to the aforementioned Spring Boot interview question:

<project>
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <artifactId>getting-started</artifactId>
    <!-- ... -->
    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>
</project>
    

Cache-control headers help attain caching ability and are also used to control caching.

The most commonly used cache-control headers are:

• Public - Resources marked as public can be cached by any component between the client and the server.
• Private - These resources are marked private and can only be cached by the client.
• No-Store - In this third type, browsers aren’t allowed to cache a response and the data must be always pulled from the client. This type of cache control is used for sensitive data like bank details or passwords.

C. Data Structure/ Algorithm

var x = 10;
var y = 5;
var z = 3;
if (x / y / z)
     document.write("hi");
else
    document.write("hello");

The answer is A, the floating-point division in JS returns a non zero value = 0.66 which evaluates to 
true and outputs ‘hi’.

Parting thoughts on hiring a freelance full stack developer