React isn’t good at anything, except being popular. That’s a bold statement, but it’s one that Josh Collinsworth stands by. It seems like nearly every major tech company has React in their stack. But why is a framework built specifically for Facebook so popular in the general developer community?

Josh Collinsworth, Senior Front End Developer at Shopify, wrote an article titled “The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of React”. Even though Shopify uses React, Josh didn’t hold back his views on the framework. When React came about, it solved a major problem for Facebook. Since then, it’s been viewed as a solution to every problem and the tech community has been stuck in a loop of teaching React and hiring React developers. But for Josh, React isn’t a solution, it’s just a tool, and it’s not the best out there.

In this episode, Josh talks to Chuck and Robbie about his viral article critiquing React’s popularity, his favorite fonts, and what it’s like juggling fatherhood with side projects.

Key Takeaways

[00:30] - An intro to Josh Collinsworth.
[03:46] - A whiskey review - Wolves Whiskey X Willet Distillery The Rye Project Volume One Batch Two.
[13:00] - Why Josh thinks React’s popularity is just a self-sustaining cycle.
[39:03] - Josh’s favorite fonts.
[45:00] - Josh speaks about how he maintains his hobbies being a father.
[53:34] - How Shopify acquiring Remix has affected Josh.

Quotes

[14:04] - “If you look at the reasons you might actually pick a framework, React doesn't really tend to come out on top in any of those given categories.” ~ Josh Collinsworth

[19:51] - “I think a lot of people don't realize that it hasn't aged that well. It has kind of held itself back in some ways, and the tools that we do now have offer us some advantages that React maybe can't.” ~ Josh Collinsworth

[33:21] - “We're churning boot camp grads out with what we consider the minimum viable knowledge, and in this environment, that's React, and probably extremely little HTML and CSS.” ~ Josh Collinsworth

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Debating React, Fonts, and Fatherhood with Josh Collinsworth