Front End Developer Interview Questions

The competition for a front end developer is as intense as the demand. With the booming growth of small businesses and eCommerce businesses, the need for creating websites is as high as it has ever been, making now an excellent time to start a career as a front end developer. So, here is an article dedicated to the front end developer interview questions to ace the interview.

What do front end developers do?

Front end developers are responsible for writing programs for the part of the users’ websites. The website on which you are reading this is an example of front end development.

There are various programming languages you can learn for front end development, but the most important ones you should learn are

These languages are the must-haves of front end development.

Other programming languages you can learn for front end development:

Front end developer interview process

Though the recruiting procedure differs depending on the organisation or the candidate’s level of expertise, front end developers typically go through the following interview process:

Online coding phase
Problem-solving phase
Design phase
Hiring manager phase

The online coding phase is the preliminary level at which interviewers will instruct you to develop code for specific software.

During the problem-solving phase, interviewers will ask you a series of problems designed to put your programming skills to the test. The majority of the questions will be around data structures and algorithms.

The design phase may happen on-site or online. Here you will be given a project and asked to design a website.

The hiring manager phase is the final stage, in which the interviewer will ask you both technical and general questions that will ultimately determine your outcome.

HTML Interview Questions

In front end development, HTML is the foundation of the website. Known as HyperText Markup Language, programmers have used HTML for front end development for years, and it will continue. HTML5 is the newest version of HTML that comes with advanced features.

Interviewers may ask the following HTML questions during a front end developer interview:

What are HTML tags?
In HTML, what is a marquee?
How do you define list types in HTML?
What exactly is semantic HTML?
How to display a table on the webpage?
What are void elements in HTML?
Explain web components and how developers use them.
How do you make nested HTML web pages?
In HTML, how do you add a copyright symbol?
How to optimise website assets loading?
How do you create a hyperlink in HTML?
Define an image map?
What are web workers?
How many different ways to specify CSS styles for an HTML element?
How do you make links between other portions of an HTML web page?
What is SVG in HTML?
How to include JavaScript code in HTML?
What are some of HTML5’s advantages over its predecessors?
Explain HTML5 graphics in simple terms.
What is the geolocation API in HTML5?

CSS Interview Questions

While HTML is used to construct the design and structure, it lacks aesthetic appeal. Websites such as Netflix, Amazon, and Google are visually appealing owing to the use of CSS in front end development. CSS is essential in web development in this day and age, where aesthetics are everything.

So, here are some of the questions you might encounter in a CSS interview:

Name a few CSS frameworks.
How can CSS be incorporated into HTML code?
What are the major CSS versions?
What was the purpose of developing CSS?
Name media types allowed by CSS.
What is cascading in CSS?
What are the advantages of CSS?
Give some examples of font-related CSS attributes.
What exactly is embedded style sheets?
What is tweening?
Describe responsive web design.
What are mixins?
Define gradients in CSS.
What is the grid system?
What is a contextual selector?
Define z-index.
What is the RGB stream?
What exactly do you mean by pseudo-elements?
Differentiate between absolute and relative in CSS.
What is a box model?

JavaScript Interview Questions

If HTML and CSS is the structure and design, JavaScript is the operation. By implementing JavaScript, browsers allow users to interact with the website. JavaScript is integrated with HTML.

You can expect to be asked the following JavaScript questions in an interview.

What’s the difference between JavaScript and Java?
What distinguishes JavaScript from other web technologies?
What is the definition of DOM?
In JavaScript, how do you make an array?
Explain weakset.
What is the ‘this’ keyword in JavaScript?
How would you create a cookie?
How would you delete a cookie?
What is the difference between “==” and “===”?
What are the differences between session and local storage?
Differentiate document and window?
What is the strict mode in JavaScript?
What is the difference between call and apply?
Differentiate break and continue statements?
What is a temporal dead zone?
In JavaScript, what is the nan property?
In JavaScript, what is the unshift method?
What is a window.onload and ondocumentready?
What is the definition of event bubbling?
In JavaScript, explain the concept of hoisting.

Version Control Interview Questions

For a front end developer, version control plays a significant role. So, aspiring developers are expected to be well-versed in version control and its associated technologies. Given that GIT is the most popular version control tool, let’s look at the questions you can look forward to in interviews:

What is GIT?
What is a GIT Repository?
In GIT, how do you set up a repository?
List a few GIT commands and their functions.
What’s the difference between GIT and GitHub?
What is version control?
What distinguishes GIT merge from GIT rebase?
Explain some of the benefits of using GIT
What is GIT stash drop?
What is the distinction between reverting and resetting?
Which command do developers use to establish a new GIT repository from scratch?
What is GIT stash?
What is subGIT, and why is it used?
Difference between GIT fetch, and GIT pull.
What does GIT clone do?
What does the GIT config command do?
Fork, branch, and clone – what are they?
What is the purpose of the GIT clean command?
What are your thoughts on GIT’s staging area?

Skills required for front end development

Though the primary goal of front end development is to create websites, it does not end there. For users to continue visiting and using a website, it must be visually appealing and load quickly to have a seamless experience.

This is why developers must possess additional skills in addition to programming knowledge, such as:

Creativity

For a website to look beautiful, the one who is creating it must have creative and innovative intellect. The internet has seen an increase in the number of artistic, one-of-a-kind websites produced by masterful developers in recent years. Consequently, you’ll need some sense of creativity to become one.

Knowledge of CSS and JavaScript Frameworks

A front end framework is a development platform for your front end. It usually includes a strategy for constructing your files, associating data with DOM elements, styling your components, and making AJAX requests.

Top CSS frameworks for front-end developers:

Bootstrap
Bulma
Skeleton
Tailwind CSS
Foundation

Top JavaScript frameworks for front-end developers:

React
Node.js
AngularJS
Ember.js
Vue.js

CSS Preprocessors

A CSS preprocessor is a program that lets you develop CSS codes using the preprocessor’s syntax.

Top CSS processors front-end developers should know:

SASS
LESS
STYLUS
POSTCSS
Garden

Responsive Design

If you browse this page on both your mobile and desktop devices, you will notice a variation in appearance. Did the browser make changes to the website on its own? No, this is thanks to the dexterity of the front end developer.

While developing websites, front end developers take extra effect in responsive design so that users can view websites smoothly on any device.

Version Control

There is no such thing as a code that is error-free. Working as a front end developer in a team, you’ll need to submit your software to a senior developer after it’s finished. If necessary, your senior will make edits and alterations. This is accomplished using version control software.

Working knowledge of version control software is required to land a job as a front-end developer. GIT is a prominent version control system widely utilised by most businesses.

Testing

Before launching a website, you need to make sure that the website is loading efficiently, all the designs and content are loaded, and various other factors are functioning properly, which is why developers run a series of tests on websites.

There are three types of tests done to evaluate website performance. They are:

E2E testing
Integration testing
Unit testing

Preparation tips for front end developers

You will, without a doubt, need to prepare thoroughly before the interview. If you’re stumped and don’t know how to prepare for a front-end interview, the following suggestions may be helpful:

Solid knowledge of programming fundamentals

Interviewers enjoy perplexing candidates with critical questions built on programming fundamentals. So, we advise you to review programming fundamentals, such as data types and variables. Data structure algorithm topics like trees, heaps, list and time complexities. And several concepts in dynamic programming.

Choose one language and master it

Interviewers let candidates choose whatever programming language they are most comfortable with before moving on to technical questions. So, pick a language that you are comfortable with and master its fundamentals from A to Z.

Practise coding games

You can improve your coding IQ by practising coding games and issues since you will be asked to complete coding difficulties at a specific time. Several websites host coding challenges and code wars; taking part in these will help you stand out in interviews and improve your skills.

Do some research on the company

In interviews, the candidates will be asked both technical and non-technical questions. The purpose of non-technical questions is for the interviewers to know whether you are a responsible person and will achieve their organisation’s expectations.

Questions like:

Why are you interested in working for us?
What are the objectives of our company?
Name our CEO.

Some questions will be asked to assess whether you are an attentive and responsible person. So, you should research the company before attending the interview.

Be confident

It is natural for you to be worried when attending an interview, whether it is your first or nth time. Worrying about the outcome won’t help, so take a deep breath and concentrate on the present.

Wrapping Up

Cracking the interview is not a difficult or daunting endeavour. Well-preparedness paired with perseverance will undoubtedly aid you in accomplishing your goals. We hope you ace the interview and land your dream career.

Want to become a developer?

If you want to become a software developer, then try our free 5 Day Coding Challenge to learn some basics of HTML, CSS and JavaScript. If you’re ready to switch careers to software development, then schedule a call with one of our education advisors through the form below.

How to Prepare for a Front End Developer Interview: Example Questions

Author: Jane Gormley