Make your successful career in ReactJS arena.
If you are reading this article, it means that you are already on the right way to become a senior developer. Whether your current level is Junior or Middle, this article will be a good guide to optimize your time and knowledge with effective and useful tools anyway.
Just to start with, React is an open source JavaScript library. It is widely used for SPA and various mobile applications. Let’s start to dig dipper into it.
Who is ReactJS developer?
ReactJS Developer is a software developer who works primarily with the front-end of the user interface and uses the React library for his work.
React (or ReactJS) is a JavaScript library that can be used in development to quickly create mobile and web applications. First introduced in 2013 as a development product from Facebook, React JS is currently being developed and supported by both Facebook and Instagram, as well as an active developer community.
Initially, the React library was intended only for building websites. However, with the release of the React Native framework in 2015, the use of React became possible in mobile development for the iOs and Android operating systems.
What are the steps to become a senior React developer?
People are used to striving for professional growth. Everyone has their own goals, but most of us will necessarily agree on the main statements:
- We do not want to live our life with the stigma of “incompetent employee”.
- We want to be respected by our colleagues.
- We want to feel smart and perfect.
- We want to be valuable in our industry.
To achieve the above goals, you cannot simply rest on your laurels, waiting for everything to come by itself. Especially in the world of programming, which is constantly improving, changing, and the amount of information inflated at a tremendous speed. As more and more developers leave colleges and bootcamps, we need to hone our skills regularly.
No, being a polyglot who knows 10 different programming languages and created his own version of Jarvis, you will not become a senior developer. The fact of the matter is that a Senior Developer is someone who has a decent baggage of knowledge, has a positive impact on junior employees and generally improves the performance indicators of their company. You may know everything about functional programming, but if you don’t have the skills to communicate productively with the team, or your knowledge does not represent actual value to the end user, you are not a senior developer.
Ask yourself:
How much do you contribute to your company / startup / business? A senior programmer can bring order to the team, leverage their expertise to generate real value and successful stakeholder engagement.
You’ll find some of my tips for you on how to become a senior React developer. Besides knowledge of the framework itself, as a Senior, you need a constant self-development.
Spend some time exploring the main topics and follow the resources below. If you are able to actively improve the skills presented, you will quickly become a leader in your industry. Of course, there will always be people with more experience than yours, but this does not prevent you from continuing to work on yourself, accumulating knowledge and various skills in order to get rid of competition for a job. With this approach, you will definitely get the position of Senior Developer.
The main rule is not to stand still. You don’t need to dwell on one thing: expand the range of possibilities, learn languages, DBMS, IDEs, frameworks, get acquainted with fundamentally new approaches in the field of programming, because who knows what the same machine learning specialists will be doing in 5 years? Everything is changing, and you need to master skills that allow you to quickly adapt to new conditions.
Technical skills for ReactJS Developer:
Senior developers use a lot of “Why” in understanding technology:
- Why is there this problem?
- Why is there a structure?
- Why should you use this solution?
As a programmer, you must have a good understanding of all the tools and ideas that can benefit the development life cycle, and you must select the tools that matter most for a particular project. Senior Developers always ask a question: “What can be changed and how to make the product better?”
They also understand how all the elements connect and interact. To start thinking like a Senior developer, you need to master effective information processing known as mind mapping. This tool will allow you to quickly establish connections between ideas and technologies, which means it will take learning to the next level.
For those who really write in JavaScript, this course will be useful. It presents information already sorted out on the shelves, which is the optimal way to master a large amount of new material in a short period of time. By building the right mind map, you can focus your company’s resources on what matters most. Cover all aspects, not some of them.
Team skills:
This aspect is often overlooked. How do you work with your team? Are you in the category of cocky and stubborn, or are you attentive, willing to cooperate and strongly encourage team members? Senior Developer doesn’t prove anything to anyone. He doesn’t need to: he immediately writes clean, simplified code, and not one that will look demonstrative, but completely unreadable in the eyes of other programmers. Senior developer is ready to help others and answer all questions.
Social psychology is an important tool, and the book How to Win Friends and Influence People should definitely fill your bookshelf.
If you are one of those under whose leadership employees feel needed and heard, are important elements of a coherent working system, then you are already far ahead of your competitors.
Client / User skills:
Can customers or users be heard by you? When they offer something, do you understand what problems they face? The senior developer is also an attentive listener who can offer sound problem-solving advice. The Senior Developer is great at building relationships. He understands that both the client and the developer benefit from productive interaction. Read The Psychology of Influence to improve this skill. The effective business communication will help a lot for successful project execution.
Finally, you should be able to explain complex programming concepts of ReactJS and other frameworks even to someone who is far from IT. Develop this skill by watching famous instructors address difficult topics.
Growth skills:
Senior developers are learning new things every day. This does not mean that they spend 14 hours a day sitting in front of a computer reading articles. They are more efficient. They always try to talk to other programmers, ask questions, or explore new topics. Seniors don’t focus on just one set of knowledge. You may be the best at one thing, but if you don’t know the whole spectrum or you don’t understand what problem you are facing, you are no longer the best.
Senior Developers won’t say “Oh, I hate this library!” Most people only say this because they do not fully understand something. For example, don’t say, “I hate jQuery. Only bad developers still use jQuery.” The senior developer will say that “jQuery was instrumental in the development of the Internet and the popularity of JavaScript,” and he would be right to really understand the matter.
Interview skills:
Senior programmers can communicate and sell their services to others. You can see the needs of your employer and instill confidence that you are the right person. Senior Developers must be able to take on the role of lead in a project, and therefore submitting at an interview is everything.
Community skills:
Senior developers make a huge contribution to the programming community. This can be technical negotiations, speeches, and writing articles. Senior Developers actively communicate with industry representatives. Such people do not close in the box only of their workspace: they go out and communicate with people in other circles, which allows them to expand their horizons. It’s like a journey: the more cultures you meet, the more similarities and differences between people you see and you just start to appreciate this difference.
Also, I advise you to try to do as many technical interviews as possible. Even if you already have a job.
You will gain experience from passing such interviews in the future, you will confidently answer many questions.
At the moment of passing technical assignments, you have an excellent opportunity to evaluate yourself and your level of knowledge of certain technologies. After completing the interview, try to find out more about your mistakes. Feel free to ask the correct answer. Analyze the result. Draw conclusions and into battle! Strengthen this knowledge until you dream of it.
Conclusion:
Develop these skills, but remember: you need to enjoy what you do. If you don’t find it interesting to study computer science and software development every day, you will never become a senior developer because you will not have a genuine drive to improve. As per the Forbes study, if a start up business hires senior developer, he/she helps for growth hacking.
But sometimes real passion comes only after you have mastered the skill, and for this you have worked hard, striving to become an experienced specialist in your industry. Therefore, be sure to start, and, perhaps, the path you have chosen will lead to such a cherished and revered position as Senior ReactJS developer. Go for it!