Honest EpicReact.dev Review - React Fundamentals

Disclaimer this is my first blog post and English is not my native language.

EpicReact is a course by Kent C. Dodds, and it claims on their website that you can

Confidently Ship Well-Architected Production Ready React Apps Like a Pro.

I actually purchased the course during their initial launch(1 month ago). I'm used to most of Udemy's style of learning which is mostly watching the videos then typing along with the instructor, which by the way helped me get to my current job. So after watching a couple of videos, I immediately did a refund because I thought that was not the style I wanted. Btw, they were fast with giving back my money.

After a couple of weeks of reading tweets about how effective the workshops to others, I had second thoughts about purchasing the workshop again. First, I researched reviews(especially looking at the bad ones), but most of the issues I found were due to its price tag. Second, I asked my manager(hoping I could get it for free) if the company can shoulder the purchase, but since we were using another framework then I was on my own.

Of course, since I'm doing a review it means I bought it again(from my own pocket) due to the good comments and the credentials of the instructor. I could have just used the free git repos. But I like the Discord group where like-minded people who want to learn come together. Also, upon seeing the tons of effort spent on the workshop(which can be freely accessed), I realized it's just fair to support their team.

The workshop is divided into multiple modules

• React Fundamentals
• React Hooks
• Advanced React Hooks
• Advanced React Patterns
• React Performance
• Testing React Apps
• React Suspense
• Build an Epic React App

I just finished React Fundamentals, and that is where this review is all about now.

Let me first give a brief background of my React skills, so you'll understand my perspective while I was taking the workshop. I started using React 3 years ago, but I'm not using it on a day-to-day basis. I already took the 2 best-selling React course from Udemy so I'm aware of most of the concepts. I can say that in the scale of writing a frontend of Hello world(1) to a Facebook app(10, very complex) I already handled 4-5. Meaning I'm just average.

The flow of the workshop went like this for me: For every section, there is a corresponding README.MD file that described the instructions and some exercise files to modify. In the exercise file, there are steps to be done and there are emojis that serve different purposes that can help me solve the tasks(Weirdly, I find them effective). There are also unit tests to verify if I'm on the right path(instead of directly going to the solutions video). Then, there were these solution videos that showed how he did it and some tips and tricks(these supplementary materials is what you will pay for). After each section, I needed to fill up a form asking what I have learned. I found it nonsense at first but after giving it a chance, I realized it was true that the information really sinks in(Let's see after a couple of months :D). Since I'm just on the fundamentals, it was not really that complicated for me. But it took me more than 6 hours cause it was really interactive. For me, I learned most when I'm trying to solve the extra credit exercises and trying to read the attached additional resources.

In regards to the flow of the topics, the React Fundamentals workshop started without even using React. It was just the typical motivation why we have javascript. The second topic discussed how to use Raw React API. I already knew the concept but I felt the idea really sinks-in into my brain when I started from the ground up. Next, it was about JSX; again, I already knew it, but I had this "AHA!" moment when I learned what babel magic was happening. It improved my understanding of how those online REPL can render React. The next topic was about creating custom components. It really helped me understand why they say that "React is just JavaScript with syntactic sugar". It's really cool when I was inspecting the result of the components I defined using the Chrome inspector. Lastly, about styling, forms, and rendering arrays, I already knew the topics it just solidifies what I already knew.

In conclusion, I learned a couple of stuff even from the first workshop and I'm looking forward to taking the other workshops as those next workshops might be on a different level. EpicReact is different from common video tutorials, the experience was close to a live workshop where I need to really use my brain rather than watching then copy-pasting. If you're someone who prefers to watch to get all the concepts, this might not be a fit for you. I still can't give my opinion if it is really overpriced or not since I have taken only at the fundamentals. What I can say is that it's a lot more expensive than other online courses but a lot cheaper than live workshops. If you're someone really new to React(but have HTML, JS, CSS knowledge) then I can say you will learn a lot even from the first module. Make sure to ask your company to shoulder the cost as this might be a cheaper alternative compared to live workshops. There's also a Purchasing Power Parity that could cheapen the price based on your country.

If you have any question just leave a comment or DM me.