Why I’m Learning Vue.js After Six Years in React

#webdev #javascript #react #vue

I’m kicking off a new series to document my journey learning Vue.js. After six years of building production-grade apps in React, I’m excited to explore Vue’s different mental models, developer ergonomics, and ecosystem.

Quick Background

Six years in React: Built production-grade SPAs and PWAs for fintech and SaaS, scaling systems from ground up and migrating legacy code.
From design to code: My graphic-design background fuels an interest with UX and quick prototypes when learning something new.
Code philosophy: Functional, modular, readable over clever; always seeking patterns that scale in large code bases.
The goal: Broaden my architectural lens beyond React, absorb fresh reactive paradigms, and refine dev ergonomics.

Why Vue?

When I teased this series on LinkedIn, one comment quipped that Vue’s been around since 2014—“you should’ve learned it by now!”—and they’re not wrong. The JS ecosystem churns out UI libraries like Svelte, Solid, RxJS, and more, each pushing reactivity forward. React’s ubiquity made it my go-to for stability and career momentum. Now I’m ready to revisit new patterns and sharpen my tool-belt.

Here’s what pulled me to Vue:

Single-File Components co-locate template, logic, and styles in one cohesive unit, enforcing structure and sidestepping “hooks spaghetti.”
Vue’s compiler-informed virtual DOM emits static node caching, patch flags, and block-based diffing for fine-grained updates—so only the minimal work happens at runtime. Plus, Vue is designed to be performant for most common use cases—out of the box you get solid defaults and clear paths to tune further
Vue.js is renowned for its beginner-friendly docs, a vibrant community, and first-class tooling (Vue CLI, Vite, Devtools).

What to Expect in This Series

Weekly deep dives: Code samples comparing Vue patterns against React (e.g., state, lifecycle, composition)
Practical tutorials: Building a small Vue app from zero—templates, reactivity, scoped styles, routing, state management. I promise, it won't be another to-do app.
Tooling & DX: Vue CLI, Vite, Devtools tips, best practices for project structure
Real-world trade-offs: Where Vue shines vs. where React’s ecosystem still leads—community libraries, SSR strategies, TypeScript support

I’ll share honest lessons learned, mistakes made, and wins celebrated—no sugar-coating. Next up: “Getting Started with Vue 3” covering templates, scoped styles, reactivity setup, and Devtools. Stay tuned! If you're new to learning Vue or just want to observe a React dev make mistakes and get better at a new mental model then follow along.