How I learned React.js

About me

I am a software developer for Enterbridge Technologies. I’ve worked in a variety of frameworks and languages for various Fortune 500 clients.

Why I wanted to learn React.js

One of our dev teams had a pressing need for a react developer to come in and help out on a project. Although I wasn’t very proficient in React, I have worked in other various Javascript web frameworks before, so I was able to jump on and help fill the need.

How I approached learning React.js

React has a lot of similarities to other frameworks I’ve used in the past. Using this previous knowledge, combined with being able to reference how code was already being implemented in the existing project, I’ve been able to pick up and learn how to do various things in React that are needed to complete my tasks. For all problems that I’m unable to solve based on my previous experience or the existing code-base, I am able to utilize documentation to be able to understand and complete my tasks.

Challenges I faced

In the past, when I faced a problem, I would often consult StackOverflow to solve it. I’ve come to realize however that it’s much simpler now for me to rely on the language/framework documentation instead. I’ve faced several issues where components that were needed in the react app simply didn’t exist elsewhere in the project yet, but using documentation I’ve been able to learn and implement these components that we needed seamlessly into the app.

Key takeaways

When learning new frameworks or languages, the best things that you can do to get yourself up to speed the quickest are:

1. Rely on your previous experiences. Leverage the languages and frameworks you already know how to use and try to find connections into how the new language or framework is accomplishing the same solutions.
2. Read through the code-base. If you’re joining an existing project, there should be hundreds of lines of code that you can read through, copy, modify, etc to help you accomplish the tasks at hand. If it can’t be found in your project, consult other projects found publicly online and see how they solve the problem.
3. Documentation > Online Forumns. Unless dealing with very specific bugs that you can’t fix alone, your best friend should be the language/framework documentation. There is so much good information to be found in documentation to solve all sorts of problems you’re facing.

Tips and advice

If you’re looking to learn the React web framework, I highly recommend aquainting yourself with javascript first (typescript if you prefer) and then dig into the tutorials and starter guides found on the framework website.

Final thoughts and next steps

I love how interchangeable coding languages and frameworks are. Often times, there are only small differences between them which make it easy to switch between them throughout your career. If you can get down the fundamentals of programming languages and frameworks, you’ll also be able to switch dev teams on a dime to build new, engaging software using languages or frameworks that are foreign to you.