Hire React Native Developers in 48 Hours

According to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2022, React Native is the third most wanted technology among coders. 13.05% of respondents expressed the desire to start working with it. Also, it takes 8th place in the most popular framework ranking (12.57%), and second place among cross-platform technologies (losing 0.7% to Flutter). Large companies like Bloomberg, Facebook, Uber Eats, Discord, Instagram and Skype hire React Native developers to build their mobile apps. This article will talk about the benefits of React Native for startups and go through various nuances of how to hire React Native app developer for your business. 

Hire React Native Experts and Build Cross-Platform, Native-Like Apps

React Native is a framework created by Facebook to speed up the process of creating mobile applications. Thanks to React Native, we can create applications for iOS and Android platforms using the popular programming language — JavaScript.

Fast Refresh

A useful feature of RN isfast refresh. Fast refresh is Facebook’s reiteration of RN’s old hot reloading and live reloading features that weren’t working well and was bugging performance. Any changes a React Native developer makes to the application code will change during software development on the screen after the fast refresh, freshly rendered. 

The obvious advantage of this approach is a cut in components’ compilation time. This is because developers work quicker when edits to code are immediately displayed on the screen. Apart from that, fast refresh supports Hooks (a feature that allows React Native programmers to work with components’ states and other features without interacting with its class) and doesn’t crash (like hot reloading did) if the code contains typos or mistakes. 

Mobile App Debugger Support: Flipper 

React Native apps, in addition to the standard React Developer Tools, have been integrated with Flipper debugging tools since the 0.62 version. Flipper allows a React Native developer to install plugins right from its interface and provides tools for remote debugging. 

With Flipper, a React Native developer:

• Controls devices via running a simulator 
• Connects to multiple devices simultaneously to debug applications on multiple platforms
• Executes apps within environments that look almost identical to production environments 

With Flipper and Fast Refresh, React Native experts greatly simplify code editing which streamlines development and improves code quality. 

Compatibility with Native APIs and Ready-to-Use Elements

React Native developers need to know at least some basics of native programming because RN accesses native APIs and native components to build specific elements of iOS and Android interfaces. They can also use native modules to “cover” native code into JavaScript-based wrappers and establish access to native elements of the interface, user experience, etc. That gives React Native applications a beautiful, native feel. 

React Native also has a lot of 3rd-party components that are ready to be utilized within app development. React Native developers, for instance, can integrate React Native Maps instead of building maps from scratch — and there are multiple packages with UI components with app layout building blocks, animations, and so on. 

Hermes for Improved Runtime

A React Native developer utilizes Hermes, a JS engine that was, just like Flipper, developed by Facebook to improve the RN framework. Hermes aims to boost the performance of RN applications and make them faster. The application on Hermes loads two seconds faster than, e.g. an iOS app that uses V8. 

So, Hermes significantly improves user experience. Earlier, Hermes only worked for Android, but recently they’ve started supporting iOS apps, which a) help boost iOS apps’ performance, too, b) provide a JS engine that a React Native developer can utilize for building apps on both platforms, which makes cross-platform development simpler. 

When to Turn to React Native App Developers

Having such a deep stack of advantages, let’s see the types of projects that will benefit from hiring a React Native developer: 

• Design-focused iOS and Android apps. With native APIs and modules, a React Native developer can heavily customize the interface while maintaining a native feel to it. That’s why if you have a mockup in Figma, React Native might be the best choice. 

• JavaScript-based projects. If you already have a PWA in store and want to build two mobile versions of it quickly, React Native, with its JavaScript support, is an excellent choice. The same is true if you have an existing app/project with a Node.js back end. 

• Quick development. The abundance of third-party components and mature community will help a software developer build the app faster than, e.g., with Flutter which also focuses on customization. Accelerated development cycles are what makes React Native the preferred choice for many startups after the pitching (RN often is considered a bit cumbersome for prototyping, but very powerful for building two apps at once via leveraging the existing ecosystem based on an approved prototype).

Startups also often hire React Native developers (among experts who can work with other cross-platform development frameworks or native developers) because it’s one of the most proven tools in the niche. Everyone knows, for instance, that RN has performance issues because of its JavaScript bridge — and React Native developers mitigate them however they can — but pick the framework anyway because it’s stable and mature.   

Dedicated React Native Developer: Job Description

Let’s briefly list the responsibilities of a React Native developer for hire:

• Build smooth, frictionless UI for Android and iOS 
• Work with native APIs to create the most native-like feel to the app 
• Set up dynamic and animated transitions in the application (e.g., reactions to gestures like swipes)
• Help set up push notifications and chats
• Perform testing and debugging

At the same time a React Native programmer should possess the following skills:

• Programming in JavaScript 
• At least a basic understanding of Kotlin/Java and Swift/Objective-C 
• Experience with React Native (plus React.js frameworks and Redux, especially if the project is scaling from a web app to mobile)
• Use tools for Android and iOS development – XCode and Android Studio (or any alternative IDEs of choice)
• Understand the principles of mobile and web app development
• Know the ways of testing applications & be proficient in RN testing tools like Enzyme, Jest, Test Renderer, and others
• Be fluent in English at the level of reading technical documentation

The knowledge and skills of a React Native developer depend on their qualifications.

How to Interview a React Native Programmer

To hire React Native developer of a decent level, you have to assess their knowledge. Here are examples of questions you can ask React Native developers to test out their theoretical knowledge of programming with RN. 

Hiring Junior React Native Developers 

A React Native expert at the starting level should know about RN’s core benefits. They should also be able to write JavaScript code, work with Redux, and test and debug apps.

Q: What’s the difference between React and React Native?

A: React.js and React Native are open-source projects created by Facebook, but they are not the same. React is a JavaScript library for building the front end of web applications, while React Native is a framework that provides a unified set of tools for building mobile apps for both iOS and Android. This leads to fundamental differences, such as the fact that React renders in HTML while React Native doesn’t. 

Q: Why is the React Native framework so popular?

A: The biggest reason for the popularity of this framework is that it allows a React Native developer to create applications for different platforms without having to learn and use multiple technology stacks. Also, JS is the most popular programming language in the world, and there are a lot of people who know it, so it’s easy to find a developer for mobile projects. 

Q: Why do React Native developers use Flexbox? 

Flexbox is a tool or algorithm that helps a React Native developer establish consistency within the layout. With it, developers specify how various UI elements should fill the space of an app on different screens.

Hiring Mid-level React Native Developers 

To hire dedicated React Native developer at the middle level you should check if they know how to optimize the performance of React Native apps, how to work with native components and native APIs, and so on. 

Q: How can you overcome the performance limitations of JS bridge? 

A: There are several ways to deal with JS bridge, and each method has its pros and cons and applies to distinct use cases. For instance, one of the most straightforward approaches is not to fully re-render certain components when changing their style — that will work in some cases but won’t be a scalable solution. Another way is to use React Native Reanimated, a library that allows running animations and UI interactions on a UI thread instead of passing them via a single-thread JS bridge. 

Q: What is the useEffect() hook for?

A: React Native developers trigger side effects in functional components with it. Poll requests, direct DOM manipulation, and the use of timer functions such as setTimeout() are examples of side effects.

Q: What does InteractionManager do?

A: React Native developers use this native module to differ the execution of a certain function before user interaction is complete. That helps not to drop frames on the UI thread that helps “draw” UI elements on the scream and ensure smooth animations and other visual effects. 

Hiring Senior React Native Developers 

Here are some of the questions people ask when interviewing senior RN devs.  

Q. When should you use Firebase with React Native? 

A. Firebase is a popular DBaS tool, cloud storage for storing and syncing data for development. Firebase is worth using if you want a React Native developer to use the framework for creating a low-cost MVP that works with, for instance, real-time data processing. A combination of Firebase and RN can be especially useful for IoT projects. 

Q. What are the distinctions between FlatList and ScrollView? 

A. For FlatList, rendering of all child components doesn’t affect performance, but within ScrollView, it does — and badly. ScrollView doesn’t support headers and footers and only has vertical mode. Also, React Native developers cannot configure callbacks within ScrollView. 

Q. What, in your opinion, is the most overlooked drawback of React Native? 

A. Here, React Native developers may answer differently. Generally, performance issues are a known problem with RN, so an unconventional, interesting answer will be, for instance, compatibility issues between apps built with different versions of React Native or complexities of working with RN’s modules. 

Salary Range

The majority of React Native developers in USA earn between $83,000 (for a junior React Native developer) and $165,000 (for a senior React Native developer with up to 15 years of experience). Their hourly rates breakdown is as follows:

Of course, it’s less expensive to hire React Native app developers that work freelance or in countries other than the USA. Contact ExpertRemote and hire dedicated React Native developers in a matter of days!

React Native framework is suitable for eCommerce projects of any type and scale, for retail and travel apps, social media, and so on.