In the fast-paced digital world we live in, having a strong mobile presence has gone from nice-to-have to need-to-have for businesses looking to stay ahead of the competition.
But simply having a mobile app isn't enough these days. You need to build one that wows and engages your users, drives sales, and gives your brand an edge.
Luckily, by leveraging React Native and hiring talented React Native developers, your business can build show-stopping mobile apps that users love.
In this post, we’ll look at the key reasons why hiring React Native talent can help you build the mobile app your business needs to succeed in the digital age.
Let’s dive in!
What is React Native?
React Native is an open-source framework created by Facebook for building mobile apps. It uses the same core building blocks as React, Facebook's popular JavaScript library for web development.
The key difference is that while React is used to build web apps, React Native is used specifically to build mobile apps for iOS and Android. This allows developers to use their existing knowledge of React syntax to build truly native mobile apps, as opposed to hybrid apps built using technologies like Cordova or Ionic.
Benefits of Using React Native for Mobile App Development
There are several compelling reasons why using react native for mobile app development is a wise business decision today:
Cost-Efficiency
React Native allows you to build mobile apps using only JavaScript code. This means you can use existing web developers on your team to build mobile apps, without needing to hire more specialized native iOS or Android developers. The result is significant cost savings.
Since React Native apps have over 85% code reuse between iOS and Android, you only have to write the code once for both platforms. This results in reduced React Native app development costs and shorter development times.
Faster Development
As mentioned above, the extensive code reuse React Native enables leads to much faster app development. Instead of having to build two separate apps natively for iOS and Android, you can develop a single React Native app for both platforms simultaneously.
Hot reloading is another React Native feature that saves developers huge amounts of time. It allows code changes to reflect instantly without needing to recompile the app.
Cross-Platform Compatibility
React Native apps provide a native look, feel and performance on both iOS and Android. Many other cross-platform approaches resort to webviews, which just wrap web apps in a native container. This leads to subpar UX.
With React Native, you get the best of both worlds - a truly native UI with the efficiency of cross-platform development. This increases the reach of your mobile app significantly.
Reusability and Maintainability
The component-based architecture of React Native makes it very easy to reuse code across your app. Complex features can be built once and shared across different screens and flows.
This modular structure also makes React Native apps easy to understand and maintain. Since code is compartmentalized into independent components, it's simple for any developer to dive into the codebase and quickly make changes.
Large Developer Community and Ecosystem
React Native benefits from the thriving React.js ecosystem. There are tons of open-source React Native developer tools, libraries and pre-built components available.
According to Statista, React Native stands as the 2nd most used cross-platform framework by developers worldwide.
The community around React Native is also huge. Developers can easily find solutions to common issues or get help on forums like StackOverflow. There are ample learning resources like tutorials and courses as well.
Key Features of React Native
Now that we've covered the major benefits of using React Native for mobile development, let's explore some of its stand-out technical features:
Native-Like Performance
React Native doesn't use webviews - the UI is rendered using real native UI components. This ensures your app provides a seamless 60fps experience without lags or stutters.
CPU-intensive operations like image processing can be handed off to native code for boosted performance. React Native also uses a JS engine that's faster than traditional browsers.
Modular Architecture
As mentioned earlier, React Native promotes a modular, component-driven approach to development. Each component encapsulates its own features and UI into a reusable package.
These components have well-defined inputs and outputs, making them highly testable. This architecture facilitates collaboration between developers and makes scaling code easier.
Declarative Components
React Native uses a declarative paradigm for building UIs, as opposed to the traditional imperative style. Developers simply declare what the UI should look like under any given state.
The framework then handles actually rendering the appropriate UI efficiently. This abstracts away UI complexity from the developer.
Strong Developer Tools
React Native offers a fantastic developer experience. The reactive, real-time debugging allows you to make changes on the fly without recompiling your app.
There's also a huge ecosystem of developer tools like Fastlane, AppHub and Ignite CLI that boost productivity when building React Native apps.
Access to Native Modules
While React Native provides cross-platform UI components, you can still directly access native modules on each platform for things like device sensors, background tasks and more.
This provides an escape hatch that ensures React Native doesn't inhibit you from tapping into any native capability you may need.
Why Should Businesses Hire React Native Developers?
Hopefully, you're convinced of the benefits of using React Native for your next mobile project. But why specifically hire developers with React Native skills versus general mobile developers?
Here are some of the key advantages:
Specialized Skill Set
While traditional mobile developers may only be familiar with native iOS or Android languages like Swift, Java and Kotlin, React Native developers possess specialized skills like:
- Deep knowledge of React architecture and paradigms
- Ability to leverage Cross-platform APIs
- Mastery of bridging React Native UI components and native modules
- Understanding the React Native build process and tooling
You want developers intimately familiar with React Native best practices and pitfalls. General mobile devs will have a learning curve getting up to speed.
Efficient Development Process
Hiring dedicated React Native developers allows you to take full advantage of the streamlined React Native development process.
They will be well-versed in React Native workflows, design patterns and tools. They can develop features in parallel across iOS and Android, rapidly build reusable components, and maximize code sharing.
Optimal Resource Utilization
With dedicated React Native devs, you don't need to hire separate native iOS and Android teams. You can build for both platforms with a single, unified codebase and team.
This results in tremendous resource optimization, saving both engineering time and reducing hiring and management overhead.
Ability to Leverage Device Features
While providing cross-platform UI and logic, React Native developers also understand how to properly leverage each device's native capabilities.
They know when it makes sense to use native modules versus React Native APIs for things like location, camera, push notifications, and more. This ensures you provide the best user experience.
How to Hire React Native Developers
Convinced about hiring React Native developers for your mobile project? Here are some pointers on how to attract top talent:
Define Your Requirements
Figure out the must-have React Native skills you need for your project, like version experience, knowledge of specific native modules, debugging skills, etc.
Outline any other requirements like communication, teamwork and programming best practices. This will help filter suitable candidates.
Choose the Right Hiring Platform
You can find React Native devs on dedicated developer hiring platforms like Toptal and Andela as well as general sites like LinkedIn and Indeed.
Dedicated hiring platforms offer more extensive vetting and screening. This better ensures you find candidates with proven React Native expertise.
You may also want to consider hiring developers from offshore development firms such as ThinkODC. This enables you to tap into the expertise of a global talent pool with diverse skill sets, resulting in cost-effective project solutions.
Conduct Thorough Interviews
Hold multiple interview rounds with React-focused questions to deeply assess candidates' React Native skills and experience.
Gauge their understanding of topics like component architecture, state management, native modules, debugging, DevOps and more.
Evaluate Past Projects and Experience
Ask candidates to walk through 1-2 of their React Native projects in detail. Evaluate the complexity of the features built, how performant the end product was, and how they overcame key challenges.
Look at both the breadth and depth of the overall React Native experience. More years of experience are always preferable.
Consider Cultural Fit
While technical skills are critical, you also want developers who align culturally and can communicate well.
Assess soft skills and how collaborative and self-driven they are. Make sure they are excited about your project mission and industry.
Conclusion
React Native makes cross-platform mobile app development faster, easier, and more cost-efficient compared to native development. It delivers the user experience, functionality, and performance of pure native apps through compiled JS code.
Hiring React Native developers is key to fully leveraging React Native's benefits for your mobile apps. Their specialized expertise translates into shorter time-to-market, lower costs, and minimal maintenance overhead after launch.
ThinkODC offers developers with proven React Native capabilities, a track record of successful deliveries, and strong project management practices. Partnering with us allows you to get the most out of React Native for building high-quality mobile apps tailored to your business needs.
Get in touch with us to leverage our React Native expertise! Our team is ready to collaborate on your app vision and build mobile success.
