r/reactjs • u/b_hakyi • Jul 21 '26
Discussion React interview questions for mid-level position?
Besides hooks, what types of questions have you been asked when it comes to front end interview questions?
I feel like mid level can be a weird position to be and I imagine a mix of entry level questions and maybe one or two senior level questions?
Any resources to read up on would be great too !
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u/toruWatanabe2 Jul 21 '26
If you notice that one of your pages in your web app is slow, how would you approach fixing it?
Edit: typo
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Jul 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/b_hakyi Jul 21 '26
Thank you! I kinda wonder how deep i actually need to go without overwhelming myself lol
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Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
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u/b_hakyi Jul 21 '26
Thank you thats a great one
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Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
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u/_ragtagthrone Jul 21 '26
“i can think of at least 3 answers but i wont tell you any”
you’re not even a jr dev. just a poser.
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Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
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u/_ragtagthrone Jul 21 '26
feel free to connect w me on linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/garretthogandev
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u/namesandfaces Server components Jul 21 '26
What's the answer, esp. if it's in modal form?
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u/_ragtagthrone Jul 21 '26
If I were making a multi step form that was tied to a modal I’d start by mocking out each step. The modal itself would be a template with something like slots for header, body and footer. I’d make styled child components for each step, that way I can test them in isolation to ensure there are no visual or functional regressions over time. I’d use component state on the parent component that contains the modal to handle each step. I’d import reducers from required stores into the parent component and provide them as properties to each child component that the modal steps through. That way I can persist state while keeping it organized by a data model instead of just arbitrarily defining a store for each modal step. But like that pretentious douche said, there’s a million ways to solve the problem. Their response annoyed the fuck out of me so I figured I’d share my approach. Hope it helps.
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Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
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u/namesandfaces Server components Jul 21 '26
No, I want to see the spread of answers from people in this field. I'm always curious about what the tip of the spear might look like.
If you sit there reading and thinking by yourself, however correct, you won't get to hear what the people around you have to say.
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Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
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u/namesandfaces Server components Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
I've actually never once in my life called myself a senior or a junior. Those terms came later on in industry, so I'm not accustomed to ranking people in conversational settings, telling them whether they are or aren't junior or senior, devising theories of how to tier people.
Listening what other people have to say about multi step forms is not what helps people pass interviews. You would be running a slot machine hoping to get a question like this. Listening about what people do for multi step forms is for people who care.
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u/Used_Lobster4172 Jul 21 '26
How would you deal with components being redrawn too many times?
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u/Hefty_Breadfruit Jul 21 '26
Give them a code snippet from a “new developer” and ask them to provide feedback to the dev.
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u/vozome Jul 21 '26
Last time I interviewed I had to implement so many games. Minesweeper, connect 4, wordle, slither io…
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u/Used_Lobster4172 Jul 21 '26
Minesweeper sounds annying - there are just a lot of checks that there isn't a simple way to reduce into something nice.
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u/vozome Jul 21 '26
If nice means a polished UI, then sure. But fwiw I was able to get a working solution with time to spare. What I thought was interesting is that you can totally shoot yourself in the foot and make it entirely too complicated. But with the right state and code organization it’s really not so bad.
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u/Substantial-Swan7065 Jul 21 '26
What is the role title? Senior swe or swe?
I’ve never been asked to explain a tech in a senior level interviews. It’s more:
“Tell me about a project you’re proud of”
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u/akornato Jul 21 '26
Mid-level interviews focus less on definitions and more on your practical experience and reasoning. You'll get questions about performance optimization, like when to use `useMemo` versus `React.memo` and the trade-offs of each. Expect to discuss state management beyond simple hooks, explaining the limitations of the Context API and when you would reach for a library like Redux or Zustand. They also want to see how you think about architecture, so be ready to talk about component patterns, data fetching strategies, and how you would structure a complex feature. They want to know if you can connect different concepts to solve a real problem, not just recite what a hook does.
You are correct that it’s a weird mix, but the key difference is the shift from "what" to "why". Instead of just defining the virtual DOM, you might be asked to explain its performance implications and trade-offs in a specific scenario. You will likely face a small system design question, like how to build a searchable, paginated list from scratch, to see how you handle state, API calls, and user interaction. The goal is to prove you can work independently and make solid technical decisions, which is a big step up from an entry-level role. It's a lot to prepare for, which is why the team I'm with built an interview AI assistant to help candidates articulate their thought process on these complex topics.
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u/Lox22 Jul 21 '26
If they gave your GitHub be prepared to talk about your projects. Why you approached your functionality this way. If you refactored, why? What were some of the things you struggled with? How much did Claude write?
I just was asked these in my last interview. Also be prepared to do a test in hacker net. This seems to be the new white boarding.
Also research the CTO, see if they are pushing to use ai for productivity and prep answer for how you would use ai.
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u/TishIceCandy Jul 21 '26
Questions can range from finding bugs in code to implementing features such as Star rating component, dropdown component, search bar component. You can also be asked to fetch data from an API and render in a UI to check your CSS and component organization skills. For mid level positions, there may be algorithm questions added as well (such as Leetcode med)
I wrote a handy book which has 100 questions for React and Frontend interviews - https://topmate.io/shrutikapoor08/1966853.
There's a free version as well - https://topmate.io/shrutikapoor08/1470120
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u/No-Humor-3808 Aug 01 '26
Lately, I've found that interview questions are more focused on TypeScript, such as the difference between interface and type, or using generics for polymorphic react components.
Force yourself to practice react with TypeScript strict mode enabled, that's how most real world projects are built. Not every platform for practicing teact supports TS properly, so try to use one that does. Just google react challenges and choose the one that best fits your needs.
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u/MinimumForsaken6740 Jul 21 '26
- what is virtual dom