My original goal was not learning React Native. I was just hoping to get better at JavaScript, and React seemed like a good way to do it. Then our mobile team was shorthanded, and when I looked at one of their React Native Github repos, it looked familiar enough to jump in and try to help out.
One year later, and I would say 60 percent of my time is spent building React Native apps.
We developed our React Native stack because we’re constantly trying to find tools that will make our products better. Any time we hear about a new tool or technique, our mobile team has a process for testing them out. If it proves out – delivering value to our clients — we’re quick to work it into our stack.
Cross-platform app development promises to deliver both Android and iOS native apps from one codebase, a two-for-one deal. If that sounds too good to be true, it’s because usually it is.
We’re experts at mobile development technologies, but the definition of “mobile” changes constantly. Because mobile usage is growing so fast and there are new tools and frameworks for building mobile apps every week, we have to be constantly finding, testing and adopting new skills and tools just to keep up.
That’s why we’ve made learning and teaching an important part of how we operate as a team.
I’ve written before about how much the tools and processes for our mobile team changed in the four years we’ve been around, but the truth is that they’re still changing. There are new tools and design patterns for structuring apps coming out all the time, a lot of which we want to try out. In the past year, we took React Native (a new cross-platform framework by Facebook) for a spin and really liked where it was going. Keeping up with what’s out there lets us give our partners the latest and greatest, and to do that efficiently we need everyone on our team to be looking out for cool things they want to bring to the group for testing.
React Native checks all our clients’ boxes. It promises to save developers time and clients money. It promises to make training developers easier. And most importantly, it promises to create both iOS and Android apps from one set of code. It’s no surprise then that React Native is growing fast. But at Table XI, we’ve seen a lot of cross platform solutions with big promises. And while we love new tools, we tend to be cautious of the risks.
That’s why we’ve been testing React Native.
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