React remains one of the most popular JavaScript libraries from the time it was launched by Facebook in the market. Now, it is the most reliable and acclaimed JavaScript technology lived by developers worldwide and used by world’s most reputed companies.
ReactJS is a highly modular technology used widely for web and mobile app projects across the niches. Indian developers have been at the forefront for using ReactJS for their app projects. Businesses hire ReactJS developers in India primarily because of the access to a huge talent pool and secondly because of the competitive cost of development. No wonder, React developers in India have been key contributors to many successful web projects across major brands.
But hiring the right developer resources for your app project is not easy. There are several challenges involved in hiring the remote developers for a project. To help you beat these challenges, here we explain the top skills that you should look for in React developers.
HTML & CSS coding Skills
For any front-end web developer HTML and CSS remain to be the basic skills. For a React web developer it is important to have HTML and CSS coding skills to shape the web user interfaces. Some of the key abilities that React developers should have with HTML and CSS include the following.
- Ability to create semantic HTML tags
- Ability to handle and code CSS selectors
- Ability to deploy a CSS reset
- A deeper knowledge of the box model and flexbox
- Implementing responsive web design principles
- Using the media queries appropriately
JSX
ReactJS doesn’t allow you to fully use the power of HTML code. Instead you need to use a fusion of HTML and JavaScript called JSX. JSX comes as an extended syntax that is a key part of the React ecosystem and allows you to achieve great results with ease.
JSX comes as an abstract extension and is a critical component of the React library. Because of this component using the element API for scaling up the app capabilities becomes much easier. Since most web crawlers have difficulties finding the content from JavaScript based web apps, JSX by presenting the JavaScript code in a HTML flavoured manner, helps this discoverability of content. No wonder, JSX has become a crucial skill for React developers worldwide.
JavaScript Fundamentals and ES6
Another most important skill that the developers should possess is practical exposure and experience of the JavaScript fundamentals and ES6. It is important for the developers to have comprehensive knowledge and experience of both to achieve optimum results from the React library. It is never the JavaScript fundamentals that are a key skill for the React developers. But it is the ability to use these fundamentals along with ES6 that remains a key for successful web projects.
It is important to have a clear understanding of the top ES6 skills such as the ones mentioned below.
- Understanding of variables and ability to use different keywords apart from the default ‘var’ keyword is considered important. When developers can choose and use different keywords like `let` and `const’ instead of the default ‘var’ it is established that they can get rid of variables when not required.
- For React developers it is important to have a solid command on Array Methods, that play a crucial role in storing data and making them accessible. It is often considered to be a harder skill to store data, retrieve and manipulate the data from arrays. The developers should be skilled enough to handle a variety of array methods by using out of the box JavaScript tools such as `.map`, ‘.reduce’, `.filter` etc.
Knowledge of Git
For web development version control skills are extremely important. The React developer should be well versed with the Git platform and toolkit to update the code of the project across different developer platforms like GitHub, Gitlab, BitBucket, etc. The React developers should have enough experience and exposure to different tasks like merging different strategies, managing conflicts, interrogating changes through push and pull, etc. Some of the key areas of knowledge for handling Git platforms include the following.
- Tracking the changes in the app project through comment.
- Different strategies for merging and branching code.
- Handling conflicts during code merging.
Node & NPM
Since NodeJS is normally regarded to be a server-side technology, having NodeJS in this list of skills may sound awkward. The reasons are quite simple. React code can be pulled into an HTML file of any kind by using Node packages. Here the role of the npm package comes as particularly important.
This is why it is important for the React developers to have a deeper understanding of the npm package. This versatile package allows the developers to access tools and APIs for their projects. The npm package is widely popular as a useful cloud storage to provide developers a wide array of dependencies they need for web and software projects.
Soft Skills for React Developers
Now that we have explained all the key technical skills required by React developers, it is important to have a solid understanding of the soft skills. The React developer you hire should have sound verbal and written communication skills. He should be a perfect team-man with eagerness to collaborate and take responsibilities. Positive personality attributes and ability to take extra responsibilities can always give your team an extra edge. The developer should be well versed with the project collaboration and productivity tools such as Trello, Slack, etc.
Conclusion
Though we have explained all the core technical skills and the basic soft skills the React developers for your project should have, you can still go wrong in the hiring process. It is important to make sure you follow the tried and tested steps and measures to evaluate these skills and the exposure and experience of the developers. Know the step by step process to hire the right developer resources so that you get onboard the best of the lot for your web project.
