My Journey with React Native and Freelancing

I come across a wide variety of job postings on freelancing Platforms. Some of them really entice me to apply, their job posting are really compelling, and the payment offered. Well, let’s just say it’s pretty motivating! (:D) and I wonder should I apply? Will this job be a right fit for me? And I know a lot of you guys feel the same, trust me, it’s normal but remember guys we all have to start somewhere. And the Best way to do is just open the freelance portal, pick one job post you are at least 60% confident you can get it done and hit the apply button. Believe me, you don’t need to be 100% certain — no one ever is. Even after 4 years of freelancing, I’m never 100% confident in the jobs I apply but I still apply because just sitting back and doing nothing is not my thing. I like to take simple, calculated risks and you know what, if you are 70% certain you can deliver a project, You Definitely WILL! Believe in yourself. This mindset has made me a Top-Rated Developer on one of the Platform, can you name the platform (:D)?

I didn’t learn JavaScript at university; it wasn’t part of our curriculum. But my passion for programming to build websites led me to learn the language on my own through YouTube tutorial. I remember it took me good chunk of my university time to learn the language watching videos from multiple creators, writing code as I follow through the video until I finally understood the basics of the language. With this new knowledge in hand I decided to enroll in with a freelancing portal and started my freelance journey. I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy journey, but I was excited to take on the challenge.

Now let me be honest, learning JavaScript was in no way easy and my computer science background didn’t help me much. The syntax, the quirks and nuances of the language were a challenge in itself, but once I learned the basics of the language, I was right on track. And with enough freelancing project after 2 years, I got some really good firsthand experience in the language. But then I came across this programming language “React Native”, I was pretty intrigued, and you know why? Mainly because I had a passion for mobile apps and most importantly, the language, I’d use to build these apps was “JavaScript”. Another thing that kept me excited for this language was its hybrid nature, I just need to write the code in one JavaScript and React Native will build the code to work for both IOS and Android. It was like hitting two birds with one stone — and that was a huge plus point in my book.

React Native was different from JavaScript, I personally felt like the learning curve of React Native was pretty linear. It wasn’t as intimidating as I had expected. With React Native, I had built my first app within few hours. It was a simple TO-DO App, but the excitement got me, and I gave myself a challenge to build the same TO-DO App in different languages. I just wanted to test and see is it really so simple to build similar application in other languages (not specifically mobile but even web), so first I built the app with React Native, then I built the same TO-DO Application using Plain JS, then with React and even with Python. I was literally a nerd experimenting with different languages and seeing how they compared. It was a pretty cool experience but let’s get back before I deviate further :D

My initial experience with React Native was really good. I built several custom personal projects for fun, which gave me the confidence to start applying for gigs on freelancing platforms and on LinkedIn. After applying to dozens of posts I finally received a reply from a potential lead. The only problem however was that the client wanted a complete freelancing platform app — a fully functional app — and they needed it completed within a month.

Now here’s where the challenge began. At the time, I had just started getting familiar with React Native. I had built a few personal projects, sure, but this was on a completely different level. A freelancing platform app would involve user authentication, chat functionality, payment integrations, and so much more. I’d never worked on something so complex before, let alone with such a tight deadline. But instead of backing out, I decided to take the plunge. Why? Because I knew that even if I didn’t have all the answers at that moment, I could learn along the way. And that’s exactly what I did.

I spent hours researching on Google, writing code, and debugging in my VS Terminal. There were times when I felt completely stuck with certain functionalities, but I kept pushing forward. I regularly checked the React Native documentation, found solutions to problems on stack overflow and tutorials, and even reached out to the React Native community for guidance. Slowly but surely, things started falling into place. Although the project deadline had to be extended from the initial 1 month to 3 months. But I was able to successfully deliver the project. Now if you ask me, “Was it Perfect”, Hell no! So many things could have been better: performance optimizations could have been implemented, components could have been better segregated and reused, and countless other refinements could have been made. But the client was happy, and more importantly, I proved to myself that I could take on bigger challenges than I thought possible.

Looking back, taking that first leap into React Native was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my career. It opened up so many opportunities for me as a freelancer and allowed me to work on projects I’m truly passionate about. If there’s one piece of advice, I can give to anyone starting out, it’s this: don’t let self-doubt hold you back. You’ll never feel completely ready, and that’s okay. Just take that first step, and trust that you’ll figure things out as you go. That’s how you grow, both as a programmer and as a person.