When should I start learning React? Choosing a tech stack is confusing 😅

Hizmy — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 17:53:49 +0000

Hey everyone! 👋

I’m a beginner developer currently learning HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and recently started looking into Python + FastAPI. So far, I’ve built:

4 responsive websites

A few non-responsive ones

A to-do list app

A basic add-to-cart project

I’m pretty comfortable with:

JavaScript basics (variables, functions, DOM, loops, arrays, objects, conditionals)

Fetch API & working with JSON

But I’ve never seen React code before — and now I’m wondering:

🤔 When is the right time to start learning React?
Should I build more plain JavaScript projects first, or is it fine to jump into React now?

🔧 Also… I want to learn full-stack eventually.
I’ve been watching videos about tech stacks (MERN, Flask, Node, PHP, etc.) but honestly, it’s kind of overwhelming. 😅

Some paths I’ve seen people follow:

React + Node (MERN)

Python + Flask or FastAPI

PHP (Laravel maybe?)

Even Go or Rust, but that seems far off for now 😅

So here’s my big question:

👉 What would you recommend as the next step for someone like me?
Should I:

Learn React first, then backend later?

Start with Python/Flask backend before diving into frameworks?

Or something else entirely?

Any advice or personal experience would mean a lot 🙏
Thanks in advance!

DEV Community: Hizmy

When should I start learning React? Choosing a tech stack is confusing 😅