Parvessh Agarwal
Founder & CEO
An entrepreneur at heart. He links business analysis, strategy, clear goals and ROI to practical technology.
LinkedIn →Hire React developers
who read your code before they change it.
A dedicated React developer, or a small team, who learns your existing code before changing it. They do not treat it as a blank page. Each one is vetted on real code and real pull requests before they see yours. They work inside your CI and your stand-ups, and you can scale up or down monthly without a hiring cycle. You meet the engineer before a contract is signed, and can review their real code under NDA on request.
Interview before signing · Scale monthly
14-day trial
Try before you commit
Start Your 14-Day Risk-Free Trial
Work together on a real brief for up to 14 days, then decide whether to scale.
What you get
Hiring a React developer through PixelCrayons gets you a vetted frontend engineer working inside your repo. They build with TypeScript, hooks and reusable components, and connect to your APIs. They treat Core Web Vitals, Google's page speed scores, as a must before release. A named coordinator and escalation contact back them. You interview the engineer first and scale monthly.
- Vetted on live codebasesEvery engineer has shipped work on live codebases under our review standards before yours.
- Cover when a sprint cannot slipA named coordinator, an escalation contact and a named second React engineer who knows your repo.
- Working inside your teamYour repo, your stand-ups, your CI and your Slack, following the patterns already there.
Our work
See what we've built
and the results it brought.
Real projects for real clients, with results we can show.
2004
Established
500+
Agencies served
4,500+
Projects delivered
340%
Revenue growth · 7 months
eCommerce
+127%
Organic traffic · 5 months
SaaS
85%
Faster delivery · backlog cleared
via agency partner
Where the work happens
Monthly rate for this hire
From $3,200per month, 160 hoursSenior specialists from $4,000, quoted per person.
Direct prices for brands and companies buying for themselves.
What they cover
React skills
that keep your code easy to work on.
This is more than a coder who happens to know React. Their job includes the future of your code. That means what the next person takes over, and whether the tests still mean something a year from now.
Core React work
- React hooks and ways to combine components
- State management: Redux Toolkit, Zustand, Context API
- TypeScript through every component from the start
- Components built for reuse across your product, not just one screen
- Testing: Jest, React Testing Library, Playwright
The tools around React
- Next.js: App Router, server components, and choosing where pages render
- REST and GraphQL API connections
- Headless CMS and store backends: Contentful, Shopify, custom services
- Core Web Vitals and page speed treated as a build requirement
- Login, forms and the basic parts that features depend on
Review, handover and planning
- Code review done properly, not as a box ticked before merge
- Handover notes written for the next engineer, not just this one
- Working inside existing code without rewriting it out of habit
- Accessibility: components that meet WCAG, not just pass a code checker
- Honest estimates and scope talks, with no invented precision
In practice
What a React developer
does in a normal week.
What the work looks like, the questions that show a strong candidate, and the setup that saves the first week.
What a working week looks like
Most weeks mix new screens with work on what is already there. A feature arrives as a ticket and a design. The developer builds it as components that match your existing patterns. They write tests with React Testing Library and open a pull request small enough to review properly. They may also trace a slow re-render with the React Profiler. They might split a Context so one update stops refreshing half the app. A library upgrade needs the tests to prove nothing changed. On a Next.js app, they also choose what runs on the server and what runs in the browser.
Questions that show a strong candidate
Ask when they would move state up to a parent component. Ask when they would use Context, and when a store like Zustand is worth adding. Strong answers start with 'it depends' and then say on what. Show them a useEffect that fetches data and ask what is wrong with it. Good candidates spot the missing cleanup and the race condition. They may also suggest a data-fetching library. Ask how they would type a component that takes children and a variable element type. Ask what they would test and what they would not. Clear reasons for a choice matter more than confidence about every library.
Set these up before day one
Give them repo and CI access, a working local setup with sample data, and staging logins. Share the design files and any component library or Storybook you have. Write down the rules that live in people's heads. Say how state is organised and where API calls belong. List any patterns you are phasing out. Tell them which React and Next.js versions you use and whether an upgrade is planned. Name one reviewer for their first pull requests. Developers who arrive without these spend the first week asking, and the answers are rarely consistent.
Common ways the hire goes wrong
The most common problem is scope. A React developer is briefed as the whole frontend team. Then they are expected to own design decisions, the backend API and releases too. Decide what they own. The second problem is code with no agreed patterns, where each new developer adds a different state library. Let them propose one and retire the rest over time. The third is hiring for a problem that sits elsewhere. If pages are slow because the API is slow, no amount of caching in React helps. A good developer will tell you so in the first fortnight.
How it works
How hiring works,
from brief to first day.
Start
Brief and a call
We sign an NDA and you tell us about the repo, the tools you use and the gap.
Once the brief is complete
Proposal and interview
We confirm when your proposal will arrive and put forward the engineer whose pull-request history fits. You interview them and review a code sample before anything is signed.
Your decision
You sign off
You confirm the scope, the payment and the access we need. Nothing starts before this.
Typically 2 to 3 business days later
The engineer starts
They read your code before changing anything. Then they join your CI pipeline and review process.
Every month
Scale up or down
Add a second engineer when the backlog grows, and step down when it shrinks. You can resize each month, with no hiring decision.
You make requests, give approvals and see the weekly review in your Prism workspace. Each decision is written down with the result it was meant to bring. See how Prism runs the work →
Get a Proposal
Meet the people who will do the work before you sign
Why through us
Why hire through us:
the engineer and the code reviews behind them.
Hiring an engineer on your own gets you their code. Hiring through a company that delivers this work every day adds a review standard and cover. That keeps your pull requests landing on time.
Vetted on live codebases
Every engineer in our team has shipped work on live codebases before yours. That work met our own review standards, with pull requests reviewed weekly. You will see the same standard. A whiteboard test shows how someone thinks under pressure. A history of merged pull requests tells us more about how they really build.
Cover when a sprint cannot slip
You get a named coordinator, an escalation contact and a named second React engineer. The second engineer is briefed on your repo from day one and follows open pull requests as they land. If the first engineer is on leave or leaves, they pick up the next ticket without a slow start. A lone freelancer cannot offer this, and an in-house hire needs a whole team to cover it. You get an engineer and the support behind them.
Working inside your team
Your repo, your stand-ups, your CI, your Slack. Dedicated means working in your team the way you already build. They read your existing patterns and follow them. Tickets never vanish into someone else's queue.
Quality checks you can see
You get a weekly written review in Prism, tied to what shipped. Pull requests are reviewed against a written standard. Decisions about scope or trade-offs are written down, not made in a hallway. Unsure what you are paying for? The pull request reviews and decision log answer that before we do.
Side by side
Hiring on your own,
compared with hiring through us.
A full-time in-house hire is worth it once React work is a permanent, central part of your product plans. We will tell you plainly when that is. This page covers every other case.
| Hiring it yourself | Through PixelCrayons | |
|---|---|---|
| Time to a productive engineer | A full recruiting cycle: sourcing, technical tests, notice periods, then learning your code | Eligible engagements can typically start within two to three business days after scope, payment and required access are confirmed |
| Vetting | Take-home tests and whiteboard tasks, which do not always predict real work | Pull-request history on real codebases under our own review standards, checked weekly |
| Management work | All yours: goals, code-review routine, career growth, leave cover | A named PM and escalation path are included; you review pull requests instead of managing a hire |
| Scaling | A new hiring cycle either way: months to grow, severance and notice periods to shrink | Resize monthly: add an engineer or step down with a conversation |
| Risk when it doesn't work | A wrong hire slows the team until it is spotted, then a difficult exit tied to notice periods | If the fit is wrong, we propose someone else; setup notes and open pull requests pass on |
Who is accountable
The people responsible
for your work.
Saundaraya Gupta
Technical Manager
Brings technical work, client updates and project management together, so work moves smoothly from brief to launch.
LinkedIn →Every engagement
A named coordinator and escalation contact
Know who coordinates your engagement, who owns the work and how to escalate an issue.
All engagements. Roles may be combined and vary with your engagement.
Before you sign
Our commitments
Each one says where it applies and links to its full terms.
14-Day Risk-Free Trial
For eligible managed specialists. Up to 14 calendar days or 80 logged working hours, whichever comes first. End within the trial and pay nothing for eligible trial hours. Continue beyond it and those hours are billed at the agreed rate. Unpaid trial work remains ours if you stop.
Eligible managed-specialist roles only, one trial per customer. Not offered for AI, chatbot, prompt, automation, API-integration or QA work. Brand and graphic designers, brand strategists, video editors, content writers, copywriters and content marketers start with a paid pilot.
Full termsTime-zone overlap
At least four hours a day inside your core working hours. Two hours plus a daily written handover for the US West Coast.
Managed specialists only; not a staffing promise for project teams.
Full termsClear IP & Ownership Terms
Your materials remain yours. Bespoke deliverable rights, licences and handover are agreed before work starts.
All engagements.
Full termsClear Delivery & Escalation Ownership
Know who coordinates your engagement, who owns the work and how to escalate an issue.
All engagements. Roles may be combined and vary with your engagement.
Full termsWhy not just hire a freelancer?
A freelancer can be the right choice for a single, well-defined task. We are set up for work that needs an accountable team: a named coordinator, delivery reviewed by QA and a senior lead before release, and continuity arrangements written into the engagement. Confidentiality, ownership and escalation terms are agreed in writing before work starts.
How does time-zone overlap work?
Your engineers work at least four hours a day inside your core working hours. We set the window with you before the engagement starts and hold it for as long as the engagement runs. For the US West Coast the live overlap is two hours each morning, with a written handover at the end of every Indian day. We do not run night shifts: engineers who work nights leave quickly, and keeping the same people on your team matters more to us than a longer overlap.
Can we try you before we commit?
For eligible managed specialists, yes: up to 14 calendar days or 80 logged working hours, whichever comes first. Stop within it and eligible trial hours are free; continue and they're billed at the agreed rate. Unpaid trial work stays ours. Project work and other roles get a paid pilot with scope, acceptance criteria, duration and fee agreed first.
What if we want to stop?
Cancellation, notice and any renewal terms are written into your proposal or statement of work before you accept it. If an engagement ends early, we hand over completed, paid-for work and list any unfinished work separately. For an eligible specialist trial, you can stop within the trial window and pay nothing for eligible trial hours.
How we handle claims, credentials and your data: group credentials, dated ratings, how case figures are signed off, client permissions and data handling.
How we vet
How we vet a React developer
and what to ask them.
Take-home tests and whiteboard tasks do not always predict real work. Our vetting looks at pull-request history first. Then it checks how the developer thinks about state, effects and tests.
- 01Shortlist on pull-request historyWe put forward the engineer whose pull-request history on real codebases fits your repo, tools and gap. That work met our own review standards and was checked weekly. You can review a real code sample from something they shipped, under NDA.
- 02Ask where state should liveAsk when they would move state up, use Context, or add a store like Zustand. Strong answers start with 'it depends' and then say on what. Clear reasons for a choice matter more than confidence about every library.
- 03Show them a data-fetching useEffectAsk what is wrong with it. Good candidates spot the missing cleanup, the race condition and the case for a data-fetching library. Then ask what they would test, and what they would not.
- 04The trial: read first, then small pull requestsIf you take the trial, it runs on a scope agreed before it starts. Expect your code to be read and written up first. Then features are built to your existing patterns and tested with React Testing Library. Each pull request is small enough to review properly.
Questions
Frequently
asked.
Eligible engagements can typically start two to three business days after scope, payment and required access are confirmed. Once we have a complete brief, we confirm when your proposal will arrive. You interview the engineer before anything is signed. Expect the first week to go on reading your code before changing it.
It starts with an NDA, then repo and CI access. The engineer reads your existing code and writes up what they found. That covers patterns, gaps and anything that looks like old shortcuts needing a fix. Then the first sprint's priorities are agreed. They join your stand-ups from week one, so they learn your code inside your process.
Every pull request is reviewed against a written standard before merge. That standard can be yours, or one we propose and you approve. A weekly written report covers what shipped, what is in review and what is blocked. It shows sprint progress next to the real pull-request list, not a vague summary. Agencies placing an engineer on client work get it in their own templates.
Yes, one is the normal start: a single React developer handles most feature backlogs comfortably. A second person, such as a backend engineer or a QA tester, joins when the scope needs it. The monthly resize works both ways. We would rather start with one React developer than sell you a team your backlog does not need.
Because you get more than the engineer's code. You also get a written review standard, a named coordinator and an escalation contact. A named second engineer is briefed on your repo from day one. If the first engineer is on leave or leaves, the next ticket gets picked up without a slow start.
Tell us early and we will put forward another React engineer; that is a normal step. The new engineer gets the setup notes, decisions and open pull requests. So the switch costs days, not a restart. The proposal names the second engineer and says whether their cover is in the monthly rate.
Interview your React developer
before you sign anything.
Tell us about the repo and the gap, and meet the actual engineer before anything is signed. If you really need a project rather than a person, we will say so on the first call.
Interview before signing · Scale monthly
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