How long would it take a non-Eng data scientist to learn react native to build a mobile app?
Hey friends. I’m a Data scientist who’s proficient at R and SQL but never built any apps. I’m looking into learning React Native for the purpose of building a simple CRUD app for a startup. We already have a backend DB and API built as well as a UI fully designed. I was thinking of learning react native myself instead of paying a mobile developer to connect the api to our UI. If I go this route, I would devote a few full weeks to learning RN and building this app (I’m full time at the startup no longer at uber). I have full access to Lynda dot com for the react native courses. To those who gave worked in RN, does this sound like a smart idea? Is it realistic to learn RN in a week or two (full time) and be able to build a mobile app? Or do you think it’d be too complex for a non-engineer? Any advice appreciated.
probably not that long, you could do it in a couple weeks
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Maybe a few hours? I wouldn't use RN personally though
React Native is simple to pickup if you understand the fundamentals, but if you don’t know the fundamentals, I would suggest learning them first. My advice is to either start with the native language of the mobile platform of your choice, design a best-in-class app you’re proud of, then learn RN to see if it makes sense to use it for cross-platform. If that sounds like a lot of work, it is. It will take a lot longer than a few weeks. If you only have a few weeks to get a prototype out the door, just build a simple html+JavaScript+CSS app designed for mobile viewports. It’s way easier to do that, and that will give you exposure to the trade offs between slick native experiences and fast-development iteration of the mobile web. That will prime you well for deciding to learn RN since RN runs on JavaScript.
I am an Android developer with some Javascript experience. But I personally found Flutter to be much easier to learn compared to RN. Note that Flutter is based off Dart and I had no prior experience with that, but my Java background helped. You should definitely look at their samples atleast.
Whatever it takes, you should start learning a real programming language. It would help you a lot in your career as well.
R is a real language you asshole! Jk I totally know what you mean and I think that’s good advice for my career indeed. Thanks