This article will share some full-stack developer tools to help you level up your web development skills and become a better web developer.

Full-stack web development is a complex job that requires building complicated applications from scratch. Full-stack developers work on both frontend and backend projects and need to use both frontend and backend programming languages and tools. Besides having fundamental web development skills, every aspiring full-stack developer should master various tools and technologies. Knowing which tools to use will make their work easier and enable them to provide high-quality work, land higher-paying jobs, and faster career growth in web development.

The number of full-stack web development tools available on the Internet is overwhelming, and finding the best ones can sometimes be challenging. To help, we’ve created a list of some of the best tools you can use and master to become an effective full-stack web developer in 2022.

What are full-stack developer tools?

Full-stack developer tools are programs, apps, and software designed to increase the productivity and efficiency of web development projects. They allow web developers to work with numerous frontend and backend technologies, frameworks, and libraries to create a fully-functional, visually appealing, and user-friendly websites.

Why are they important?

Although tools don’t make the programmer, they can be a game-changer in the development process. The right full-stack development tools aid in developing, testing, designing, and maintaining the websites. They speed up the development process, eliminate redundancies, automate processes, and lower the project’s cost. Learning powerful and advanced tools will empower developers improves their skills and productivity.

List of useful full-stack developer tools:

• Visual Studio Code – code editor

VSCode, a Microsoft product, is one of the most popular web application development tools among full-stack developers. It is a fast and lightweight code editor used for writing modern web and cloud applications and is available for Linux, Windows, and macOS. The best thing about Visual Studio Code is that it is free and open-source and that it encompasses tons of features like code refactoring and syntax highlighting, along with many more. It is easy to use and beginner-friendly. It is also customizable, including many extensions that range from debugging, connecting, or deploying into the cloud. Plus, it integrates with GitHub and can be utilized with various languages and frameworks, such as Ruby, JavaScript, Typescript. Rust, Node.js, etc.

• Chrome Developer Tools – debugging tool for web developers.

Browser developer tools are built into most modern browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari and are a preferred tool of most developers. Google Chrome Developer Tools or Chrome DevTools are debugging tools built into the Chrome browser designed to help you in front-end development. These are some of the most useful tools that allow web developers to edit their code in real-time, diagnose issues, and debug their code quicker, thus building better websites faster. Visit the Google Developers YouTube channel regularly to keep your skills up-to-date.

• Docker– an open-source containerization platform

Another excellent tool for full-stack developers is Docker. It is an open-source software platform used for creating, deploying, and running applications in a lightweight virtual environment called a container. Packing up application code and all the dependencies used in the application into a single package improves application performance and allows it to run efficiently in different environments. It also makes your applications more portable and scalable.

And why every software developer should learn Docker in 2022?

Docker is a technology that transformed the tech industry in the past years by making containerization the new norm. As organizations are moving toward the Cloud environment, the use of containers is growing rapidly and is now part of the standard architecture for businesses with a cloud-first approach. According to Gartner, 85% of organizations will be using containers by 2025 (up from less than 30% in 2020.) Undoubtedly, the container model will be critical in the coming years, meaning tools like Docker are a must for modern-day developers.

• GitHub – code hosting platform

GitHub is the world’s largest online software development platform used by software developers to store, track, manage and control changes to their code. As of November 2021, it has over 73 million developers and more than 200 million repositories, making it the most extensive web-based hosting service for IT projects. By using GitHub, you’ll simplify the process of developing code and mitigate errors.  GitHub also works as a social networking site with a large active developer community where developers can collaborate on projects in real-time, network, and help each other. Whether you are new to coding or have solid coding experience, GitHub is a tool you should leverage.

• Postman – API testing tool 

Postman is an open-source collaboration tool for API development used to create, test, design, modify, and document APIs. With Postman, you can create and save complex HTTP/s requests, inspect responses, build and manage collections, and support every stage of the API lifecycle. It supports manual and automated API testing and all kinds of APIs like REST, SOAP, etc. Besides a testing tool, Postman is also a collaborative tool. You can invite team members to communicate and work together on your API work.

Of course, this is not an extensive list, and there are many other tools full-stack developers can learn to sharpen their skills and stay ahead of the curve. Other tools worth mentioning include collaboration tools like Slack and Asana, which are essential in every developer’s job, and online learning platforms like Codecademy, Freecodecamp, and Dev Challenges.

Conclusion

Building a website takes time and involves a large number of tools. The above-listed full-stack development tools are designed to help you and your team be more productive in the long run and develop full-fledged web applications.

Choose the tools that work best for you and enjoy the process of learning and designing web applications and websites. They have the power of helping you stay up-to-date as a developer and take your full-stack development career a bit farther.

Ready to join Cosmic Development?

Cosmic Development is your place if you want to join a professional team to work on big and exciting projects! We have several open positions for software developers and engineers, including Full-Stack Software Engineer. Go ahead and apply.

The post Top 5 Full-Stack Developer Tools in 2022 appeared first on Cosmic Development.

Developing a high-quality code while staying productive can be quite challenging. Here are some valuable tips that can help you boost your productivity without compromising on work-life balance. 

Completing tasks quickly and efficiently without sacrificing quality is what it means to be productive. Being productive is an essential aspect of any industry or area of expertise. Still, it can be a real game-changer in a complex and tech-centric industry like software development. A developer’s job is one of the most complicated and mentally demanding professions, and staying productive is not an easy task. They work with complex algorithms and juggle multiple tasks. Adopting a healthy work ethic and habits and making minor adjustments will lead to lasting changes and increase their productivity. 

This article shares some handy productivity tips to help developers enhance their efficiency while boosting productivity levels.

1. Put a schedule in your flexible schedule  

Flexible working hours or work from home can be incredible, but it comes with its own set of challenges. It can be difficult to focus, especially if other family members or distractions are present during your working hours. To stay organized, you need to set some rules and have a productivity plan that will allow you to get the best out of your day. Scheduling daily tasks will measure your progress and manage your time effectively. The best results always come with proper planning.

Find your most productive hours and decide when to start and finish your workday. Be consistent. Set realistic goals and prioritize your most critical task first thing in the morning (or whenever you start your workday), when your energy and willpower are at their highest.

Take planned breaks away from the screen. They are essential to your productivity and well-being and boost your creativity and motivation. Analyze your workspace and make adjustments to help you work better and quicker. Finally, don’t forget the good old eating and sleeping right, staying physically active, and making time to socialize.

All these habits will help you maintain a healthy work-life balance and allow you to have more time for personal activities.

2. Keep away distractions and stop wasting time

A focused developer is a productive developer.

Another way to describe productivity is getting complex tasks done with minimal distractions or interruptions. Developing software is a demanding job, and it’s not easy to maintain focus and concentration when there are so many distractions around you. Every distraction affects the quality of your work and can result in a mistake.

It takes only a few seconds to get out of the flow, but you will need over 23 minutes on average to get back on task after an interruption and into the flow again. Moreover, a Georgia Institute of Technology study states that a software developer will need between 10-15 minutes to recover from distractions and resume work. That is why learning to deal with distraction and decide what is essential and non-essential is a must for every developer.

Your typical distractions could be answering emails, browsing through social media, phone calls, being in a busy work office, etc. It may not be easy to let go, but think of all the time you can save.

Some of the ways to help you cope with interruptions include:

• Put your phone in silent mode during working hours
• Turn off social media notifications
• Turn off email alerts
• Create an auto-response to text messages
• Learn to say NO
• Don’t multitask. Focus on one task at a time
• Set a social media blocker on your computer browser
• Have specified times for answering emails, messages

These changes will not only increase your productivity but will also prevent you from getting mentally exhausted.

3. Use the right platforms and tools

Team collaboration tools, project management, time tracking, automation, or tools that help you avoid distractions. Developers can use various tools and platforms to speed up their work and maximize productivity and efficiency. Here are some that you can check out:

• Distraction canceling software tools: Escape, Cold Turkey, Dewo, or Freedom.
• Bug tracking tools: BackLog and MantisBT
• Code searching tools such as The Silver Searcher
• Time tracking tools like Hubstaff or Jibble
• Project management tools like Monday.com, Trello, Jira, Asana, Wrike
• Team collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams, Slack, Trello, ClickUp
• Code management tools: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket

Additionally, you can try Habitica, a habit-building and productivity app that allows you to treat your work or tasks as a role-playing game, and ZType, a game that helps you practice your typing speed and accuracy. Finally, you can relax with some music and visit the website musicforProgramming intended for listening to ambient music while programming.

This is only a fraction of the productivity options available. Do your research and choose based on your individual needs and preferences.

4. Take breaks and get some rest

Studies have shown that taking breaks and brief rests throughout the day leads to higher productivity, job satisfaction and improves your overall well-being. It can also:

• Boost creativity
• Help you focus
• Improve mental health
• Process and retain information better
• Reduce stress

The Pomodoro Technique is a straightforward way to remind yourself to take regular breaks. This technique, popular among the developer community, is a time management method that breaks down your work at intervals – 25 minutes sessions, followed by short 5-minute breaks. Every four 25-minute sessions take a more extended 20-30 minutes’ break. Will it work for you? Go ahead and try.

So, go on, give your eyes a break from the screen. Stand up, stretch, get some water, walk around, and chat with your friends or colleagues. When you return to your work mentally and physically refreshed, you can stay focused on your task and do better work.

5. Automate repetitive tasks

Another excellent productivity hack is to take full advantage of automation. Automating time-consuming and monotonous tasks will save you hours of coding and will simplify your job in a way that significantly improves productivity.

6. Keep learning 

If you want to stay productive, you must constantly update your skills. As you gain more experience and expand your knowledge, you become a better problem solver, faster and more efficient. Plus, you learn how to be more productive and what methods and practices are best for you.

Invest in yourself and your knowledge. Explore new tools that will help ease and speed up your workflow.

An excellent way for professional growth is to work on hobby projects or participate in the development of open-source projects. You will learn many new tricks, keep your mind fresh and grow as a programmer. Listen to podcasts or audiobooks while exercising, commuting, cooking, or cleaning. Read books and blogs, complete courses, or talk to mentors. There are more than enough options available to keep up to date in the fast-moving world of programming and development.

7. Final thoughts

Implementing the strategies above will take time. Developing a healthy productivity plan is a long process that requires consistency, resilience, commitment, and patience. Once it becomes your habit, you will see a significant difference.

But there is no one-size-fits-all approach to time management and productivity. Everyone has a unique personality and working style. What works for one developer could be a total failure for another. Hopefully, this article will spur you to find an approach that works the best for you and will help you boost your productivity and efficiency. The benefits are manifold – being qualified for new job opportunities, higher pay for delivering quality work with less effort, better work-life balance, and internal satisfaction.

The post Productivity Tips for Developers in 2022 appeared first on Cosmic Development.

1. You recently celebrated your 5th work anniversary in Cosmic Development. So first of all, congratulations, and let us say we are thrilled to have you on the team! In that spirit, could you tell us the story of how you joined the Cosmic family?

First, let me thank you for your congratulations and especially for the fantastic gift you sent me for my fifth anniversary. I wasn’t expecting that at all. I am so happy to have such helpful and thoughtful coworkers and managers.

My career path in Cosmic Development started at the beginning of 2016. At first, I was mentored by the more experienced colleagues who unselfishly shared their knowledge with me. I am thankful beyond words for the advice and support they gave me and how they assisted me in going outside of my comfort zone and being the best version of myself every day.

I love working at Cosmic Development, which fosters a positive work environment where everyone feels safe, engaged, motivated, and productive. An environment where employees are valued and recognized for their excellent work and where they can unleash their full potential.

2. What is the most challenging part of your job? Can you describe how you approach the challenges you face as a web developer?

The challenges I come across daily are approximately the same challenges you face in almost every profession in this industry – task prioritizing, time management, staying on top of the new technologies.

However, if you ask me about the technical challenges I have faced so far, I can mention a few, but the most important one would be not having a standardized development process. This happens when more people work on a project, and everybody delivers a product that meets the requirements but uses a different approach. That results in a far more complex and time-consuming process than it should be. The solution, of course, would be identifying the issue and standardizing the processes.

3. In your opinion, what are the top technical skills needed to be a successful web developer?

This is obvious; you must be familiar with HTML and CSS. JavaScript is also at the top of the list of necessary web developer skills and qualifications. A web developer can use a source control system to track, regulate, and revise code changes. Git is an excellent example of an open-source version control system that allows you to identify and rectify errors quickly.

Another crucial skill for a web developer is Testing and Debugging. It might be considered a time-consuming and complicated process, but for me, it’s like solving a puzzle, and slight alterations can make everything work. Of course, besides object-oriented programming (OOP), I’d add Libraries and Frameworks, which are critical elements for developing a more organized project. As a crucial factor, I would also mention Web Optimization and Teamwork and Time Management (or Project Management), which are vital.

4. Tell us more about your expertise and how do you hone your skills?

As I mentioned earlier, thanks to the mentorship of my senior colleagues, I can advance my skills and knowledge. The short courses we often organize, the informal discussions we have during break time, or the online meetings we now have during the COVID-19 pandemic helped me develop my skills over time. Teamwork is an invaluable learning experience for me. When we work on big projects, we learn a lot from each other- professionally and personally.

Another rewarding way to learn, teach, share, and build experience is through open-source projects. I often find some open-source projects and create my version. As we turned to remote working and online learning, I also found inspiration watching YouTube videos by interesting tech content creators. One example is Povilas Korop, an experienced developer and YouTuber who shares invaluable Laravel tips and tricks, tutorials, and demo projects with the Laravel framework. In the end, I would add WPBeginner as a great source of inspiration and learning.

5. What are you working on right now?

In all these years at Cosmic Development, I’ve had the chance to work on different projects that required the use of various technologies and services. I started with building WordPress themes, development plugins, restful API services, then on to implementation, optimization, and maintenance of the implemented services. Later I started working with specific PHP frameworks like Laravel, Codeigniter, Yii…. This basically means that my day-to-day work is based on PHP, Javascript, CSS, and HTML. Throughout the projects, I’ve encountered many challenges that helped me grow as a developer. Currently, I am working on a lengthy project in which we develop a product for a distinguished company. However, I can’t give you more details because of the product development non-disclosure agreement.

We are also preparing for DIGIT (Design and Interactive Graphics in IT), which is an educational workshop for students in the field of design and programming. There, we will share our expertise and hands-on experience with the teams taking part.

6. Why events like DIGIT are important, and who is it for? 

Digit is a workshop that is of great importance to all participants, i.e., students, mentors, and organizers. It is a great event where people can exchange knowledge and experiences and network with like-minded individuals from the IT community.

As a company that has outsourced top-notch professionals worldwide for over ten years, we are honored to participate in this year’s DIGIT Web – Angular Edition. Through mentorship and presentation, my colleague Bojan and I will do our best to share our knowledge and personal experience with students and junior developers. All to assist them in gaining the skills they need for successful career development.

Bojan, who is a Senior Developer and Angular professional, will guide and assist the participants in building a website in Angular. Whereas, I will share details about my career path at Cosmic Development.

Last, I would like to invite all fellow developers interested in becoming a part of our international company to send their CVs to careers@cosmicdevelopment.com. For the latest job positions, you can get more details here.

The post Employee Spotlight: Web Developer Career Path appeared first on Cosmic Development.

As we are walking in the last quarter of the notorious 2020, we can state one thing for sure: Remote work and distributed teams are here to stay. However, companies can be skeptical about moving their agile processes online when it comes to working remotely. At first glance, why wouldn’t they be? Especially having in mind that Agile was initially intended for teams that are physically located together in the same workspace. Even according to the 12 Principles of the Agile Manifesto: “The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation“––the first agile teams were intended to work together physically.

Some challenges arise for distributed software teams:

• Synchronizing teams in different time zones
• Building rapport without face-to-face contact
• Collaboration between different cultures
• Coordinating stand-ups and meetings considering that team members are online at the same time for a limited amount of time

These are genuine problems, but they are far from unsolvable. With almost ten years of experience in staff augmentation and software development services, we can share some insights and strategies to help you narrow the gap between working on-premises and remotely.

Structure Your Teams

Think of your team from a software engineer’s point of view: quality software architecture needs modular design, so design your software accordingly. The same goes for building teams. Every team should be able to develop a single fraction of the project, and by that, successfully reduce the dependence between your teams in different time zones or locations. You will actually make teams autonomous parts of your project or company. When a project requires team members to take part from different locations, they can focus solely on their integration points and APIs.

Code reviews are considered as an important part of the development process for remote teams. Since your people are working at different times, sharing knowledge of the code between teams makes maintenance easier.

Building and Maintaining Rapport

Agile teams need to build solid rapport between team members. This brings trust, reduces misunderstanding, makes self-organization easier, and builds morale and motivation. Take time, as much as possible, to get to know everyone within your distributed teams. A personal touch is a must. Creating strong rapport will lead to smoother communication between teams, which in turn leads to better workflows.

After all, who said that face-to-face meetings have to be offline? Especially these days, when Zoom and Google Hangouts have become our new-normal offices, we encourage using them in order to minimize the gap between distributed agile teams. At Cosmic Development, we are avoiding strictly scheduled Hangouts meetings for intra-team communication. Instead, we strive to create a culture of using video chats even for spontaneous informal conversations and ad-hoc meetings. Needless to say, instant-messaging tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams are very helpful in solving small issues or in simply keeping in touch. 

To help address some remote communication challenges within the team, you need to stimulate team members to have one-on-one video sessions whenever possible. These should not be formal, but they still need to be focused on work and oriented around knowledge sharing in a casual way.

Structuring a United Development Culture

Here are the four simple rules our teams follow in order to make remote work easier:

1. Overcommunicate decisions and procedures
2. Minimize the onboarding friction
3. Clearly define terminology
4. Create reporting guidelines 

Now, let us discuss each of them more thoroughly:

1. Overcommunicate Decisions and Procedures

When members of a distributed agile team make decisions, they need to communicate those decisions thoroughly. That sounds a bit obvious, but it is very easy to forget. Important decisions are often made in informal conversations; they are brainstormed between individuals or discussed spontaneously on calls between individuals. In contrast to this, small decisions are often dismissed as unimportant, especially if we focus on another part of the conversation. 

When working in a remote culture, everything, even the minute details, need to be communicated until the whole team starts moving in the same flow.

It is easy to lose meaning or essential information if you announce important decisions via email. Everyone in your dispersed teams needs to understand the decisions, the reasons behind each decision, and how they will be implemented. Team members that are working on outdated information can lead to major setbacks, hitting a blockade, and then re-communicating the whole process costs the team more time than accuracy sharing information in the first place.

2. Minimize the Onboarding Friction

You can tame the “first-day-friction” by utilizing a good onboarding procedure. Remote team members should feel at home right off the bat, which helps build cohesion between team members of different cultures. 

3. Clearly Define Terminology

While working with remote teams, clear standards around simple terminology like “complete” and “done” help manage expectations and ease communication. A clear definition of task completion eliminates ambivalence in work. For example, when sending a release that involves work from multiple teams, make sure to make it clear what “complete” means in this particular context: (a) the code needs to be written, (b) pull request created, (c) code needs to be reviewed and tested, (d) and finally integrated into the main codebase.

4. Create Guidelines for Reporting

Distributing the development process means that not everyone is online and ready for work when problems come up. We recommend setting systems and guidelines for troubleshooting, but reports and issue tracking. You will not believe how much easier such systems and guidelines make it for anyone on the team to track down and resolve issues. Code reviews and automated tests should be part of this process as it enables the remote team to make changes and validate them so they will not have any unexpected side effects.

Maximize the Mutual Online Time

The golden hours for remote agile teams are when most of the team members are online at the same time. This is the perfect time for stand-ups, coordination meetings, or one-on-one calls.

For teams that work in different time zones, a stand-up meeting is an excellent opportunity to share their issues, obstacles, or decisions. Having the stand-ups via video calls makes it easy to coordinate and catch-up with the flow, so everyone is up and running as soon as the meeting is done.

Instruct the project manager to closely monitor the entire team’s engagement during the stand-up. If there is an undue tension, or communication is becoming unfocused and counter-productive, your team members will quickly disengage.

Stand-ups do not have to be strictly daily meetings. You can have them a few times per week and use the other days for informal communication. Thus, a stand-up does not have to be just a morning routine, but you can organize it at the most convenient time for everyone that forms part of your remote agile teams. 

We all need to adapt and learn how to work within remote teams, communicate efficiently, and grow a cohesive culture. Many large companies have successfully implemented distributed agile workflows long before the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing them to cut costs and work more efficiently. On the other hand, remote work is very easy to implement for small teams that have previously worked together in a common office. Such teams can significantly benefit from the advantages of working remotely.

Stay tuned for Part Two, where we will talk to Bookmark‘s Project Manager about her hands-on experience with managing a remote team.

Sources:

• agilemanifesto.org/
• agilealliance.org/resources/experience-reports/remotely-agile/
• blog.stormid.com/distributed-agile-working/

The post Remote Work and Agile Teams are Here to Stay appeared first on Cosmic Development.

When hiring a web developer, you need to find the most suitable candidate with strong technical experience. However, it is also very important that the web developer you want to hire possesses a set of basic soft skills. Acquiring a web developer on your team, who has not only the technical abilities to get the work done but is an ongoing person with excellent communication skills, is the key that might bring success to your business. 

During a time when many IT companies have the “work from home” policy, abilities like clear and tactful communication with colleagues within or outside of the department who are also remote can determine whether someone fits for the job position.

Below you can find several questions that you can ask your candidate when hiring a web developer at a job interview:

1. Ask the candidates to explain to you a project they have worked on and the approach they took from start to finish.

Interview questions for a web developer’s position will help you learn more about the candidates’ work mindset — how they are gathering requirements, solving problems, managing user feedback, handling QA, and collaborating in a team setting. This way, you can also see whether they pay close attention to user experience.

2. Do some roleplay. Pretend you are a tech novice and ask the candidates to explain something in plain English.

Your candidate will likely work closely with other departments of your company. In other words, they will need to communicate effectively with their colleagues who are not tech-savvy, such as colleagues from marketing, sales, corporate communications, and other company areas. Ask the candidate to describe a topic all web developers should be familiar with, and look for their ability to communicate in non-tech terms. Some concepts to choose from are: Microservice architecture, AWS/Azure, Responsive design, MVC model, APIs, etc.

It would be of great help if you ask them to compare web development-related terms, for instance, to make a distinction between UI and UX or between front-end and back-end, depending on the candidate experience.

3. Ask if they have ever given a presentation.

The web developer you hire will play an important role in your company, so public speaking is a must-have skill. You will want to hire someone who feels comfortable when giving a presentation. And bonus points will definitely go to those who have spoken in front of large non-tech groups. After the presentation, ask them some follow up questions on how they gathered and organized information, and what they did to keep their audience’s attention. 

4. Ask them to name a website or app that annoys them and let them describe what was wrong with it.

Here is how to get an insight into your candidate’s awareness of current issues in web development, as well as their problem-solving abilities. We consider the right answer to be the one where they do more than just gripe about someone else’s work. They also need to offer real solutions to practical issues.

5. Find out what they do when an application stops working.

Problem-solving is at the very core of web development, so pay attention to how candidates talk about fixing things that go awry. Do they prefer to break down the situation and analyze potential causes? Are they able to ask for help when needed, and do they know where to find answers? How do they respond if their initial idea for a solution does not work out? 

6. Make them tell you about a time they have had to respond to negative feedback.

Your candidate will have to deal with many comments from beta testers and actual users of your product. The web developer you are looking for needs to know how to take that feedback, analyze it, and turn it into an action step. Listen to them and, if needed, ask them how they would walk through the issue and arrive at a conclusion.

7. Ask if they have ever been blamed for something that was not their fault.

This is a very challenging question. However, it is a good way of catching the candidate’s attitude towards teamwork. If your candidate is quick to throw a team member under the bus, that is a red alert. You need to hire a diplomatic person who does not get frustrated quickly and concentrates on working toward a solution.

8. Find out what was the biggest challenge of working on the front end of an application.

Your candidate would have worked closely with the rest of the development team. Find out if they understand how data is structured, what functions are available, how APIs are called, and how web services are configured. The chosen candidates should be capable of discussing the entire development lifecycle. They also need to show an understanding of where do they fit in. These inquiries will help you find out if you are talking to a web developer or a web designer who has a little Java knowledge.

9. Ask them to tell you about the projects they are working on (or have worked on) in their spare time.

Technology is moving fast. Therefore, when hiring a web developer, you need to be aware that you are looking for someone who invests some of their spare time in growing their skills and staying on top of current trends. Your candidate should be able to discuss their personal projects (past or present), and if possible, show you some of their work.

10. Ask what APIs have they worked with.

All applicants should have worked with APIs, at least for well-known commercial services, like those offered by Twitter, Slack, Dropbox, and the APIs suite that Google offers. The candidate you choose to join your team should demonstrate knowledge on API functions and should know how to integrate results into their design. Bonus points would go for the candidate that has helped to develop and document their own APIs. They need to be able to talk about how they worked with the development team to create secure and useful interfaces.

11. Find out what do they think will be the biggest trends in future web development.

This is an excellent open-ended topic you can begin when hiring a web developer. Your candidate may talk about technologies like Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages technology, Motion UI, AI-powered customer service chatbots, voice search, emerging cybersecurity threats, or advanced analytics techniques. Notice what they focus on and ask them about their genuine opinion on how this will improve, for example, user experience, what kind of challenges this technology brings, and how they would integrate the latest technology with their current work. By doing so, you can also find out whether they have the basic five personality traits that every web developer must possess.

12. Try and discover their SQL skills.

Maybe the web developer you currently need in your team does not interact directly with a database, but they must understand how data is structured. Any practical SQL experience, such as having worked as a database administrator, is highly valuable. 

13. Ask them what the most significant difference between developing for mobile and desktop is.

As you know, the most significant portion of your users browse on mobile, but the majority of the development work happens on a desktop. Your perfect candidate should know how to develop for both. They need to be able to name some crucial differences, such as screen size, touch input, limited multitasking, and variation in browser plug-ins. Candidates must know how to create a great user experience on any platform.

14. Show them a code, and ask them to find the error in it.

When hiring a web developer, try not to ask your candidate to write code by hand during an interview, because it is not an ideal setting for code-writing. We suggest you show your candidate a piece of code — such as a Java class and the JavaScript that invokes it — with some strategic errors in it and ask the candidate to debug it. This is a quick way to check their technical knowledge and find out their attention to detail.

While hiring a web developer at Cosmic Development, these 14 questions help us narrow down our list of candidates to those with the best technical qualities and strong interpersonal skills. For us, hiring candidates with balanced skills has been a great way to get ahead of hiring high-quality web developers in recent years. Using staff augmentation, we select top-notch developers and create high-performing dedicated teams for our clients and business partners. We can hire the most suitable candidates for you. Let us know by clicking here.

Sources:

• codementor.io/blog/web-developer-interview-questions-3ey8yl7epg
• theappsolutions.com/blog/development/tips-how-to-hire-web-developer/
• medium.com/@arun_goyal/how-to-hire-a-web-developer-7ee05caf5519

The post 14 Questions You Need To Ask When Hiring A Web Developer appeared first on Cosmic Development.

Possessing the needed personality traits is a mandatory action when trying to begin a new profession, regardless of whether it is in the IT industry or in another type of corporation. To become web developers, people need to first ensure that they have at least five basic personality traits that will help them adjust to the new profession. Being a web developer is definitely not an easy job, however, it is a profession that is currently in high demand on the market. Due to that fact, many people nowadays make a life decision about changing their profession and becoming web developers.

The rapid change of the market and the trending peak of certain professions are the main reasons why employees want to try something new. One of those trending job positions that mark a high peak on the market is software development. Companies are more and more on the lookout for web developers, due to their need for such professionals who will help them keep an online presence. Therefore, software development will continue to grow rapidly because companies will always need websites and applications to promote their services or products.

These are more than enough reasons to make a change in your profession and become a web developer. However, how will you know that this is the right job for you? If you want to discover whether you should become a web developer or not, you must check whether you possess the mandatory personality traits for novice software developers. For more information, read the following five obligatory personality traits that you must have: 

• Be a Self-Taught Person
• Show Patience and Persistence
• Be Open to Constructive Criticism
• Become Proud of the Work Done
• Be Ready to Constantly Learn New Technologies

Be a Self-Taught Person

The first personality trait that web developers need to have is the preparedness to be self-taught programmers. In other words, people who are capable of learning on their own will be the ones that will most probably succeed as web developers. We all know that both the hard and soft skills of a professional are not entirely taught in a classroom. Instead, programmers need to work on their own if they want to improve their professional skills such as communication, time management, leadership, flexibility, teamwork, etc. Companies who want to hire web developers expect the candidates to know the basics of programming without the need for training them for their job positions. Therefore, programmers need to be individuals who will be self-taught and who will have no problem learning on their own.

Web developers need to have in mind that they will have to show different skills and knowledge, depending on the project in which they will be involved. So, programmers need to get themselves prepared for different types of engineering and fill in their developers’ portfolios with a range of skill sets. This is the individual work that is part of the self-taught process and which they need to complete in order to get companies to hire them. 

Show Patience and Persistence

The job of a web developer may oftentimes be very stressful. Therefore, when employers want to hire software developers for their company, they need to assess the applicants’ patience, temperament, and stability. Web developers will most likely be hired if they possess these qualities as their best personality traits. Moreover, being patient and persistent in the work and goal achievement will also make the novice programmers become better developers.

When working as web developers, employees not only need to possess the above-mentioned qualities but also must be ready for a frustrating job. Oftentimes, the previous programmer who worked on the project might have left an unreadable code. Moreover, the documentation might be wrong or even outdated. In such situations, the new web developers will have to deal with potential problems left from their previous colleagues. They will be required to show patience and persistence in their work. When working as software developers, employees cannot have mood swings or outbursts of anger if they cannot find a solution to the problem in front of them. Therefore, people who want to become web developers need to pay more attention to their natural balance, because otherwise, they will be unable to work as programmers if they easily get upset. 

Be Open to Constructive Criticism

To be a successful web developer, one of the personality traits that a person must possess is to be always open to constructive criticism. Handling criticism as a pro is what helps programmers establish good connections with other team members and accept their ideas. In big companies, programmers are usually expected to work as part of a large team of developers. Consequently, they will have to improve their listening skills and accept criticism from their colleagues.

In many situations, one programmer may often have different solutions to a problem than the others. In such situations, novice web developers must be open to different ideas and accept that their solution is not the only way to do things. Therefore, prior to beginning a career in web development, applicants need to reflect on whether they are open-minded individuals or not. If they are – they will easily adjust to the work position. If not – then they will have difficulties in working as web developers. 

Become Proud of the Work Done

When working as a web developer, employees usually have neither emotional connection to their work nor personal investment in the products or services they offer on the market. In most cases, programmers only put enough effort to complete their daily tasks and get a paycheck at the end of the month. They do not get emotionally attached to the software that the team develops, which after a while results in lowering the level of enthusiasm for work. To prevent this from happening, web developers need to start taking part in the act of creation at their workplace and become proud of the work they have completed. That way, they will feel like they have made a change to the world they live in and that they will ease the lives of people who will use their software.

Web developers need to be enthusiastic and innovative in their jobs, so they are encouraged to assess the product they develop from different angles. They ought to think like engineers while creating the software, but also must put themselves in the shoes of the owners and make the needed improvements. Moreover, programmers must also understand the users’ requirements and accustom the software according to the desire of the potential user. Taking all these requirements in mind will not only help developers with the development of the software but also will make them proud in the end and they will feel like they have contributed to better user experience. 

Be Ready to Constantly Learn New Technologies

When starting off as a web developer, one of the personality traits of novices will be the ability to learn new technologies. And the most important thing is that they will not stop learning at some point in their career. The web development world is constantly changing following the latest trends that happen in the IT industry. Therefore, programmers will have to learn new technologies all the time in order to upgrade themselves and stay up-to-date. In addition, they will also need to learn programming languages and read programming books that will help them with their daily work. However, the first and necessary technologies that web developers need to learn at the very beginning of their career are the following: 

• HTML
• CSS
• JavaScript
• MySQL Database
• PHP, Java, NodeJS
• Frameworks

After reading these five simple personality traits that novice web developers need to possess in the decade that has just begun, the number of people interested in becoming programmers will probably rise. However, take into consideration that being a software developer is a demanding job and that requires dedication and hard work. If you consider yourself as one of those types of people, make the first step, be persistent and never give up. Start your internship today and afterward check out the job positions we offer at our Careers page to give yourself a chance. 

Sources:

• dev.to/carlillo/how-to-be-a-web-developer-in-7-steps-what-to-learn-and-where-to-start-4fei
• dev.to/adnanbabakan/what-to-learn-in-2020-as-a-web-developer-3o4g
• simpleprogrammer.com/become-software-developer/
• techworld.com/picture-gallery/careers/reasons-why-you-should-become-web-developer-3628247/
• thebalancecareers.com/top-skills-every-professional-needs-to-have-4150386

The post Five Personality Traits for Novice Web Developers appeared first on Cosmic Development.

Keeping a work-life balance is very important to employees if they want to maintain a healthy lifestyle on a long-term basis. Software developers often get overwhelmed with work and are unable to strictly divide their work from their personal lives. This only contributes to failing to maintain a work-life balance. It is common knowledge that software development is not an easy job. Developers can often get stuck in loads of work or spend hours on resolving some mistakes in the code. In such situations, they easily lose track of time and can prolong their working hours, thus shortening their personal life moments. That is why they need to keep a work-life balance that will separate their careers from their personal lives. If you are a web developer who faces a constant struggle in dividing these two things, then you must read the following guide to work-life balance:

• Lead an Overall Balanced Life
• Stop Working Overtime
• Organize the List of Priorities
• Pick the Right Relationships
• Live in the Present Moment

Lead an Overall Balanced Life

Software developers often strive to lead two separate lives – work life and personal life. The work-life span consists of hours spent working, while the personal life is contained by all activities that happen outside of work. Separating life into two parts will only cause a feeling of leading two different lives. Developers are not encouraged to do so if they want to keep a work-life balance. Therefore, they can begin by understanding that both their work and personal life go together. They need to learn how to combine them and to get the best of both worlds.

Programmers who manage to have a balanced life in all aspects will not feel the pressure of leading two individual lives. Employees often feel dissatisfied with their jobs or not entirely happy in their working environment. Part of that dissatisfaction is due to the fact that they separate the work experience from their actual lives. If they accept the work as part of their actual lives, they will feel better and will eventually achieve an overall balanced life.

Stop Working Overtime

When web developers plan their strategy for leading a balanced life, they need to pay attention to the working hours. Programmers most often spend enormous amounts of time at their offices or in front of their computers. They believe that devoting many hours to their job and working overtime will help them advance in their careers. Although working too much may help programmers in progressing with their professional development, it may also reduce the quality of their lives. Programmers need to break their daily routine and use regular breaks in their work so that they can face the obstacles that their daily tasks impose.

Working overtime only lengthens the working hours spent in an office on a daily basis, thus decreasing the number of hours that they dedicate to personal life. Therefore, software developers are encouraged to work 40 hours per week and nothing above that. The only occasion when they are allowed to make an exception is in case of an emergency. Following this rule will help developers to obtain an overall work-life balance.

Organize the List of Priorities

When trying to accomplish a work-life balance, web developers need to take control of their lives and disallow their work to consume all of their time. To do so, they need to make themselves a priority and dedicate more time spent on their personal lives. Many employees get up in the morning with the thought of going to the office and getting the work done immediately, after which they give themselves the freedom of utilizing their leftover time for personal purposes. This is a good practice for using the working time efficiently, however, it is not that beneficial on a long-term basis.

Employees need to avoid making their job a priority over their personal lives. They should direct their focus on themselves as much as they do on their jobs. They need to strive to make themselves a priority and to dedicate more time to themselves. For instance, work does not always have to come first. Employees can get up earlier in the morning and dedicate a few hours to themselves before going to work. This will not only change their list of priorities, but it will lead them towards the desired work-life balance. However, this does not mean that developers should neglect their jobs due to dedicating more time to their personal lives. They just need to learn when and what to prioritize.

Pick the Right Relationships

Software developers, just like any other employees, are struggling with keeping their life-work balance due to the great number of relationships they want to preserve. Even though having many friends and maintaining healthy relationships with them may seem like a good thing, picking fewer friendships may turn out to be better in the end. Maintaining a work-life balance includes picking the most valuable relationships and nurturing them while getting rid of people whose friendship leads nowhere. This will not only save valuable time but it will also improve the overall quality of life.

Choosing wisely the list of connections and relationships may also help developers advance in their careers and gain control over their life. Hanging with the right people may also improve the work-life balance through the improvement of the non-working life. This can be also done by aligning the professional and personal life with carefully picked relationships. The right friends may also help programmers in developing their personal soft skills, which are big assets for their career progress.

Live in the Present Moment

Employees usually cannot keep a work-life balance due to the thought of the future and they forget to live in the present moment. Developers, like other employees, most often find themselves spending hours from work and life on making future plans. Thus, they forget that life is happening now at the moment and that they should grasp any second of today, instead of waiting for tomorrow to come. However, they do not need to just enjoy the current moment and have no responsibility whatsoever, but they need to enjoy life as well. That is why keeping a life-work balance means that employees need to enjoy every moment of their lives, regardless of whether they spend it at work or with friends and family. 

Sources:

• simpleprogrammer.com/work-life-balance/
• dzone.com/articles/work-life-balance-software-developers
• levelup.gitconnected.com/how-to-achieve-work-life-balance-as-a-developer-1df51dae5425
• zapier.com/blog/achieving-work-life-balance/

The post Guide to Work-Life Balance for Web Developers appeared first on Cosmic Development.