State of the React Job Market: 2019–09–02

From minimum qualifications to compensation, what are the expectations of a React developer?

Happy labor day!

The State of the React Job Market details various aspects of a React developer’s career prospects.

What are the minimum and desired qualifications? What are the anticipated tech stacks? Are most positions salaried or contractual? Is it remote, remote-friendly, or in office? Where are the jobs located? How much does it pay?

About the Author

My name is Charles Stover, and I’ve been a JavaScript developer since I was a teenager. I am currently a Front End Engineer at Amazon, and I am passionate about helping new developers succeed in the industry.

If you want to follow my publications or other projects, you can add me on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Preface ⏮

This State of the React Job Market is a collection of job qualities as described by recruiters and targeted to me specifically. As such, statistics will be skewed toward senior development opportunities in the Seattle area. Take this into consideration before feeling that your experiences do not align with the data provided here.

For the previous publication, see State of the React Job Market: 2019–08-17.

Years of Experience🎓

From education to job experience, I detail what companies are seeking on your resume.

Requirements:

Preferences:

One company prefers 2 years of Node experience. — Avance Consulting

One company prefers 2 years of Redux experience. — Avance Consulting

One company prefers 8 years of development experience. — Unknown (Chicago, IL)

Technical Skills:

General technical skills that came up as a requirement included:

Two companies desire experience with object oriented programming. — Disney Studios (mention Charles Stover as your referral), Unknown (Charlotte, NC)

Knowledge of OOP benefits are practically required by all companies, even in the world of JavaScript. It’s good to know OOP to the extent that you can discuss its benefits and the problems it attempts to solve.

Knowledge of OOP benefits are practically required by all companies, even in the world of JavaScript. It’s good to know OOP to the extent that you can discuss its benefits and the problems it attempts to solve. One company prefers experience with test driven development. — The Pokemon Company

Every company prefers experience with test driven development, but the sad reality is that most companies do not do it in practice. I suggest using test driven development on at least one application of feature in order to be able to discuss the benefits you encountered from using it.

Front End Technologies:

Front end technologies are pretty vast, since React is so tightly associated with the front end.

Requirements:

Preferences:

Two companies require experience with Flux or Redux. — Unknown (Irving, TX), Unknown (Charlotte, NC)

Two companies prefer experience with Redux. — Avance Consulting, Nextgen Technologies

Redux is a powerful package used by a lot of companies, but is recently losing favor to home-rolled state management systems with hooks and the Context API.

If you are a junior, I recommend learning the concepts behind Redux insofar as being able to discuss it. What problems does it solve? What are the pros and cons? When would you use it over alternatives? If you were put onto a greenfield project, would you choose to use Redux and why?

If you are a senior, I recommend using Redux in at least one application in addition to being able to discuss the aforementioned questions.

Two companies prefer experience with Redux. — Avance Consulting, Nextgen Technologies Redux is a powerful package used by a lot of companies, but is recently losing favor to home-rolled state management systems with hooks and the Context API. If you are a junior, I recommend learning the concepts behind Redux insofar as being able to discuss it. What problems does it solve? What are the pros and cons? When would you use it over alternatives? If you were put onto a greenfield project, would you choose to use Redux and why? If you are a senior, I recommend using Redux in at least one application in addition to being able to discuss the aforementioned questions. Two companies prefer experience with TypeScript. — Best Buy, Nextgen Technologies

TypeScript is becoming the de facto standard for JavaScript applications, catching errors early and giving the familiarity of strongly typed languages to back end developers who oftentime contribute to front end projects in enterprise settings. If you are using Flow in your React application, I strongly suggest replacing it with TypeScript. If you have no experience with TypeScript, I recommend writing at least one project in TypeScript, no matter how small.

TypeScript is becoming the de facto standard for JavaScript applications, catching errors early and giving the familiarity of strongly typed languages to back end developers who oftentime contribute to front end projects in enterprise settings. If you are using Flow in your React application, I strongly suggest replacing it with TypeScript. If you have no experience with TypeScript, I recommend writing at least one project in TypeScript, no matter how small. One company prefers experience with RxJS. — Unknown (Charlotte, NC)

Back End:

I am generously calling anything “not front end” as back end, implying these are desired or required technologies that are not based on the UI.

Soft Skills:

Soft skills are often overlooked on requirements, but there’s a reason companies list them. Amazon strongly integrates them as a part of the interview process.

Three companies desire strong team skills. — Avance Consulting, The Pokemon Company, Unknown (Chicago, IL)

The unknown company in Chicago specifically desires cross-team skills, which is valuable and desired whether or not it is specified.

The unknown company in Chicago specifically desires cross-team skills, which is valuable and desired whether or not it is specified. Two companies desire you have strong communication skills. — The Pokemon Company, Unknown (Charlotte, NC)

Two companies desire for you to mentor your coworkers. — Disney Studios (mention Charles Stover as your referral), The Pokemon Company

One company desires you to be a fast learner. — Unknown (Charlotte, NC)

This does not really mean much in a vacuum. It may be seen as a red flag that they emphasized fast learning as opposed to simply learning They may expect you to perform tasks outside of your experience with not enough time to learn the technologies adequately. Learning on the job is what makes you more valuable at the end of your time with that company. You want to learn at every job you accept. Ensure that fast learning still allows for the acquired knowledge to sink in and stick with you.

Tech Stack 👨‍💻

The tech stack used by the company is sometimes different than the requirements. These skills will typically impress the interviewer more, but are not often a requirement because they can be learned on the job. The following are explicitly-stated tech stacks of the companies. For the most part, the desired experience section will accurately represent the tech stack.

Contract vs. Salary 📃

The majority of recruiters are seeking contract positions. This is likely more to do with contract positions attracting recruiters on a commission basis than a higher percentage of React careers being contractual.

Location, Location, Location 🌎

My location in Seattle likely skews the location of offers in the direction, but the rest (Seattle still included!) are likely indicative of the largest hiring areas for React developers.

Compensation 🤑

Companies are not prone to disclosing salaries up front, so data is sparse. I’ve segregated them by location, because location is the largest influencer of salary, as the cost of living can be so drastic between many cities.

Conclusion 🔚

If there is anything you would like to know in future postings, leave a comment, and I’ll add it to my barrage of questions for the recruiters and include it in future publications.

If there is anything you did not like about this article, leave a comment, and I’ll adjust the design and flow in response to reader feedback.

You may also contact me on LinkedIn, Twitter, or through any of my contact channels on CharlesStover.com.