I've been teaching React for years, and here's what I've noticed:
Developers don't struggle with concepts.
They struggle with IDEAS.
"What should I build to practice?"
"Is this project good enough for my portfolio?"
"How do I go from beginner to advanced?"
And I've sat on both sides of the interview table more times than I can count. One pattern I've noticed: the gap between "knowing React" and "demonstrating React in an interview" is surprisingly wide.
You might understand hooks conceptually. You might have built production apps. But when someone asks you to build a Kanban board from scratch in 45 minutes while explaining your decisions out loud, that's a different skill entirely.
The Problem with Most Interview Prep
Most React interview resources fall into two camps:
Theoretical questions — "Explain the virtual DOM" or "What's the difference between useEffect and useLayoutEffect?" These test knowledge, not ability.
Toy problems — Simple counter apps or todo lists that don't reflect the complexity of real interview challenges.
Neither prepares you for what actually happens in technical interviews at companies building real products.
What Actually Gets Asked
After going through dozens of interview processes and conducting interviews myself, I started documenting the patterns. Real interview coding challenges tend to look like:
- Build a weather dashboard that handles API calls, loading states, and error handling
- Create a shopping cart with context or state management
- Implement a file manager with drag-and-drop
- Design a multi-step form with validation and persistence
These aren't trivial. They require you to demonstrate state management, component composition, performance awareness, and clean code — all while thinking out loud.
A Structured Approach
I put together a collection of 50 challenges organized by difficulty:
Beginner (20 challenges) — Focused on components, props, state, basic hooks, and localStorage. Things like task trackers, countdown timers, and image galleries. If you're newer to React or haven't interviewed in a while, start here.
Mid-Level (22 challenges) — Context API, custom hooks, API integration, performance optimization. This includes Kanban boards, chat interfaces, survey builders, and dashboard widgets. Most frontend interviews for mid-level roles pull from this category.
Advanced (8 challenges) — Redux Toolkit, React Router, complex state management. Full application architectures like e-commerce platforms, analytics dashboards, and collaborative document editors. These prepare you for senior roles where system design matters as much as implementation.
What Makes These Different
Each challenge includes specific requirements — not vague descriptions. For example, the E-Commerce Product Catalog challenge specifies:
- Infinite scroll or pagination
- Multiple simultaneous filters with visual indicators
- Cart management with localStorage persistence
- Product quick-view on hover
- Related products section
This specificity matters. Interview challenges have requirements. Practicing with vague prompts doesn't build the skill of translating requirements into implementation decisions.
How I'd Use These
If I were preparing for interviews right now, here's my approach:
Week 1–2: Work through 5–6 beginner challenges, focusing on clean code and explaining decisions out loud (yes, talk while you code — it's awkward at first but essential for interviews).
Week 3–4: Move to mid-level challenges. Time yourself. Most interviews give 45–60 minutes, so practice building something functional within constraints.
Week 5+: For senior roles, work through advanced challenges focusing on architecture decisions, state management patterns, and performance considerations.
Don't just build them once. Revisit challenges after a few days and see if you can implement them faster or cleaner.
The Real Skill
Here's what I've learned from years of interviewing: technical interviews aren't really about whether you can build the thing. They're about how you build it.
Do you ask clarifying questions? Do you start with a plan or dive straight into code? How do you handle getting stuck? Do you write readable code under pressure?
These challenges give you the reps to develop that comfort. The actual building is a practice for the performance.
I've compiled all 50 challenges with full requirements into a PDF guide.
If you're actively preparing for React interviews, you can grab it for FREE from The Ultimate React Ebooks Collection.
Scroll down to the Contents section on The Ultimate React Ebooks Collection to download it for FREE using the Preview link.
The challenges are designed to be self-contained — you don't need a course or video walkthrough. Just the requirements and your code editor.
Good luck with your React interviews.
About Me
I'm a freelancer, mentor, full-stack developer working primarily with React, Next.js, and Node.js with a total of 12+ years of experience.
Alongside building real-world web applications, I'm also an Industry/Corporate Trainer training developers and teams in modern JavaScript, Next.js and MERN stack technologies, focusing on practical, production-ready skills.
Also, created various courses with 3000+ students enrolled in these courses.
My Portfolio: https://yogeshchavan.dev/
Top comments (4)
The gap between "knowing React" and "demonstrating React under pressure" is real. I've seen senior devs blank on building a simple debounced search input in an interview setting even though they've shipped way more complex stuff in production.
The tiered difficulty approach is smart. One thing I'd add for anyone working through these: try doing a few with an AI coding assistant and a few without. You learn different things each way, and interviewers are increasingly asking about how you work with AI tools too.
That's a great perspective @nedcodes. Thanks for adding that🙏
appreciate it! solid article by the way, bookmarked it for reference.
Thank you @nedcodes