How To Hire A Golang Developer

Golang developers are responsible for designing, building, and maintaining software applications and systems using the Go programming language. They are experts in Go's features, concurrency, web development, database interaction, testing, debugging, and performance optimization to excel in their roles.

Go was developed to address shortcomings in existing languages, emphasizing concurrency support, efficiency, and simplicity. Go developers work on tasks such as backend development, system and infrastructure tools, and performance optimization, making the language a popular choice for scalable and high-performance software projects.

Golang Developers: Why are they needed?

Companies across various industries hire Golang developers because Go excels in building highly concurrent, efficient, and scalable software systems. Tech giants like Google, which originally developed Go, use it extensively for their infrastructure and backend services.

Companies such as Uber, Dropbox, and SoundCloud also employ Golang developers for its performance benefits, making it ideal for building microservices, web applications, and system-level tools. Its reliability and ease of maintenance further attract companies in need of robust and efficient solutions, cementing the demand for Golang developers in today's technology landscape.

Skills required

  • Go programming proficiency
  • Concurrency and goroutines
  • Go standard library
  • Web framework development (e.g., Gin, Echo)
  • RESTful API development
  • Dependency management (e.g., modules)
  • Database integration (SQL, NoSQL)

Job titles

  • Go Software Engineer
  • Go Programmer
  • Go Backend Developer
  • Go Microservices Developer
  • Go Web Developer
  • Go API Developer
  • Go Systems Engineer

Golang Developer Hiring Assessment

The most common assessment framework for Golang Developers on HackerEarth includes

A combination of technical evaluations, coding exercises, and behavioral assessments. Here are some common components of the assessment framework:

Code completion tasks

Code completion tasks reveal whether a developer follows Golang best practices and coding conventions. The tasks often involve solving real-world coding challenges, allowing you to evaluate a developer's problem-solving skills and creativity. Therefore these tasks are crucial in order to hire Golang developer with the best skills.

Multiple-choice questions (MCQs)

A good way to assess a developer's technical knowledge of Golang concepts, language features, and best practices is through MCQs. They can help in evaluating a developer's understanding of fundamentals.

Project-specific questions

You can also include project-specific questions to assess a candidate's knowledge. It can vary depending on your requirements. Assess their understanding of Go's concurrency model, especially in relation to your project's specific requirements for handling parallel tasks.

Language-specific questions

Golang Developers can be asked questions related to concurrency and other fundamental programming questions. Asking very basic and technical questions can also help assess the candidate’s knowledge and skill sets. These questions will be helpful in assessing the Golang developer skills they are good at.

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Steps to Create a Golang Developer Assessment on HackerEarth

  1. Log in to Hackerearth assessments
  2. Add questions from our library and create a test
  3. Send invites to candidates
  4. Evaluate our AI-assisted report and shortlist candidates

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Sample Questions to Ask a Golang Developer

  • Write a function to find the factorial of a given non-negative integer using recursion.
  • Create a program that uses goroutines to calculate the sum of elements in an array concurrently.
  • Create an HTTP handler that reads JSON data from a POST request and parses it.
  • Connect to a MySQL database, retrieve data from a table, and print the results.
  • Implement a custom error type and use it in a function that may return an error condition.

  • Which keyword is used to define a new type in Golang?
    1. typedef
    2. newtype
    3. type
    4. struct

  • What is the purpose of a goroutine in Golang?
    1. To define a new data type
    2. To execute a function concurrently
    3. To declare a constant value
    4. To create a channel for communication

  • Which tool is used for profiling and optimizing Go code?
    1. gofmt
    2. gocheck
    3. govet
    4. go tool pprof

  • How does Go handle errors, and what is the preferred error handling strategy in the language?
  • How do you manage dependencies in Go projects, and what is the primary tool for this purpose?
  • Can you briefly describe how you would structure a simple HTTP server using Go's standard library?
  • In Go, there is no explicit inheritance, unlike some other languages. How do you achieve code reuse and polymorphism in your Go projects?
  • Explain the concept of composition and how it relates to code organization and reuse.

  • Explain what a channel is in Go and provide an example of how you would use it to facilitate communication between goroutines.
  • What is a race condition in the context of concurrent programming, and how can you prevent it in Go code?
  • How can you coordinate the execution of multiple goroutines to ensure they finish their tasks in a specific order or synchronously?
  • What is the role of the 'select' statement in Go, and how does it enable non-blocking communication between goroutines?
  • Describe how you would use the 'context' package in Go to manage and propagate context information in a concurrent program.

These sample questions provided here are for interviewing early-experience talents. For more customized assessments for candidates with higher experience, you can contact our team at contact@hackerearth.com or request a demo here.

Guidelines for Writing Job Description for Golang Developers

Job title

Having a clear job title will help you hire Golang developer with the right skilllset. Therefore, the Golang developer job description should begin with a clear and concise job title that reflects the role, such as "Go Software Engineer", "Go Backend Developer", and "Go Microservices Developer".

Job summary

Provide a brief overview of the position, focusing on the essential responsibilities and objectives in the Golang developer job description. Describe the main aspects of the role and how it contributes to the company's goals.

Responsibilities

The Golang developer job description should outline the specific tasks and responsibilities that the Golang developer will be expected to handle. This may include:

  • Write clean, efficient, and maintainable code in Go
  • Build server-side components, microservices, and APIs
  • Utilize goroutines and channels to manage concurrent tasks
  • Create web applications using Go web frameworks like Gin or Echo
  • Work with databases (SQL and NoSQL) using Go's database libraries
  • Write unit tests and perform debugging to ensure code quality

Skills and qualifications

List the essential skills and qualifications that candidates must possess, including, but not restricted to:

  • A strong command of the Go programming language, including knowledge of its syntax, data types, and language features
  • Understanding of Go's concurrency model, including goroutines and channels, and the ability to write concurrent and parallel code
  • Experience with Go web frameworks like Gin, Echo, or others, and the ability to build web applications, RESTful APIs, and backend services
  • Proficiency in writing unit tests, using Go's testing framework, and implementing test-driven development (TDD) practices
  • Experience with Go modules for managing project dependencies and package versioning
  • Proficiency in profiling and benchmarking to identify and optimize performance bottlenecks in code

The Golang developer job description should include these keypoints to help you attract the right candidates.

Preferred skills

Mention any additional Golang developer skills or qualifications that would be beneficial but not mandatory for the role. In the Golang developer job description, you can also ask for experience with specific tools, libraries, or frameworks.

Education and experience

Specify the educational background and professional experience required for the position. This could range from a bachelor's degree in computer science or a related field to several years of relevant experience. These are important points that need to be considered in order to hire Golang developer who has all the qualifications that the job requires.

Company culture and EVPs

Briefly highlight your company's culture, values, and any unique perks or benefits offered to employees that can help attract candidates who align with your company's ethos. It will help you hire Golang developer who not only has technical skills but can also work well in the team.

Application instructions

Provide instructions on how candidates can apply for the position. Include where to send their resume, portfolio, or other required documents. Also, specify the deadline for applications, if applicable.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Include a statement affirming that your company is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion.

You can incorporate gender-neutral pronouns like 'they/them' to promote an inclusive workplace. Additionally, it's beneficial to align your developer personas with your job profiles before advertising an open position. This approach ensures that your job descriptions resonate with a diverse range of candidates.

Download our guide for writing better developer personas

How to Conduct Golang Developer Job Interview

Skill-first hiring requires that the developer interview process be designed to understand the candidate’s skill and experience in the given domain. You can consider the following guidelines when conducting a face-to-face interview with a Golang Developer:

Conduct a real-time technical assessment

Usually candidates are given a remote assessment before the interview. However, using the interview platform to assess skills in real time will tell you a lot about the candidate’s communication skills and thought process.

FaceCode is HackerEarth’s flagship tech interview platform with a built-in question library you can use to test the candidate’s knowledge of Golang concepts. The built-in IDE environment can be used for assessing their ability to write clean, efficient, and maintainable code. You can also use the pair-programming method to observe their problem-solving approach, logical thinking, and attention to detail.

Understand the candidate’s project experience and review the portfolio

During the Golang developer interview assessment, explore the candidate's past and present projects. Focus on their personal contributions and the skills they used. Ask them to discuss a Golang project, detailing their responsibilities, problem-solving, and collaboration. If available, review their portfolio or code samples for coding style, documentation, and project quality.

Understand if they are a good culture and team fit

While technical skills are essential for a developer, the significance of cultural fit should not be overlooked. The ideal candidate must possess not only accurate coding abilities but also effective communication and collaboration skills to thrive in agile and collaborative environments. Evaluating a candidate's capability to work both independently and collaboratively in a team is crucial. The Golang developer hiring assessment provides valuable insights into the candidate's problem-solving skills, communication, and adaptability, helping to determine their fit for the role and the team dynamics.

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FAQs

Look for individuals with a strong proficiency in the Go programming language, and a deep understanding of concurrency and parallelism. They should have experience in web development using Go frameworks, competence in database interactions, a solid grasp of testing and error handling, and familiarity with deployment and DevOps practices.

A bachelor's degree in computer science or a related field may be preferred, but a strong portfolio of past Go projects, relevant certifications, and problem-solving skills are equally valuable qualifications. Effective communication, a collaborative mindset, and a commitment to continuous learning round out the qualities to seek in a capable Golang developer.

While it's ideal for a Golang developer to have experience in multiple necessary tools, it's not always essential to be proficient in all of them. Depending on the specific job role and project requirements, expertise in one or more critical tools or areas can suffice.

What's crucial is that the candidate possesses a solid foundation in Go programming itself and a willingness and capability to learn and adapt to different tools and technologies as needed. Flexibility and the ability to quickly acquire new skills can be equally valuable, allowing developers to effectively contribute to various projects and teams in the dynamic field of software development.

A Go Systems Engineer is expected to have a comprehensive skill set that combines systems programming expertise with proficiency in the Go programming language. They should possess a deep understanding of low-level programming concepts, system-level development, and operating system internals.

Additionally, Go Systems Engineers should be adept at utilizing Go's concurrency features to build scalable systems, have experience with network programming, and possess strong problem-solving skills. Familiarity with containerization technologies like Docker, orchestration tools such as Kubernetes, and expertise in Linux/Unix environments is also valuable.

First, review their portfolio and analyze completed projects. Pay attention to the complexity, scope, and impact of their work. Conduct in-depth technical interviews where you ask candidates to explain their project architecture, design choices, problem-solving strategies, and the challenges they faced during development. Consider using code reviews to evaluate code quality.

Additionally, provide practical coding assignments or whiteboard exercises that mirror real-world scenarios to gauge problem-solving skills and coding proficiency. Finally, ask for references or seek feedback from previous colleagues or managers who have witnessed the candidate's project handling skills in action. This multi-pronged approach allows for a comprehensive evaluation of a candidate's ability to handle real-world projects effectively.

The requirements for Golang Developer skills can vary significantly across different job roles. For a Backend Developer, proficiency in Go, knowledge of web frameworks, and concurrency management are crucial. A Systems Engineer may need expertise in low-level programming, system architecture, and Linux/Unix environments. In contrast, a DevOps Engineer focusing on deployment and infrastructure may require containerization and orchestration skills.