Guest Post: Top 9 Essential Skills For React Developers

Looking forward to starting your career with ReactJS? Well, for that you will have to master some Essential skills for React Developers. ReactJS is one of the most popular JavaScript libraries for front-end app development. This well-equipped framework enables developers to make entirely responsive web apps while also running in the browser for websites’ front-end functionality. Additionally, React also offers customized HTML code that may be used in other projects.
It is a well-known fact that React developers are highly sought after for a wide range of web app projects in diverse niches. But they must have a firm grasp of some essential abilities in order to receive the finest employment potential as a React developer. You must be familiar with these skills if you hope to land a job or begin a career as a ReactJS developer.
Here in this article, we have described the essential skills for React Developer that will guide you on the path of becoming a professional React Developer.
Before we start the skills list, let’s know why React is a good option.
Why React Is a Great Career Starter For New Developers
Well, React is undoubtedly a popular and rapidly growing JavaScript library for creating user interfaces. A substantial percentage of front-end developer job vacancies require React JS skills, and this number is going to grow.
Following are some stats that show the demand for React JS in the market:
As you can see in the image below, according to Hacker News Hiring survey 2022, ReactJS is continuously growing when it comes to the demand for React Developer Jobs.
Source: Hacker News Hiring Trends 2022
The following state shows that ReactJS is one of the most wanted front-end libraries amongst web developers. With 22.54% votes, it has remained as the most wanted library for the consecutive 5th year…!!
Source: Stackoverflow Survey 2022
Now, the following is the comparison based on salaries and again yes, React wins. React Developers are in huge demand and it is one of the most paid jobs in the USA.
Source: Salary Report By Talent.com
So, these stats are enough to understand why React is a great career starter for you..!! Now, let’s check the essential skills you will need to become a React Developer..!!
Essential Skills To Become A React Developer
Check how you stack up with these 6 essential skills for React developers. Simply put, you get better at development when you learn React, and many organizations view these skills as essential. React developers should be hungry to level up or audit the skills essential to Facebook’s prominent JavaScript Library.
It is advisable to use the React-based Admin Template while working on your upcoming project. For example, check the Materio React admin dashboard.
Materio React NextJS Admin Template
It is by far the best React Admin Template dashboard by ThemeSelection. You can use it to develop any kind of web app. While learning ReactJS, you will require to practice your development skills. You can implement your learning by practicing a real-life react web app & for that, you can use Materio. It is highly developer-friendly & easy-to-customize.
Apart from this, this React Admin Dashboard is available in both TypeScript and JavaScript versions. It is developer-friendly, rich with features, and a highly customizable admin dashboard for building premium-quality, High-performing web applications like SaaS apps, Ecommerce Apps, Fitness Apps, CRM Projects, etc.
To get a better overview kindly check the Demo.
Features:
- Built with NextJS
- Based on React
- Built with MUI Core v5 stable version
- 100% React hooks and Functional Components
- Redux Toolkit and React Context API
- React Hook Form + Yup
- ESLint and Prettier
- RTL(Right-to-Left) Support
- JWT Authentication
- Dark and Light Layouts and much more.
Now, let’s head toward the essential skills for React Developers.
1. HTML + CSS
HTML and CSS are fundamental abilities that will be useful to any beginner. The candidate’s understanding of these client-side technologies demonstrates their ability to design and work with value-laden, visually appealing, and highly intuitive user interfaces (UIs).
Given that user interfaces are increasingly important in establishing the perceived worth and quality of an application, the React JS developer skill set can have an indirect impact on this.
At a high level, the candidate should be able to work with and write HTML tags and CSS selectors, as well as comprehend the box model. Basic React front-end developer abilities such as CSS reset, responsive web principles implementation, and reverting to border-box are also required.
No front-end developer is unfamiliar with HTML and CSS. Every company needs the capacity to work with and design user interfaces. React developers should be able to do the following at a high level:
- Use and create meaningful HTML tags.
- Use and construct CSS selectors
- Apply a CSS reset.
- Understanding the box model and learning how to return to the border-box mode.
- Understand flexbox
- Knowledge about the box model and solid know-how on resetting border-box
- Understanding and skills to deploy responsive web design principles
- Using media queries properly in the app project
- Knowledge of flexbox
- Work with and execute responsive web standards, such as media queries.
2. JSX
You never truly touch HTML correctly in React. You work with JSX, a syntactic extension that is one of the most impressive components of the React ecosystem. Because JSX appears so similar to HTML, you might consider it HTML-flavored JavaScript. What’s wonderful about JSX is that if you understand HTML and CSS, you can work with it intuitively.
JSX is an abstraction built on top of React.createElement() API. It is critical to the library and the reason the React team picked it in the first place since the API would be too onerous to use in terms of scaling. Although React.createElement() might be used to build a complete application, it would be no more efficient than simply utilizing HTML properly. It may appear that we’ve taken a step backward by incorporating our Markup into our template logic at first, but after a few minutes with JSX, you’ll be hooked on the aesthetic.
ReactJS developers with JSX abilities can quickly code and embed HTML/XML components in React. With this expertise, React developers may also create applications that use React APIs, which would otherwise be a time-consuming effort.
3. JavaScript Fundamentals
As a developer, JavaScript is something you should be aware of. It is one of the basic & principal skills for React Developers. As a result, you will need to assess their understanding of JavaScript concepts such as codebase, variables, data types, operators, features, loops, switch statements, objects, primitives, booleans, arrays, and more. It is critical to emphasize these principles because the fundamentals of JavaScript will also apply when coding in ReactJS. As a result, if their fundamental knowledge is solid, their React JS developer abilities will follow suit.
4. ES6
Along with the basics of Javascript (ECMAScript 2015 or ECMAScript 6), understanding and knowing ES6 is one of the essential skills for a React developer. It is the updated version of JavaScript that allows the developer to create and manage web apps based on your specifications.
Scoping variables, DOM manipulation, arrow functions, array methods, event handling, call-back functions, high-order functions, and other ES6 skills are in great demand. The study reveals that ES6 is a slight upgrade of the JavaScript foundations. As a result, while these React JS developer talents may differ, they should be viewed as complementary.
You should be aware of the following ES6 Skills:
- Variables and scoping
- Arrays and objects
- Array methods
- Functions and arrow functions
- DOM Manipulation and event handlers
- The “this” keyword
- Higher-order functions and callback functions
- Prototypal inheritance and object creation
- The ‘class’ keyword
5. Git
Nearly all sorts of developers, even aspiring developers, are familiar with the Git platform. Git is a distributed version control system that is free and open-source, and it may be used to meet any development needs.
Its effectiveness and speed will be advantageous for both little and big projects. Git enables developers to easily control changes to software, scripts, webpages, papers, and other materials related to the creation of software and applications. If they are part of a team, professional developers must have a GitHub profile because it facilitates better project management.
Git speeds up the coding process for React developers by making it easier to write code for Reactjs-based web applications. React developers who use Git have the opportunity to explore new opportunities in security, productivity, and management. React Developers who are familiar with Git and React library functions can better interact and collaborate with their coworkers on the same project on the same platform.
It is essential to every developer’s toolkit for storing projects on solutions like GitHub, Bitbucket, and GitLab. Skills that should just be part of your day-to-day include:
- Tracking changes with add, commit, push and pull
- Branching and merging strategies
- Handling merge conflicts
6. Node + npm
Many people could be shocked by Node. Why would working with Node be necessary for a client-side React developer? Although you may include React in any HTML document, there are many more packages available that will let you add more functionality to the React framework. A developer with a good understanding of nodes may successfully demonstrate the client’s development requirements. There are certain bundles in the node library that can be expanded to the ReactJS library; hence, understanding the former adds to the development phase.
Developers working with React must be well-versed in the npm registry. This is the location where software developers can get the tools they need to create software. It may sound absurd, but the npm is merely cloud storage for the packages we refer to as dependencies.
Yarn vs npm
A package manager called Yarn was created with the npm registry in mind. Your npm workflows are actually optimized by yarn. Today, Yarn and npm compete to some extent, although Yarn’s goal has been to address many issues that are common in the Node/npm ecosystem. npm has been making every effort to adhere to the guidelines and procedures that Yarn offers.
7. Redux
Redux is one of the most important and essential skills for React Developers. It is a fact that state management is integrated into React. Along the road, many developers have suffered setbacks after learning about the asynchronicity of state updates and how React manages them. That’s why Redux was created.
If you’re wondering who manages the library function, Redux manages the state library function. Besides, the majority of programmers learn to manage asynchronous state updates with Redux. Well, that’s where Redux comes to the rescue. Its main purpose is to assist you in managing React’s scalability.
Furthermore, the concepts of Redux are equivalent to functional programming and data integrity. Redux does not use a one-size-fits-all approach. It is critical to understand the fundamentals of React programming before diving into Redux.
Redux is more than just a state management library. Redux is a state management library that can do much more than just manage React. It is not a framework, but rather a personal approach to data management. Besides, it is an opinionated method of dealing with data rather than a framework. Although functional programming and immutability are the guiding concepts of Redux, it is not a universally applicable solution. It’s important to understand the fundamentals of React programming before launching into Redux.
8. Soft Skills
Following are some of the soft skills you will require to master if you are looking for a good job opportunity. Jobs nowadays are not limited to only coding and finishing the work. Besides, the current era needs you to acquire further relevant skills as you will need them the most, not only for your work but your overall growth as a perfect candidate.
- Good and effective communication
- Analytical capabilities
- Good time management skills
- Learning Ability
- Attention to detail
- Teamwork
- Accountability
- Creativity
- Good with deadlines
- Problem-solving ability
9. Tools You Should Be Aware of:
Well, as you are working with ReactJS, there are some tools that you are going to use. Following are some of the widely used React Developer Tools that you should be aware of:
- Sentry for real-time monitoring and fixing crashes
- Bitrise – Increased automation
- Hockeyapp – Crash reporting, managing testers, beta distribution
- Redux – Manage the application state
- ESLint – To validate the code in compliance with JavaScript patterns
- Jest – Ready-to-use tool for testing JS code
- Enzyme – Facilitate the testing of React apps
Conclusion:
Well, this was the list of all the essential skills for React Developers.
As discussed in the beginning, React is currently the best JavaScript library for front-end development. It allows you to develop complex web apps very easily.
Also, the web apps based on React are responsive & work well on all modern browsers. Therefore, being such a widely acclaimed front-end library, it is obvious that React developers are in demand. Therefore, it is a good choice for starting your career with it.
Here, through this article, we tried to elaborate on the essential skills for React developers. If you are a beginner and want to kick start your career with ReactJS, then make sure you learn all the mentioned skills properly as these skills will not only help you learn React but also can land you a good opportunity with a Job.
Of course, these are not the only skills you will need. There are some others as well, but these skills are like a ladder for a beginner. Start with the mentioned skills and thereafter you will easily understand the further complex skills with ease.
We hope you find this article noteworthy & worth sharing.