Hire a Next.js developer: what good looks like in 2026

# Hire a Next.js developer: what good looks like in 2026

When someone asks me to hire a Next.js developer, I do not start with years of React.

I ask for a repo they shipped. I want App Router routes they own, a page that went stale and how they fixed it, and a pull request they can explain file by file. If they cannot show those, the resume does not matter.

I’m Aris Setiawan. I ship Next.js for client work, App Router included. Founders still write “need a React person who knows Next.” That used to be enough. In 2026 it is how you hire someone who wraps the whole app in 'use client' and calls it done.

The offer page is Hire a Next.js developer. This post is the screen I run before I say yes, or before I tell you to keep looking.

What I open first

I clone or I get a walkthrough. Then I look at four places. Not the README.

app/. I want routes they actually shipped. A Server Component that fetches, a small client island for the part that needs a click. If layout.tsx is 'use client' and every page is a client tree, they are still writing a React SPA inside Next. I have inherited that. It is slow to undo.

The cache. I pick one list page and ask why it is stale after a write. fetch cache, revalidate, a tag, a cookie that opted the page out. I do not need the perfect Next docs answer. I need them to remember a real miss. If they shrug, they have not been on call for that app.

Auth on a cached page. Session cookie, expired token, a dashboard that still shows yesterday’s user. This is where “I know Next” dies. If they cannot say where the session is read and what happens when it expires, they have not owned login.

The last PR. I scroll the files they did not need. Extra util. Second type file. A folder that does not exist elsewhere in the repo. I wrote a PR review checklist for AI-generated code because this is the same mess whether a person or a model wrote it. If they cannot explain the leftovers, they will not survive your review either.

What I skip

I have wasted calls on the same three things.

A resume that lists Next, React, TypeScript, and a version number. I already assumed that. Show the repo.

A Pages-only portfolio. Pages still exists. I still touch it on old apps. If that is the only Next they have shipped, they will need a month on App Router before they help you. Say that up front. Do not hire them for an app/ rewrite and hope.

A candidate who cannot walk a cache miss. They will guess in production. You will find out on a launch day.

I do not screen on “Next.js 13+.” That is a job-post leftover. App Router in production is the bar. The version on the badge is not.

Questions I ask on the call

Same four, every time. I want the repo open, not slides.

1. Show me one App Router route you own. What stayed a Server Component, and what had to be a client component?
2. Walk a cache miss. What did you change, and how did you know it worked?
3. Where is auth read, and what happens when the session expires on a cached page?
4. Open your last PR. Which files could you have left out?

If they need a deck to answer those, they are not the hire. If they say “I would have to check,” that is fine once. Twice means they did not own it.

What I will take, and what I will not

I am one person. I take scoped Next.js work: App Router, auth, cache, the boring parts that break. If you need a bench of five next week, I will tell you I am the wrong call.

If you need someone who already ships this way, that is the work on Hire a Next.js developer. Send the repo, or the ticket. I will tell you if it is a fit.

Next in this series is App Router in practice: what I actually use, not the docs tour.