How to Hire a Gatsby Developer in 2022: A Step-by-Step Guide

Introduction to Gatsby Developer

Presently, the development of websites does not simply involve just coding and coding. Currently, websites often require working with Content Management Systems (CMS), Application Program Interfaces (APIs) or databases. Gatsby framework allows Gatsby developers to build websites with all of the above. Its own website describes it as being a “full-stack frontend framework” and in simple terms it is a free, open source web development framework that allows the users to work with React and GraphQL. Outside of this, it also presents cloud features, allowing users to publish and host pages on the cloud.

Gatsby Vs Next and React:

The best reason for hiring Gatsby developers can be explained by a direct comparison to similar softwares. For instance, it can be compared to Next and React.

Some of the major difference between Next and Gatsby include:

• – Gatsby can run without a server i.e. it is server independent whereas if Next has SSR features enabled, it requires a server to work.
• – The generation for HTML/CSS/JS for Gatsby and Next happens at build time and runtime respectively.
• – Gatsby is a static site generator whereas Next acts as a hybrid of both a static site generator and server-rendered pages.
• – Gatsby possesses the ability to advise the Gatsby developer on how to handle data whereas Next assumes that the user can handle it.
• – Gatsby is faster than Next in the creation of web pages as it possesses adjustable plugins and themes and templates.
• – Gatsby is overall better suited to static websites and fully operational websites whereas Next is best suited towards server-side dynamic websites. Overall, Gatsby is often termed as creating “blazing fast” websites.
• – There is a greater degree of difference between React and Gatsby as one is a library whereas the other can be defined as a static progressive web app (PWA) generator.

Themes and Templates for a Gatsby Developer

• Themes for a Gatsby developer involve plugins with a gatsby-config.js file that adds pre-configured functionality, data sourcing, and/or UI code to Gatsby files. Essentially, it acts as a starter site that can allow for a modular approach to web-site design. 
  

Jobs for Gatsby Developer

Gatsby on its own does not guarantee employment as any developer, freelancer or fully employed would know. As such, it is advisable for any Gatsby developer to diversify in their interests and for employers to seek potential Gatsby developers who do so.
Outside of this, for any developer who specialized or is otherwise skilled in Gatsby, these are the most likely sources of employment:

• Front-end Developers: While web developer may be considered too broad a term for many team roles, Gatsby is a good option to know for front-end developers. It allows for creating websites without having to code from scratch so instead, they can focus on the actual design of the website.
• Full-stack Developers: On the other hand, fullstack deals with both the front and back-end of the website, but a Gatsby developer can still find employment in this role, depending on their other regions of expertise. It is applicable for both front-end and back-end for the purposes of design and data integration alike.
• UI Developers: Gatsby developers are also a good choice for UI development due to its relation to React, the most popular framework for the development of UI.
• Others: While other positions may not be obvious to Gatsby developers, there is potential in the future with the addition of new features. Moreover, among freelancers where roles in a team can change within a project’s lifetime, an option for quickly designing websites while integrating everything you need is invaluable.

Common Interview Questions to ask Gatsby Developers

For many employers, Gatsby is a relatively new development and so, the general questions that should be asked to prospective hires to judge their competency in Gatsby isn’t as well known compared to the likes of say Python or MySQL or even React. As such, this is even more of a problem for the potential applicants as for many, this is an unknown territory.

1. So, below are listed some of the important points/questions that can be asked to accurately gauge their potential or at least their theoretical knowledge.
2. What is the exact relation/difference between React and Gatsby?
3. What are the primary benefits/features provided by Gatsby that are not available in React alone?
4. What are some of the plugins that Gatsby supports?
5. What are the tools available in Gatsby and what is the most optimal way to use them?
6. How to install Gatsby and the general steps for installation.
7. Why are web pages developed in Gatsby referred to as “blazing fast”?
8. What advantages and disadvantages does Gatsby offer?
9. How do we implement templates and themes in Gatsby?
10. What are the steps for integrating data from CMSes, APIs and databases?
11. As a Gatsby developer, what additional skills do you possess?

If a Gatsby developer has previous experience, asking about previous experience with projects and so on is a good gauge of ability, though it is advised to have an expert in order to clarify and ask about relevant points.

Expected Salary of Gatsby Developers

Like all forms of occupation, the salary of a Gatsby Developer is dependent on geography, rank, company and qualification.
In the US for instance, the salary of Gatsby developers can be represented as follows:

• – Average monthly salary is $10,003
• – Lower end monthly salary is $5416
• – Higher end monthly salary is $14125

Common Sites to Hire Gatsby developers

These are some of the best sites for hiring Gatsby developers:

Optymize

Whatever your requirements may be, for companies and projects large and small, there will always be the ones you need available for you at Optymize. Because they have high-quality prospects who have been thoroughly verified. This implies that you will spend less time screening and testing Gatsby developers. All you have to do is specify your needs, and Optimize will identify an appropriate candidate for you to hire.

Toptal

Toptal is the elite of the elite in terms of websites for hiring freelancers for any project. Only 3% of candidates pass the rigorous examinations necessary to have their contact information placed on the website. Needless to say, any freelancer who meets their qualifications is bound to be a cut above the rest so you can expect refined talent and years of expertise from anybody you hire there.

Turing

Hire senior Gatsby developers with great technical and communication abilities at competitive costs from Turing, ready to work in your timezone. This is an amazing service for finding Gatsby developers who meet the requirements of your project.

Steps for Installation of the Development Environment for Gatsby Developers

To be a successful Gatsby developer, a knowledge of at least the basics on these subjects is necessary:

1. HTML: A markup language, the full form is Hyper Text Markup Language which can be used to add structure to web content while defining structures like paragraphs.
2. CSS: A presentation language, the full form is Cascading Style Sheets that is used to style the appearance of the web content in the terms of fonts and colors.
3. JavaScript/ React: It is a programming language that is quite often used in the designing of web pages and it possesses a range of libraries that are utilized, including React.js which forms a component for Gatsby.
4. Command Line: The command line interface is a text-based interface used to run commands. Depending on the operating system, the commands used for the interface vary.
5. GraphQL: It is a query language that is allowed to pull data into a website. It’s essentially the interface that Gatsby uses for managing site data.

There are also some essential tools that must be available for every Gatsby developer:

1. Node.js: This is an environment that can run JavaScript code outside of a web browser. For working with Gatsby, a Node version of 14.15 at least is necessary. With Node.js, there is a package manager bundled with it called npm and a Gatsby developer would use the npm command line interface to add packages and run command line tasks. There are separate instructions for Linux, Windows and Mac.
2. Git: Git is a free and open source control system. It helps in saving various versions of the code. Whenever a new site is created on Gatsby, Git is used in the background to download any files that are necessary for the site.Git is also used for additional tasks like pushing the code to the cloud, for the deployment of the site onto the web.
3. Gatsby Command Line Interface: The Gatsby Command Line Interface is a tool used by Gatsby developers to run commands while running commands for developing web sites. As it is a published npm package, it can be installed using npm.
4. The installation command for Gatsby CLI is : npm install -g gatsby-cli
5. If already installed, it will instead update to the latest version.
6. Visual Studio Code: Visual Studio code is a popular code editor that can be used to write code. The website for this is available at the https://code.visualstudio.com which also mentions the features and instructions for installation.

After installing all necessary tools, the final step would be the creation of a Gatsby cloud account. The steps for this are presented at the URL: https://www.gatsbyjs.com/dashboard/signup/

Frequently Asked Questions

1. To be a Gatsby Developer, does one have to know GraphQL?

• It is not necessary to know GraphQL in order to be a Gatsby developer, but it is advisable to be so as it would make developing the code easier.

2. Why is Gatsby referred to as “blazing fast”?

• When a page is built by Gatsby developers, they use two features termed dynamic importation and link prefetching. Normally, websites load sequentially, with often a blank page being presented as the page loads, especially when the web page is heavy and if the signal is weak. Gatsby’s above features along with Single Page Application (SPA) are the reason for Gatsby built pages. Through dynamic importation, Gatsby pages, if selected, will have the browser only request the files for the current page rather than the entire website. Through link prefetching, the browser would look for links with prefetch attributes and download them into a cache reducing loading time.

• 3. Is Gatsby useful for SEO?

• In short, yes. Gatsby promotes visibility to search engine crawlers like Googlebot for site crawling and indexing. This has its own innate advantages such as speed along with others that require configuration. This is because Gatsby pages are server-side rendered and the entire source for such a page can be viewed on the browser. Site crawling for your own site is possible by using command line interface commands.
• On windows: Invoke-WebRequest https://www.gatsbyjs.com/docs/how-to/adding-common-features/seo | Select -ExpandProperty Content
• On linux/mac: curl https://www.gatsbyjs.com/docs/how-to/adding-common-features/seo

Wrapping Up

When developing anything, there is absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain when the best is available at a reasonable rate. Gatsby is that very option. A free open source framework that allows developers to build blazing fast web-sites that are a cut above the rest. We have covered everything necessary for potential employers and potential Gatsby developers alike. What questions to ask, what advantages it holds, and above all, where to seek further information have all been presented here. So, when the best is so readily available, why settle for anything else