Hiring a Freelance Front‑End Developer ‑ An Ultimate Guide

When it comes to web development, you will work with several groups of people ‑ with totally disparate skill sets ‑ before launching your website. You will work with back‑end developers, whose task is to provide a code for your goal's actualisation.

Full‑stack developers, who take a simple concept and turn it into an actual product, are another group of developers you will come across. To conceptualise and design the look, feel, and aesthetics of the user interface on your website, UI designers will also be involved.

Finding the right people to work on a project can be a little problematic, especially if it is not something that you are used to doing. If you have no way of verifying the developer's skills, you could end up with some shortcomings in your project, which can be costly to rectify.

So, to help you hire the right freelance front‑end developer, I thought I could provide some tips to maximise success. As always, feel free to get in touch if you have any questions, or want to discuss anything here ‑ or elsewhere on the site ‑ further.

The Scope of Work

Before you interview or look for a freelance front‑end developer, you need to define what duties you expect them to perform once they start working with you. You should provide a scope of their work so that they know what they need to do, and so that they can offer their solution to your requirements.

It is also important to clearly define their work, so they understand what you want to achieve. Let's say that you want to update your web application to a newer and better version. This could mean changing how it launches, the features you see on the homepage, improving the visuals, and redesigning the website to make it more user‑friendly. All these duties will need a different approach to achieve success. Once you have detailed what the front‑end developer should do, you can go ahead and look at their skill sets.

Must‑Have Skills for a Front‑End Developer

A front‑end developer can focus on a specific part of development or can be a jack of all trades who takes a project from start to release. Front‑end development falls under three main categories, which include:

• Functionality

  ‑ how the site achieves its intended tasks;

• Presentation

  ‑ how users will see your website;

• Performance

  ‑ how well your website fulfils its intended functions and meets your user's needs.

Any front‑end developer should combine their skills effectively to achieve all three functions with ease. That is what defines their skill sets. Some of the skills to look out for when hiring a freelance front‑end developer include…

The Skills a Freelance Front‑End Developer Should Have

1. HTML and CSS

HTML forms the building blocks of a website. CSS is used to create a well‑organised, semantic, and neat presentation of the content on your website. Therefore, when you use HTML to develop your website's base, CSS dictates how you present your content, whether it is the order, shape or colour, and style of your website. Any developer should therefore be competent with both HTML and CSS.

2. JavaScript and Frameworks

JavaScript defines the functions of the website. It provides a way for your users to interact with the features on your website. As I've talked about before, any front‑end developer should be very familiar and competent in vanilla JavaScript. jQuery still gets a lot of traction, but realistically this is just an abstraction layer on top of JavaScript; if you are good enough at developing vanilla JavaScript, then jQuery is entirely redundant (and not a dependency I would suggest you introduce to a project).

On the other hand, frameworks such as React or Angular ‑ as long as your developer is familiar with them ‑ can significantly speed up your development time and optimise the end product too. The caveat here of course is that your developer needs to already have some experience with one or the other; the good news is that a solid understanding of JavaScript then this is very transferable to frameworks which are ‑ after all ‑ still built using the same technology.

3. Version Control/git

I have talked about Git as an essential front‑end development skill before, and even likened it to occasionally being a little like writing a (sometimes quite lonely) diary of your development progress.

Essentially, Git is version control software which allows a very clear set of commits that represent the codebase at that exact time. It forms a clear piece of documentation which shows exactly what was worked on, when, and by who. With Git you are able to keep an eye on a project's progress, as well as keep ownership of the code itself as it is committed into a repository that you (hopefully) control.

I would say that realistically, Git is an absolute fundament of front‑end development, in much the same way HTML, CSS, and JavaScript is.

4. Responsive Design

A long‑standing challenge in front‑end development is writing code which is compatible with different browsers, and different devices. I've personally been doing this since Internet Explorer 6 was king and the real 'problem' browser was Netscape Navigator.

Over the past few years, this has shifted: widespread adoption of adaptive and responsive development techniques, and the unification of browser rendering engines has meant the focus and challenge in front‑end development now falls on ensuring that a website performs well regardless of whether the visitor is using an underpowered, tiny, mobile phone, or the latest full‑spec Apple MacBook Pro.

Any front‑end developer should be intimately familiar with how to develop an interface or site that is responsive to the browser and device the visitor is using without reducing the functionality or undermining the user experience.

5. Debugging and Testing

For a freelance front‑end developer to be fit for the job, they should have excellent debugging skills, and conduct rigorous testing when they have completed development. This ensures the project is error‑free, and is fit for users and clients to interact with.

6. Frameworks

Frameworks help you do a bunch of stuff with ease. And in front‑end development, the front‑end developer needs a good working knowledge of CSS (like Sass) and JS (like React) frameworks. Using these frameworks, you can build complex websites, so you do not need to start from scratch with each project.

7. Web Performance and Automation

Your website's first interaction with a client is the impression that a visitor will have to judge its performance and therefore can provide a good or bad first impression of your business as a whole. So, you need someone well‑versed in making a website perform at its best. A freelance front‑end developer should therefore be able to use their skills to boost web performance.

Responsibilities of a Front‑End Developer

When hiring a freelance front‑end developer, you should already have defined your expectations and needs for them. The most common responsibilities tasked to these developers include:

• Reviewing any designs and making suggestions to either improve technical feasibility or improve user experience;
• Determining the architecture, structure, and implementation of web pages, or working with those within your team who have already done this;
• Ensuring that the website has a balance between aesthetics and performance;
• Optimising web performance regardless of device or browser;
• Creating features for your website that ensure the best user experience;
• Ensuring that your brand name is well represented on your website.

Where Can You Find a Freelance Front‑End Developer?

Finding the best front‑end developer for your business or project can be tricky. The process of finding one is also not so straightforward. But if you are interested in hiring a front‑end developer, you can find them at:

• Job hiring sites;
• LinkedIn;
• Web development conferences and events;
• By outsourcing;
• Through social media platforms;
• Through online interactions.

I've also written about this before, so you will find a more in‑depth dive into the above there.

How Can I Help?

If you want to upgrade your website or create one that will create waves in your industry, you will need one of the best freelance front web developers working for you. Since hiring an in‑house developer can be expensive, it is important to work with the best front‑end freelance developers available and able to showcase a wealth of different skills to meet your project requirements.

I am a professional freelance front‑end developer with over 18 years of web development experience. Over the years, I have worked with many reputable brands such as John Lewis, Selfridges, the BBC, and HSBC, and delivered projects successfully on time and within budget for these clients.

As an advocate of well‑engineered, easily maintainable, testable and scalable front‑end code, I ensure all website projects are carefully crafted using React, JavaScript (or TypeScript), HTML and CSS. I would encourage you to reach out to me to discuss your project with me, and we can come up with a plan of action to work together to deliver your development goals.