The Ultimate React Native Developer Roadmap for 2022

The popularity of React Native has been increasing quickly since its release. Learning React Native can become quite confusing if you don't have the appropriate resources and a targeted plan. If you are a complete beginner, then this roadmap will help you to save a lot of time as I have added my information from my own experience with React Native because there are moments when you are most likely to miss essential ideas, which matter a lot if you are a total beginner.

What is React Native?

React Native is a popular JavaScript-based framework that permits developers to create natively-rendered mobile apps for Android and iOS. Developers can build applications for numerous platforms using a single codebase. It was the first project established in 2015 by Facebook as an open-source project. It has now become one of the top solutions for mobile app development in a few years.

According to Stack Overflow's 2020 survey, designers who are unfamiliar with the special technology are more interested in React Native than Flutter.14% of innovators who have never worked with React Native have expressed an interest in doing so. This undoubtedly accounts for something, right?

Key Elements That Influence the Cost of React Native Development

It is hard to expect the same app development cost in React Native as it changes as per project needs. However, you can surely know the aspects that will affect the total cost of the project to get an opinion. The following are some of the essential elements:

App Design

An app's design is the first thing that captures a user's eye. It is something that an app owner cannot usually compromise on. Having said that, including some elements in the design, such as well-timed animation and smooth changes for navigating between various screens that improve user engagement, can be super costly. However, the cost of adding design features is lower in a React Native app than in a native app. The reason is, that only one app with cross-platform compatibility has to be designed.

The App

For every type of application, the company's needs, security considerations, features-set, number of users, etc., are going to be different. So, it is unavoidable that the cost of the product will differ as per the intricacies concerned. For instance, the product cost of easy apps like calendars and calculators will be lower. Compared to them, difficult and feature-rich applications like commerce or customized apps will cost more. A simple reason is that integrating more parts takes more time.

The complexity of the app

Generally, the mobile app growth strategy takes one week to six months to finish. The level of complexity, number of functionalities, and ingenuity of parts will instantly affect the time-to-market and development cost. The app complexity is categorized into high, medium, and lower complexity. The aspects that will determine the complexity level are:

• The architecture of the deployment model
• Creating the admin panel
• Integration of third-party plugins
• Adding an in-app purchase
• App integration with the Enterprise or Legacy plan

Utilizing the device's in-built components

User Login/Authorization

User login/authorization is an important part of nearly every app because of security and privacy problems. An app that lacks this functionality will cost a little. But a mobile app with this part will naturally cost more as it requires experience in the role-based check procedure set by the creators. If you like the app to be more customer-centric, integration with social media channels is also a good idea. Keep in mind that additional features will push the cost. In the end, the requirement for add-ons will depend on the client's necessities and choices.

Hardware Dependency

Some applications, such as those powered by IoT, have to be connected to other hardware. The higher the hardware dependency of an application, the greater the increase in the cost to generate. As an app owner, you must know that making such apps using React Native will be more complex than the native approach.

Size, Location, and Expertise of the Development Team

A large part of the development cost is due to the group of architects. The hourly rate of mobile app developers will vary depending on their experience, skills, location, qualifications to manage the complexity of a project, and much more.

While a company can employ freelance developers if there are budget constraints, they are the right option only for simple projects. On the contrary, if it is a complicated project with a clear timeline, a React Native development business partnership is a more suitable choice. If we talk about product costs, geographic-wise, the hourly rates are more advanced in Europe, North America, and Australia. India, Latin America, and other Asian countries have lower hourly rates.

Choose Your Programming Language

JavaScript

If you are a complete newbie with no idea about programming, it is suggested that you give yourself a good amount of time to understand JavaScript. You will be playing with your code and experimenting if you do not understand the fundamentals of JavaScript. The basics of JavaScript first, and once you are done with that, I would suggest learning some advanced ideas about JavaScript.

• Functions.
• Arrow Functions.
• Conditional Operators.
• Objects.
• Template Literals.
• Encapsulation.
• Inheritance.
• Classes

If you are a web developer, you don’t have to put much effort into JavaScript as you will be capable of writing good JavaScript code due to your previous knowledge.

Data Management

Once you are done with making some little projects with React Native that have numerous screens and navigation, then you should know how data is fetched and stored in the React ecosystem. I remark that if you are coming from a React.js background, then you don't have to spend much time on this set.

Local State

React Native offers you a good number of choices for handling the local state. You will be operating a lot with the state in React Native to create real-world applications. Make sure that you have good knowledge of how the state functions in React before beginning with state management.

When you don't have a lot of states to manage, React Context will be your best friend because it requires less code. But it is not suggested to use React Context everywhere in a real-world project.

Redux: With Redux, you can create a uniform application as you don't have to lift form to the parent members and you can use state from any element you like. Redux is still great. However, feel complimentary to search for other opportunities out there.

Mobx: an awesome library to handle state with architecture freedom. At the point of Redux and Mobx, you have to give a good portion of time if you like to perform with a real-world application, as both of these have their own ideas that take time to understand.

Remote Data

React Native supplies the Fetch API for the networking part. It delivers a JavaScript interface that can fetch resources asynchronously over the network, and it’s very identical to the XMLHttpRequest that is used for the same goal.

Axios: It has been one of the special and easy-to-use APIs among React creators as it is a promise-based HTTP customer and can be utilized by React Native and React easily.

Basic Tools

Terminal

As a creator, you should learn the ecosystem of tools that encourage your work. Beginners usually make the error of not learning terminal tools, I highly suggest learning how the terminal works on the other operating systems to be a productive developer.

WSL: On macOS and Linux-based devices, we have a bash terminal, which is one of my favourites and most valued among designers as it serves the best set of in-built tools with no compatibility problems. On Windows, I suggest installing a UNIX workspace using WSL or WSL2, which will give you the ability to operate a virtual UNIX system to get things done in no time.

Git

Understanding It makes everything so much more comfortable when you have more opportunities to make errors as a newbie. If you make a mistake in your code and want to undo your changes, Git will help you.

It is suggested to know just some of the Git basics if you are a newbie, as you won't be utilizing the advanced parts of Git until you have real production-ready applications.

Design Tools

Having a strategy skill will be a benefit for you. While creating mobile applications, you will be required to create wireframes, and for that, you should understand some necessary design skills in Figma or any design tool for creating wireframes .

Text Editors

VS Code: For React Native, VS Code is an excellent text editor, with a built-in debugger, and being one of the numerous commonly used text editors among developers, it makes development easy with its ecosystem of extensions. You don't have to become a VS Code ninja to become a React Native developer. Basic text editing skills and some shortcuts are more than adequate.

The only reason I suggest using Atom is because of the built-in package manager and a straightforward user interface. In circumstances where you are not satisfied with VS Code, Atom will be ideal for you.

Reactive: I have privately not used Reactive that much, but some of its components are specified for React Native developers, which makes it a good choice.

Conclusion

As you can see, there is a lot to understand as a React developer. We didn’t cover everything, but we took a look at the essential tools that you must know. However, I would always recommend you practise as much as you can because it’s the only way to evolve into a good developer. It doesn’t matter how much you know if you don’t create your projects.

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