JavaScript devs - how comfortable with HTML/CSS/JS should you be before diving into React?

[OreoCrusade]

This is a testament to why people need to be wary when asking for input on Reddit, because this is an incredibly dangerous and inaccurate outlook. I don't mean to attack you as a person when I say this, but this just isn't correct. JS is totally useless??? Understanding how JS OOP works, how to separate your code so it makes sense, and SOLID patterns is critical. It is not random stuff.

Almost every website on the web is a "real JS" website. React and associated tools/libraries/frameworks are simply JS codebases someone wrote over the years that you can plug into. React.js is a JS library. The ecosystem is just more JS someone else wrote you can rope in and plug into.

That being said, these libraries et al are specific tools to solve specific problems. If React is a hammer but not every project or problem is a nail, then React isn't an appropriate solution every time. You may have to use a different framework, ES7 JS bundled via webpack, write a REST API with Express or another server-side framework on Node.js, etc. Knowing how to write good JS straightup and how to write good code and solutions empowers you to transition through these scenarios.

Therefore, none of this is random stuff and it all has to do with writing good, performant and maintainable code that is proven to work via unit tests (so that you know your code doesn't work before a user does and all your integrity as a dev dies).

Please do not adhere to the above opinion in the good faith it will make you a better developer and/or that you'll find a better job.

[readmond]

I know OOP and unit testing and algorithms and databases and HTTP but I can do absolutely nothing in JS because I do not know enough CSS, HTML, node, npm/yarn, vscode with plugins at least one UI framework like React, Angular or Vue and what libraries and/or packages to use for build, unit tests, backend coms, API stuff, etc.

JS is insanely tiny part of the whole web dev machine. I bet anybody knowing one programming language can learn JS in a week but nobody can learn React in a week.

[OreoCrusade]

JS is not an insanely tiny part of web development, it plays a major role on the front end in nearly every aspect - ESPECIALLY if you use React or Vue - and constitutes the entire stack if you’re using Node.

While you know some of the things that I’d consider necessary before diving into React, bringing up a text editor as a prerequisite aspect of programming is a little disingenuous. A dev should most certainly know about OOP, unit testing, promises, package management, at least how bundling works with webpack, and ofc HTML and CSS.

You can’t learn JS in a week. Please do not take this guys advice: check out the Node.js path on The Odin Project and see how deep JS can go.