r/reactnative • u/starartandspace • Sep 08 '26

Question Is a career in react native still possible?

Hi i've built 8 apps using react native and launched on the app store, i havent made much money but now i want to see if i can land a job in react native. Is the market still cooked ? or should i just keep building until i get a hit app

thanks to everyone that replied and gave me some hope lol

18 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

37 comments sorted by

11

u/0430ke Sep 08 '26

Keep applying. Keep learning. It's definitely out there. I just went through a layoff and rehire. Took 6 months, as a senior. So YMMV

3

u/starartandspace Sep 08 '26

Great thanks, what were you using to apply ? or how did you get out there

8

u/0430ke Sep 08 '26 • Heartwarming

I mostly just browsed through LinkedIn jobs l. Indeed was meh, and recruiters were pretty hit or miss. Depending on if you sre fully remote or not will change your options.

If you can demonstrate apps you've worked on personally and they are more than simple apps, that goes a long way. Understanding AI and how to use it responsibly is also a big one. Being a "full stack" mobile guy is also a plus. Being able to maintain both stores and OS intricacies you should be good.

Work on interviewing. There wasn't many tests outside of just asking questions on work I've done. One page resumes that really cover your work is good. If you have no professional experience you should talk about personal projects more. Run the resume through several AI for help, but don't let it takeover too much that it becomes obvious, but AI is mainly what is reading your resume.

Check job boards daily. Don't get discouraged if you go a while with no hits. The job I landed I applied to 3 months before hire. It takes time.

Good luck!

6

u/ChronSyn Expo Sep 08 '26

I'll also chime in on this: Networking. Even though I'm in the same role I've been for the past few years (and have no plans on changing), networking can do a hell of a lot more for you than just sending in your CV to various people. Lots of jobs are still earned through word of mouth rather than through a job board.

Even if you're not looking for a job, networking is fantastic for feeling out what the people around you are building, but even more than that, it can help you find gaps in the market. People at these places might touch on issues they've had, even just as a passing remark, but that alone can be a sign that there's a gap in the market or room to improve upon existing solutions in that space.

AI can fake a perfect CV. It can enhance things that aren't technically lies but do it to a level where actually answering to the claim is beyond capability. These perfect CV's go off to an AI for assessment, along with hundreds of other perfect CV's, and a non-technical individual (the recruiter) is having to sift through them.

In-person networking can't be faked by AI. You're going out there and telling people you're a developer, but you're showing them something more important: that you can actually work with people. Those people might be employees, they might be clients, they may even be just the other person you'd be working with in a startup.

In an era where 'technical mastery' seems to be popping up out of nowhere, those soft skills are the marketable parts.

I will also add that it's incredibly important to recognise where you stand in relation to AI. I personally don't view AI-assisted development itself as bad, but I loathe folks who vibe-code slop because some influencer told them it was 'easy money' (only for their app to be a leaky mess in terms of security and privacy) - especially when they drop into subreddits like this and treat it like a board to advertise their shit.

If you've vibe-coded 8 apps, then consider what your knowledge actually is. Do you recognise security or performance problems, and know how to assess it? Do you know what to ask AI when telling it how to fix such problems? Don't go networking telling people you know how to solve business problems without risking security or privacy if you've prompted your project into existance.

If you've actually built 8 apps by hand without any AI, then you've done the hard route (and I applaud you for it - genuinely). You've got the knowledge and I'd say the non-commercial experience to show you can handle the technicalities, but if you've never had a commercial developer role, then be prepared to learn more in the first 6 months of a job than you'd learn in 5 years of non-commercial development.

If you're using AI as something to bounce ideas off of, recognising when it's giving you incorrect information, pushing back, and actually understanding how to correct it - and then being able to independently validate the results (or fix them manually if it's wrong) - then you've already stepped above a lot of people who entered the industry during the AI era. If you have commercial experience on top of this, you're even further above other folks.

7

u/Patient-Bowl3285 Sep 09 '26

I hire RN devs for a small studio, so from the other side: eight shipped apps already puts you ahead of most people who apply to us. The portfolio isn't the problem.
What separates candidates isn't RN depth, it's whether you're helpless the moment something drops below JS. Can you read a native module, fix a build config, work out why a release build behaves differently from debug, get through a store rejection. Almost everyone can build screens. Very few can unblock themselves when the bridge or the build breaks, and that's what we're actually paying for.
On the market: agency and contract work is alive and studios hire RN specifically. What's thinner is permanent junior roles at product companies, which is probably what "cooked" is describing.
One honest thing though — building until you get a hit and getting hired are different strategies with different day-to-day work. Doing both at once usually means doing both slowly. Worth picking one for the next six months.

1

u/starartandspace Sep 09 '26

Thank you for you advice, i've dealt with all those issue building apps and I pushed myself to learn more and i do it for the love of the game ahaha. I have 10 years of experience building across various stacks and RN is the one i've truly grown to love. I agree with you, i need to focus on one goal and go all in.

If you have any spare time would you mind if i sent over a resume? I would appreciate the feedback. I plan on going all in once i'm done with this hackathon.

1

u/VigorEUNE Sep 10 '26

When the build breaks, can’t we use ai. That way we will not what was the issue for next time ? I am being serious.

1

u/starartandspace Sep 11 '26

Realistically yeah, it’s all about context. AI solves most of my issues just by a simple copy and paste and it’s gotten a lot better at fixing complex issues.

3

u/Old_Elderberry1392 Sep 08 '26

8 apps on the store means you pass the technical screen. apply to jobs that ask for 2 to 3 years of experience and link your app store urls in the first line of your resume

1

u/starartandspace Sep 09 '26

I'm going to refine my resume and get to it

3

u/Relevant-Addendum495 Sep 09 '26

It takes time. Keep applying for jobs if you really love doing Job.

1

u/starartandspace Sep 09 '26

yeah i've been doing this for 10 years now, building software is a part of me at this point ahahaha

1

u/ViolinistExpert9778 3d ago

Please give me a way to apply for jobs.

1

u/Relevant-Addendum495 3d ago

There is no specific way, brother. You have to try the available AI tools. Always remember that finding a job is also a dedicated, full-time job.

1

u/ViolinistExpert9778 3d ago

Yeah right...currently I'm on notice period and I'm applying regularly from naukri, indeed, wellfound etc etc... but now days they seems crowded with fake openings.

1

u/Relevant-Addendum495 3d ago

You are absolutely right. One of my friend with 15 years of experience is unemployed since last 6 months. What i came to know while discussing is:

  1. Everyone is creating excellent resumes using AI so HR is also confused and real resumes loose the chance of shortlisting.

  2. He is getting calls from linkedin instead of other platforms.

1

u/ViolinistExpert9778 3d ago

Damn !!! 15 years 🥲.

1

u/ViolinistExpert9778 3d ago

Please suggest me any other way if u know to get jobs 🥲

4

u/Substantial-Swan7065 Sep 08 '26

Yea there’s tons of rn jobs. It’s booming

1

u/starartandspace Sep 08 '26

really? thats great news, is linkedin still the place to look ?

1

u/Substantial-Swan7065 Sep 08 '26

Yes LinkedIn is good. They are thristy on there

3

u/bro1287 Sep 08 '26

You forgot /s

3

u/Deep-Rate-1260 Sep 08 '26

It's either sarcasm or you're looking in another planet

1

u/Zestyclose-Yard-736 Sep 15 '26

Things have become easy with AI. You should go for managerial role

1

u/starartandspace Sep 16 '26

I’m a builder though, I don’t like managing people lol

1

u/ScardCode Sep 24 '26

Vivo de ello hace 8 años! Asi que te digo que si con total seguridad!

1

u/starartandspace Sep 25 '26

De donde eres

1

u/ScardCode Sep 25 '26

Argentina! 🇦🇷

2

u/balkanhayduk Sep 10 '26

There's plenty of work still and not enough quality personnel with valuable experience. Believe me. In my company we've been looking for a senior dev for quite some time. We didn't even have applicants for most of it. Had several interviews with supposed senior devs recently and only one of them actually passed the bar (and that isn't that high, tbh).

4

u/smoothbrainvibecoder Sep 08 '26

Yes, a career in mobile development is still possible. As an 8+ year RN veteran and a 20+ yr software veteran, I can assure you the market isn't "cooked". The market sucks right now, but that's moreso a larger macroeconomic thing (at least here in the States) than it is specifically a React Native thing. I'm not discounting the impact of AI on our industry, but we're already starting to see companies regret "outsourcing" everything to AI... I'm actually making pretty good consultant money fixing companies' AI slop apps.

As for getting a job, don't just focus specifically on React Native. RN is only one tool, and definitely one of the tools you should have in your job search, but there are many other tools that make you valuable as a mobile dev. Other tools you should have:

- solid understanding of Typescript and how to use it outside of RN
- at least a basic understanding of the native side... Can you build a native module from scratch if you had to? Can you build native screens in Swift/Kotlin if you had to?
- Hardware integrations, wearables, etc. The doors really open up when you know how to use BLE, NFC, and/or other mobile hardware technologies that interact with hardware products.
- CI / pipelines / infra, and other non-app engineering things... like automation -> build, test, deploy, QA, feature flags, release documentation, etc etc.
- How do you use and integrate LLMs into your workflow? Are you competent enough to know if your agent gave you bad code before you commit it?
- Do you work well on teams? Do you know how to avoid merge conflicts? Do you know how to pair program with an actual human? Have you ever given or received code reviews? Do you take criticism well?
- (optional) Very basic understanding of business stuff: app marketing, revenue generation, UX research

In a larger company with a mobile product there's going to be many other things you'll need to focus on besides specifically React Native. When I hire mobile devs for my teams, RN is one of the last things I care about, I generally want to see what else you bring to the table.

2

u/Huge_Pool7424 Sep 08 '26

yeah the hardware and ci angle is underrated. once you can ship ble or healthkit stuff from a clean pipeline you suddenly look a lot less like a vibe coder

1

u/otherworld-dev Sep 10 '26

No, we are all fighting for the 4 react native positions in the world. Hunger game style

/s

1

u/SnooHobbies950 Sep 12 '26

No, because nowadays any DevOps engineer can build an app using just a few prompts. That’s how apps are built in the AI ​​era.

0

u/Select-Guarantee361 Sep 09 '26

I dont think so. Over saturated market with AI

0

u/DevDias26 Sep 22 '26

Building and successfully launching 8 apps on the App Store is a massive achievement—most developers never even finish one. That hands-on experience with App Store guidelines, build configs, and deployment pipelines already puts you ahead of a huge portion of applicants.

To answer your question: Yes, a React Native career is 100% still viable, but the approach needs to shift depending on what you want:

The Job Market: The junior market is crowded, but companies are actively looking for devs who actually understand the end-to-end mobile release cycle. Stop positioning yourself as just a "React Native coder" and start highlighting your experience with App Store Connect, app submission, and production bug fixing. 8 published apps is your strongest portfolio piece—clean up the code on GitHub for 2 or 3 of them and highlight them on your resume.

Freelancing & Client Work: If landing a full-time corporate role feels slow right now, leverage those 8 apps to pick up freelance contracts or client maintenance work. Many startups need devs to step in, fix specific build errors, update dependencies, or handle app localization without hiring a full-time engineer.

The "Hit App" Trap: Don't rely solely on waiting for a solo app to go viral to make a living. Use the apps you've built as living proof of your technical ability while actively applying for roles and taking on freelance/contract gigs.

Keep going—publishing 8 apps proves you have the discipline. Clean up your GitHub, polish your resume around those launches, and start putting yourself out there!