React Native by Stephen Grinder (Udemy). Learn RN from Scratch – Course Review

Updated Aug 3, 2023 • 5 min read

I have recently gone through Udemy’s course on React Native by Stephen Grinder.

It’s a comprehensive course that explains basic concepts and shows how to use the React Native framework in practice. Here is my short review with recommendations who it is for.

About the Course

The course “React Native by Stephen Grinder” contains 162 lectures, 17 hours together. For every lecture you can find a source code published on github, so it’s easy to stay up-to-date with the course pacing. The main topics are:

fundamentals of React (JSX, “props", “state", event handling),
mobile layout and styles challenges,
creating reusable components,
handling HTTP Requests with React Native,
implementing Firebase,
handling data with React and Redux,
few words about Redux Thunk,
building navigation and authentication,
publishing prototype and deploying applications to the Apple and Google Play Stores.

About the author

Stephen Grinder is known for his courses on React, he has worked as an engineer for several companies including REC Solar, Mavenlink, mPATH and now RallyCoding. He is an opinionated mentor, very methodical, speaks slowly but clearly. I could easily understand him on 1.5x speed. He talks about everything starting from the basics and takes great care about explaining every single line of code.

Who Is It for?

If you’re familiar with React and Redux – it’s probably not for you. Parts about RN are not separated. The React Native docs are more than enough and they cover just RN specifics, so you don’t really need that course. If you want to revise basics of React and Redux itself and have time to kill you can go for it. Otherwise don’t bother.

If you’re coming from another JS framework or vanilla JS, it’s great for you. You will learn about both React + Redux and React Native. The main differences between learning React and React Native is: setup and styles. Starting a project in React Native (setting up a simulator and debugger) is a complicated process. Styling works completely different than CSS – but once you get your head around it it becomes clear and there are lots of patterns to help you organise the code.

If you’re a mobile or backend developer – it’s very good for start, but you should have some JS basics and feel comfortable with ES6 syntax. If you’re a mobile developer remember, that in RN based projects there are some parts of work that have to be done in a native language, but unfortunately this course doesn’t include the specifics regarding that.

Alternative Course

If you’re experienced in React (and Redux) you probably won’t get much from the course described above. However, there is another course by Grinder on Udemy – React Native: Advanced Concepts. It’s worth checking out by advanced developers. It will give you better understanding of React Native in practice. It focuses on creating RN application using modules like: animations, maps, notifications, navigation etc. First the official documentations and than this, and you’re probably good to go!

Comments

If you want to try it – remember: Udemy does crazy price cuts all the time, just wait few days ;) If you already have tried it – leave a comment below. I’d be happy to exchange thoughts about the course!