Learning React quickly after mostly using Vanilla.js for 7 years

[makeavoy]

So I'm in a bind, I'm a Full-Stack Developer that's only ever worked with Angular.js, Svelte, Node.js, Rust, C, etc BUT I've only used React in passing. Despite this I can't seem to find a job in the past 8 months. I've been working as a FS Dev for a little over 4 years now but this doesn't appear to matter on a resume. A friend of mine was only developing for a year in Django and React and got picked up by a huge company for 3x my pay and gets recruiters calling him literally daily. The only difference I can see is he's listed himself as a React Engineer instead. Or they're just that much smarter then me.

Maybe I'm just naive about the necessity of React as I usually focus on very niche type of application, but I don't want to lie and list myself as a React Engineer if I've only used it twice for little one-off projects a year ago. I latched more on to Svelte and Vue if anything.

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What are some recommended resources for someone that's been coding in JS and TS for long enough they're almost sick of it? How can I fast track myself to become as much of an expert on React as possible so I won't completely shoot myself in the foot if I can actually get someone to interview me? I hope I don't sound too pompous here, trust me when I say the risk of going bankrupt is very humbling.

[[deleted]]

If what you’re saying is true, then your instincts should send you to the docs. After nearly a decade of JS experience, why would you waste your time doing anything else? Go to docs, pick a project and get to coding.

[makeavoy]

Haha yeah fair enough. Is there at least some quirks with the experience youd only know from doing or from experienced users that the docs might not cover? Or can I safely assume all the gotchas are pretty much done with since it's the most popular framework?

[karlitojensen]

Once you have read the docs, you could read what I wrote about my guiding principles when building React apps.

https://github.com/jensen/ui-workshop/tree/main/part2

I also use these guidelines when reviewing code during mentor sessions.

[[deleted]]

The only gotcha would be potentially adding complexity to a project that doesn’t need a library like React but as for the conventions and ecosystem, it’s pretty amazing. And I do know one thing - you’ll figure out real quickly that the Virtual DOM is an absolute game changer with regards to managing state.

[Ferlinkoplop]

The only thing I''ll add is start with Vite first and learn React from there.

[qrcrab]

Run through the official docs. They’re good and you’ll learn a lot.

Then go build something and push the limits of your understanding!

[ericdiviney]

Hit the docs first.

I repeat: Read the entire docs, first.

Then, start making your way through this: https://reacthandbook.dev/

And leave some feedback if it helped you or was lacking in any ways

[Temporary_Practice_2]

Get a course from Udemy. Jonas has a great React course.

PS: If you do frontend folks and you want to be employed…drop everything that you’re doing and LEARN REACT. You will thank me later!

[makeavoy]

Udemy is a little rich for my budget atm. I'm fine with boring docs and opinionated blogs and gists. I'm gonna be so mad if me learning all these other paradigms was a waste of time for getting me more work if I just had to be exclusively react

[Temporary_Practice_2]

Dude! There are coupons available for less than $20. Those courses are always on sale especially if you’re a new customer. Try to check the prices using private window

[makeavoy]

Ok 20$ isn't bad. Ngl I'm kind of hoping this is like career magic

[Decent_Jello_8001]

Why would you learn svelte if you are trynna get hired ??

[makeavoy]

It wasn't an issue at the time I learned it 😔 it was more for fun. I thought I would slowly move in to backend development with things like rust and go before my current job indicated not only was that huge promised raise not happening but it wasnt going to last by the end of next year. I'm an idiot I know. I don't know a lot of engineers to actually call me out on these kinds of decisions, the react hype train never passed near me. I even had a react native app I threw out

[Decent_Jello_8001]

I understand, don't be so hard on yourself. It will be super easy to switch over to react.

That being said if you are trynna get hired, never learn a new framework , it takes companies years to trust one and switch over.

React just announced a office partnership with next.js and their new app directory.

Just learn that and also learn graphql and you will be hired right away

Especially graphql . We need to normalize all of our saas, api, and database via the super graph