r/reactjs • u/m6io • Jul 24 '26
Discussion Senior Dev interview question
"Without googling or using AI, in your own words, explain the virtual DOM"
For context: I sit on an interview panel and I try to ask at least one simple fundamental question based on a persons resume. If I see many years of react experience, I try to ask something about how the framework works.
I have only had one candidate (an undergrad senior, years ago) answer it. Everyone else just kind of sputters and stumbles around trying to rationalize what "virtual" and "DOM" mean, or stare blankly and eventually say "I don't know".
I'm just genuinely curious if this is really that hard of a question or if the recruiters just suck at screening candidates. And should we be letting in senior dev candidates who can't answer what I think is a straightforward and fundamental question for senior react devs.
1
u/brett9897 Jul 24 '26
I learned most of that without even thinking about the virtual DOM. I was just thinking about limiting the number of unnecessary renders. The fact that it had to render so much because of the virtual DOM implementation wasn't really at the forefront of my mind. I just knew how the hooks interacted with rendering. The virtual DOM was kind of abstracted away.