Questions to ask a Ruby on Rails Developer

Ruby on Rails is unique in its ability to create a complete, working web application in approximately 5 minutes. A good Ruby on Rails interview should be an interactive coding session in which the candidate demonstrates their mastery of rapid iteration programming.

1. Kick things off by asking them to Create a basic Rails App with nested routes .
2. Familiarity with Javascript/AJAX is essential for modern Rails development. Ask the candidate to expand on their sample application and Load content via AJAX using Rails UJS.
3. Designing a good data model is essential. Even more essential is designing a data model that fits well within the Rails framework. Build again on the sample app, by demonstrating their mastery of Rails Polymorphic Resources.
4. Verify that they have a solid understanding of Rails Caching and especially Rails Caching and Slightly Dynamic Content.
5. Ensure that they won't leave any gaping security holes in your application by asking about Rails Security: Mass Assignment.

Questions to ask a Drupal Developer

Drupal developers need to have a good understanding of a full web stack and should have a solid understanding of how the web works. They should be able to write optimized SQL queries and be comfortable in HTML/CSS. They should have a thorough understanding of object oriented PHP and be comfortable with data modeling. They should also understand the Drupal system itself. Make sure that you ask them questions in each of these areas.

Here’s a good menu of questions for Drupal developers:

1. Ask them How the web works
2. Make sure that they can display some basic proficiency with HTTP GET and POST and Styling in CSS
3. Give them a simple PHP coding task, for example, Print a multiplication table
4. Start off with some basic SQL such as SQL Skills: Joins, Averages and Sums
5. Explore their ability to come up with an overall system design and data model with a flexible question like Design a restaurant reservation system or Design a card game system
6. Ask them a couple of easy Drupal questions, like listing common Modules or describing how Nodes work.
7. Finally, test the depth of their Drupal knowledge by having them describe the Drupal Architecture, and explaining some of the available hooks (Explain hooks).

Don’t forget to ask them what code they have added to the Drupal codebase and their Drupal username (so you can admire their impressive contributions)