React Native seems to be a great solution for digital products projected to run on both iOS and Android platforms. Moreover, being a modern JavaScript framework for native app development, React Native allows you to reduce the product development budget and speed up project execution. The question is how to find a hire react native developers that shares your corporate values and whose salary matches your budget expectations.
Unfortunately, having a perfect job description is not enough to find a specialist with an appropriate set of hard and soft skills. In this article, we’ll provide you with useful tips on how to hire React Native developers, even if you have zero hiring experience. You’ll also learn about what React Native developer salaries you should offer candidates from various regions.
Why Is It So Hard to Hire React Native Developers?
React Native is designed for native mobile app development. Its main advantage is that the framework allows you to share your code between platforms, which means you can create a cross-platform app with its help, which saves you time and budget on building separate versions for iOS and Android. In addition, you can hire React Native developer teams and split a huge development task among them. This approach enables you to speed up the development process even more.
How does a React Native app work? In brief, it renders ready-made UI components and does not require web view downloading, which also means it requires fewer resources to perform well. Apps of this kind also easily access hardware in-built features such as cameras, GPS tracking tools, and many others.
React Native apps work well both for users and companies. They provide users with the best possible mobile experience and help developers create apps faster by using the Reactjs library. All that makes the approach extremely popular among product companies, which in turn, makes it harder for newcomers to hire a React Native app developer.
So who is a React Native app developer?
They are a JavaScript developer who has gone deeper into the React Native framework and has experience in developing cross-platform mobile apps in this way. You’ll rarely find a “pure” React Native developer while looking through your candidates’ resumes. Most developers will describe themselves as JavaScript specialists and mention their React Native skills as a secondary point within their skillset.
Another aspect that makes it difficult for you to hire React Native developers is your list of soft skill requirements. To define a candidate’s personality, you need to spend additional time interviewing them which is not always possible if you need to leverage your team with a React Native developer in the middle of a project. The critical soft skills for such an engineer include:
- Adaptivity
- Flexibility and creativity toward resolving development issues
- Ability and desire to learn
- Cooperativeness
- Helpfulness
- Good time-management skills
To make it easier for you to select candidates for further interviews we recommend that you pay attention to such things as their cultural background, project portfolio, and client reviews. Below in this article, we’ll describe 3 options you have if you need to hire a React Native developer. However, a more in-depth look into the candidate’s background and previous work will be helpful for you, regardless of what strategy you choose.
Companies Who Use React Native
Mobile app development with React Native is widespread. Market leaders use this approach to optimize their budget and offer customers the best possible online experience. Here are a few companies that use the technology while building their mobile apps: Facebook Ads Manager and Instagram, Airbnb, UberEats, Bloomberg, Discord, WIX, and many more.
The growing popularity of React Native affects the React Native developers’ hourly rate around the world. Since there are not as many specialists with the skills to develop React Native applications, the cost of their work is often higher than the cost of a traditional JavaScript developer. At the same time, you can optimize your budget by hiring a JavaScript software engineer, and then investing money in improving their qualifications.
A React Native developer salary
in the USA and other countries with high living standards (Norway and Canada) will be the highest. If your company is located in one of these regions, a cost-effective solution for you is to opt for outsourcing development or work to freelancers from less economically developed regions.
React Native search volume in 2021 compared to Flutter, Mobile App Daily
React Native Developer: Skills
As with any other software-related position, candidates are often selected by checking their soft and hard skills. In the previous section, we listed the most important soft skills.
As for React Native developer skills that define them as engineers, things are getting much more concrete. You can divide candidates into 3 categories according to their level of experience, skills, and additional knowledge. These basic categories: junior, middle, and senior React Native developer. To define the level that your future engineer should have achieved, look through your project requirements and tech documentation.
Junior React Native developer
When you need junior-level engineers — you want to scale up development and have middle and senior-level developers who can become mentors for juniors.
The boundaries between different levels of engineers are rather blurred. What we can say for sure, is that the junior-level professional has little or no experience with React Native. At the same time, the advantage of working with such a specialist is that their hourly rate is significantly lower than that of workers of a higher category. If you are lucky, you may find a talented junior who will quickly understand your tasks and grow to the level of a highly qualified specialist within your company.
Finding React Native developers
at a junior level is not that difficult. As a rule, we are talking about students who have recently graduated or are finishing their studies, as well as those who have switched from one framework or programming language to another. You can expect the following skills from a junior-level React Native developer:
- JavaScript coding (ES6 or later)
- Knowing React Native basics (libraries, components, and APIs)
- Use of a state management tool (for example, Redux)
- The ability to navigate within a React Native app
- Be ready for app debugging and testing
Middle React Native developer
When you need Middle-level engineers — you are launching or maintaining a typical React Native product, no advanced problem-solving skills are required.
Software engineers of this level are more independent in their work than junior-level ones. Middle-level developers have over two years of experience with React Native and possess several successful projects in their portfolio.
They can also work in conjunction with junior-level engineers to help you scale your project without budget surges.
In brief, middle-level React Native developers are distinguished by the fact that they can take full responsibility for a software solution, as well as being able to offer creative solutions and launch the product as a whole. Here is a list of the skills that a software engineer aspiring to a middle-level React Native developer salary possesses:
- Optimizing app performance and code splitting
- Working with mobile hardware (GPS, camera, gyroscope, and many others)
- Operating databases, data caching processes, and libraries
- Third-party service integration using their APIs
- Taking over app deployment on App Store and Google Play Market
Also Read: WordPress Developer Skills 2022
Senior React Native Developer
When you need Senior-level engineers — you are working on a complex and innovative product, or need a person that can take control or establish a development process.
A significant sign that you are dealing with a top-tier candidate is several successful JavaScript products in their portfolio, as well as over three years experience with React Native. This person also needs to have team management and tech leadership skills.
It would be an advantage if you manage to find a person who manages a department and has cases of creative solutions to highly complex software issues. Here’s a rough set of skills that a Senior React Native software developer should have:
- Turning iOS and Android apps into React Native apps (knowledge of programming lanuages such as Objective-C, Swift, JavaScript, and Kotlin)
- Continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD)
- Leadership and mentorship across development departments and general workflow management
- Native library and component integration
- Research-oriented approach, a constant search for innovative solutions
- Public speaking and advanced communication skills
