Hire top Web developers to grow your startup

How to hire web developers at startups in 2023

Web developers may be a front-end, back-end, or full-stack web developer. Explore our comprehensive guide on hiring a web developer for your startup. We’re covering everything from skills to look for when hiring, to creating a hiring funnel for web developer candidates.

Are you looking to hire a web developer?

Web developers typically have expertise in web functionality, a good eye for visual design, familiarity with technical SEO, and proficiency in responsive design. A web developer is a skilled developer whose job responsibilities include building and managing the web (client-facing) development process. A web developer’s work supports a development team and enables users to access and interact with websites.

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What skills should you look for when hiring a web developer?

Top skills for web developers at startups

HTML/HTML5 and CSS/CSS3

‍The main programming languages to hire for in strong web developers are those with expertise in HTML/HTML5 and CSS/CSS3. Web developer candidates should be extremely comfortable in HTML and CSS as it’s the foundation for front-end web development.

PHP

‍Once of the most common back-end web developer open source programming languages is PHP. Many web hosting platforms and content management systems (i.e. WordPress, Drupal, etc.) are built on PHP. Add “PHP” to your list of skills to search for in a web developer.

JavaScript and jQuery

‍To add interactive features to your site or app (audio, video, games, etc.) you’ll need a web developer with JavaScript experience. jQuery is a library or collection of plugins and extensions the web developer can leverage when programming. Be on the lookout for JavaScript and jQuery experience on web developer candidate applications.

APIs

‍Web developers should also have experience with APIs - the medium which enables data transfer. The most popular APIs among web developers are REST and SOAP. Understand a candidate's ability to manage and use various APIs.

Web User Interface (UI)

‍Knowledge of web user interface (UI), visual design, and UI best practices is a skill to also filter for when searching for a web developer. While many web developer roles are focused on the functionality first, having the skills for front-end and customer facing UI can make a candidate stand out.

The most popular web developer skills and frameworks

When hiring for an developer, you’re mainly looking for a skill match.

When looking to hire a web developer, the most common codebases are HTML, CSS, and JavaScript/jQuery. Familiarity with design principles, visual design, and web user interface are essential when hiring a web developer. In addition, a web developer with expertise in PHP, technical SEO or Content Management Systems (CMS) like WordPress or Drupal can be beneficial to have a well rounded web developer.

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Web developers at startups

Attract top web developer talent through your Wellfound job postings

On Wellfound, companies can post a web developer job and review applicants for free. When posting a job for web developers, write a job posting to attract the right web developer talent. Here are a few tips:

• Add related fields: title, location, skills, and more. These relevant fields help your job post show up in the candidate’s job searches more frequently. Be sure to include “web developer” in the job description.
• Fill out the job posting to describe your company, role, and ideal candidate. Wellfound job postings have a free-form section to explain more about the company, role, and what you’re hiring for. For a job post hiring web developers, include:

1. Startup name
2. Title
3. Main web developer responsibilities
4. Web development programming languages required
5. Qualifications for web developers (i.e. front-end programming languages, design etc.)
6. Preferred or ideal skills from web developers

• Set up your company profile. A candidate will usually first click on their company profile to learn more when evaluating a company’s job post. Update your company profile so all sections are filled out — candidates rely on this to inform their job search!

Top web developers are on Wellfound

On Wellfound, you can discover web developer candidates by Sourcing — instead of posting a job and waiting for candidates to apply, you can find potential candidates and pitch your opportunity directly to them.

The majority of web developer candidates on Wellfound are specifically interested in joining a startup. With Source, our team provides key information including which candidates are actively looking for a job, what skills they have, their ideal salary, and more.

When sourcing for web developers on Wellfound, we suggest adding the following information:

• Role and title: Begin your search by filtering for those with a current or previous “web developer” title. Depending on your needs, you could also include terms like “front-end developer” to widen your search to help filter candidates with matching titles.
• Web developer required skills: Add specific languages and technologies you’re looking for experience in - in this case, HTML/CSS, JavaScript and more. Your search will depend on what technologies your codebase is in.
• Location preferences: Filter for candidates on remote preferences or in a specific location (whether they’re only open to remote, only open to in-office, or both). If you’re looking for remote web developers, you can also search by remote web candidates in specific time zones.
• Level of experience for web developers: This is where you can clarify the level of experience of the web developers you’re looking for. If you’re open to multiple levels for web related positions, you can always leave this filter open to allow a broader range of candidates to show up.

From there, you’ll see different lists appear based on whether they are passive web developer candidates (open to interviews, but not actively looking), active web developer candidates (actively looking and ready to interview), or curated web developer candidates (ready to interview and have been vetted and recommended by our team).

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Get involved and meet web developers

One other way of connecting with web developers is through different communities or events in the startup community. Explore the communities you can get in touch with to connect with talented web developers:Communities

• GitHub - Web Development
• DEV Community - Web Development

Discord Channels

• Front End Developers
• Learn.js

Events & Hackathons

• Dev.Events: web Developer Conferences

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Create an effective hiring process for web developers:

Hiring funnel steps for web developers

• Initial Phone Screen: For your first screen with a web developer candidate, the conversation should be behavioral. Look for a candidate’s problem-solving skills, excitement for the role, and culture fit in the product and company. Scan for the number of years of experience working in the codebase or similar/relevant technologies.
• Hiring Manager Call: Hiring managers should press further into past web development experiences, interests and motivations, and working style. Focus on the “culture fit” component and whether the candidate seems like they have the soft skills needed in the web development role.
• Technical Interview: There are multiple ways to test a web developer’s coding abilities for technical interviews — most commonly, companies will include either a coding test or a project-based exercise.

1. For coding tests, startups have used platforms including TopCoder and CoderPad. Note: coding assessments such as these are becoming more and more outdated, as they can often be limited to only certain styles of work.
2. For web developers, typically the technical interview includes questions about the candidate’s understanding of web programming languages. For example, what is responsive web design? How would you make a web page load faster? During this portion, the most important thing is to evaluate their skill level in web development. A hiring manager may also evaluate is how the candidate solves problems and ask questions about previous web projects and solutions a candidate has worked on.

Hiring your first web developer? Read our blog post for more information on how to hire your first developer in 5 steps.

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Example interview questions for web developers

• How would you make a web page load faster?
• What is the difference between SOAP and REST?
• What is SVG?
• What is responsive web design?
• How would you explain to non-technical stakeholders what an API is?
• What is the difference between null value and undefined value?

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Salaries and compensation for web developers

Determine a competitive salary you can offer web candidates by comparing market data for web developer positions. Check out levels.fyi, a popular tool among web developer candidates to see the ranges of market salaries. Leverage Wellfound's salary tool to see how your offer for web developers stacks up against other jobs on our platform.

If you can’t meet a competitive salary and still want to hire top web developer talent, double down on other offer benefits. Are there unique company benefits? Is there equity, stock options, or other compensation you can provide? Discuss with candidates the additional benefits beyond salary during the negotiation and interview process.

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Hire web developers globally

Interview the top 1% of web developers today and hire 3x faster with Wellfound.

We’ve explored how to determine the type of web developers to hire, ways to find web developers for your team, and the basics of setting up your hiring process. Now you’re ready to start looking 👀 Post your job on Wellfound and start sourcing top web developers today.