Use these questions to prepare for and run a frontend developer interview — adapt them to your context and ask the same set of every candidate. Define the role first with the frontend developer job description, draw on the reusable interview question bank, and write the role clearly using how to write job descriptions.
Role overview
Review real code together, ask why behind each choice, and respect the candidate’s time with a focused, practical assessment.
What interviewers typically evaluate
Interviewers typically evaluate HTML, CSS and JavaScript fundamentals, experience with the relevant stack, how the candidate reasons about accessibility and performance, debugging approach, and collaboration in code review. Dismissing accessibility or performance, or trivia answers without reasoning, are warning signs.
Core competencies
- HTML, CSS and JavaScript fundamentals
- Experience with the relevant framework or stack
- Accessibility and responsive design awareness
- Debugging and problem-solving
- Clear technical communication
- Collaboration in code review
Essential interview questions
- Walk me through a recent project and your part in it.
- How do you approach debugging a problem you have not seen before?
- How do you make sure an interface is accessible?
- How do you decide between two technical approaches?
Behavioural interview questions
Past-behaviour questions (ask for a specific example, then probe with the follow-ups below).
- Tell me about a time you improved performance or accessibility.
- Describe a time you disagreed with a teammate on a technical approach.
- Tell me about a time you delivered under a tight deadline without sacrificing quality.
- Describe a time you received tough code-review feedback. How did you respond?
Situational interview questions
Hypotheticals that reveal judgement and approach.
- A design is not feasible exactly as drawn. How do you handle it?
- A feature works everywhere except one browser. What do you do?
- A code review surfaces several issues in your pull request. How do you respond?
- You are asked to ship fast but the accessible solution takes longer. How do you decide?
Technical & professional questions
- Use a small, realistic coding exercise rather than a trivia quiz.
- Review a piece of real code together and discuss trade-offs.
- Ask how they think about accessibility and performance in practice.
- Ask how they test their frontend work.
Red-flag responses
Answers that warrant a closer look — focus on competencies and values, never on protected characteristics.
- Dismisses accessibility or performance as unimportant
- Cannot explain the trade-offs behind a choice
- Blames others when discussing code-review feedback
- Relies on memorised trivia without reasoning
- Shows no curiosity about how or why something works
Follow-up questions
Neutral probes to deepen any answer above.
- Why did you choose that approach?
- What were the trade-offs?
- How did you test it?
- What would you do differently?
Interview scorecard considerations
Rate each candidate on the same criteria, with evidence, immediately after the interview. Build a structured scorecard with the hiring scorecard guide, download a ready-made interview scorecard, and screen consistently using the candidate screening checklist.
- Fundamentals (HTML/CSS/JS)
- Problem-solving and debugging
- Accessibility and performance awareness
- Collaboration
- Technical communication
Candidate evaluation tips
- Use a small, realistic exercise over a whiteboard gotcha, and brief the candidate clearly.
- Discuss trade-offs rather than chasing one “right” answer.
- Score every candidate against the same competencies for fair technical hiring.
Common interviewing mistakes
- Relying on trivia quizzes or whiteboard gotchas
- Ignoring accessibility and performance entirely
- Skipping a practical exercise that reflects the real work
- Letting interviewers freestyle different questions for each candidate
Run a fair, structured interview
Score frontend developer candidates consistently with a free, printable interview scorecard — plus a recruitment planning checklist and an onboarding checklist for the steps either side. No signup, no gating.