Every junior developer hears the same thing: every role wants experience, and you cannot get experience without a role. It is worth checking that against the official record, because the official record does not say it.
Our React developer guide covers the market as a whole. This page is about getting into it from a standing start.
What the Federal Record Actually Requires
React roles are counted in one of two Bureau of Labor Statistics occupations. Both publish a Quick Facts table, and on the two rows that matter here both say the same thing:
- Web Developers and Digital Designers — Work Experience in a Related Occupation: None. On-the-job Training: None.
- Software Developers, Quality Assurance Analysts, and Testers — Work Experience in a Related Occupation: None. On-the-job Training: None.
Both list a bachelor's degree as the typical entry-level education. But the web developer page qualifies even that, and the qualification is the most quotable sentence on it for anyone without a degree: educational requirements "range from a high school diploma to a bachelor's degree", and web developers and digital designers "may not need specific education credentials if they can demonstrate their abilities through prior work experience or projects".
Read those together and the position is clear. The occupation has no structural experience requirement. Individual employers impose one, and many do. But "3+ years required" is an employer's preference, not a rule of the field, and the official alternative it offers you is projects.
The Pay Floor, Honestly Labelled
There is no federal wage line for "junior React developer", and the averages circulating for that title come from job boards, which this site does not republish. What does exist is the bottom of each occupation, as of May 2025:
- Web developers — median $92,650, with the lowest 10 per cent earning less than $48,100 and the highest 10 per cent more than $162,290.
- Software developers — median $135,980, with the lowest 10 per cent earning less than $82,460 and the highest 10 per cent more than $214,670.
Those tenth percentile numbers are not "entry level pay", and it would be dishonest to present them that way. They are the bottom decile of everyone in the occupation, which includes people well past their first job. What they are useful for is calibration: a first offer near $48,100 is inside the distribution rather than an insult, and the two occupations start from very different floors, which is why it matters which one an advert is benchmarked against.
On outlook, the two also differ more than people expect. Web developers and digital designers are projected to grow 5 per cent from 2025 to 2035, with about 13,600 openings a year. Software developers, QA analysts and testers are projected to grow 10 per cent over the same decade, with about 106,100 openings a year.
The Portfolio Is the Credential, So Build the Right Thing
If projects are the official substitute for a credential, the projects have to be current. A hiring manager can check that in about thirty seconds, and most juniors fail on it without knowing.
React's own documentation is unambiguous about how a new project should start: "If you want to build a new app or website with React, we recommend starting with a framework." It names three:
- Next.js (App Router) — "a React framework that takes full advantage of React's architecture to enable full-stack React apps"
- React Router (v7) — "the most popular routing library for React and can be paired with Vite to create a full-stack React framework"
- Expo — for "universal Android, iOS, and web apps with truly native UIs"
If you would rather not use a framework, React points you at a build tool: Vite, Parcel or RSbuild.
The common objection is that a framework means you need a server. React answers it directly: all the frameworks it recommends "support client-side rendering (CSR) and single-page apps (SPA), and can be deployed to a CDN or static hosting service without a server".
The One Thing That Dates You Instantly
Create React App is deprecated. React's installation page answers the question in three words: "No. Create React App has been deprecated."
The announcement was published on 14 February 2025: "Today, we're deprecating Create React App for new apps, and encouraging existing apps to migrate to a framework, or to migrate to a build tool like Vite, Parcel, or RSBuild."
A portfolio built on Create React App still runs. It also tells a reviewer, before they read a line of your code, that your information is more than a year out of date. If you have CRA projects you are proud of, migrating one is itself a portfolio-worthy exercise and gives you something specific to talk about in an interview.
A Learning Order That Is Not Someone's Opinion
React publishes its own curriculum, which is more reliable than any roadmap graphic. The Learn React section runs in four chapters, in this order:
- Describing the UI
- Adding Interactivity
- Managing State
- Escape Hatches
The Quick Start describes itself as "an introduction to 80% of the React concepts that you will use on a daily basis", and the Tic-Tac-Toe tutorial states that it "does not assume any existing React knowledge".
On JavaScript, be careful with what you are told. React publishes no formal prerequisite statement. What it does say, in the Quick Start, is: "If you're not familiar with some piece of JavaScript syntax, MDN and javascript.info have great references." That is a pointer, not a gate. In practice most failed React interviews are failed JavaScript interviews, so the advice stands on its own merits, but do not let anyone tell you React requires a syllabus it has never published.
The Paid Route Almost Nobody Looks At
Registered Apprenticeship is a federal programme, and software work is inside it. The Department of Labor describes it as "an industry-driven, high-quality career pathway where employers can develop and prepare their future workforce, and individuals can obtain paid work experience, classroom instruction, and a portable, nationally-recognized credential", combining "on-the-job training with a steady paycheck".
The federal regulation at 29 CFR Part 29 sets the terms, and they are worth knowing before you are offered something calling itself an apprenticeship:
- You are paid, by regulation. Programmes must set "a progressively increasing schedule of wages to be paid to the apprentice consistent with the skill acquired", and "the entry wage must not be less than the minimum wage prescribed by the Fair Labor Standards Act, where applicable".
- It is substantial. An apprenticeable occupation must require at least 2,000 hours of on-the-job supervised learning.
- Classroom time is part of it. "A minimum of 144 hours for each year of apprenticeship is recommended" in related instruction.
- The minimum age is 16.
Software is covered in practice, not just in theory: a Department of Labor Office of Apprenticeship bulletin publishes full work-process schedules for IT Specialist roles covering application software, with tasks including writing, testing and debugging programs and designing web pages. The Department also runs an official occupation finder at apprenticeship.gov.
An unpaid "apprenticeship" is not a Registered Apprenticeship. If someone offers you one, that is the question to ask.
Reading a Junior Advert
Four things to look for, in this order:
- Which occupation is it benchmarked against? An advert about implementing designs sits near the web developer floor. One about owning features sits near the software developer floor, and those floors are $34,000 apart.
- Is there anyone to learn from? A junior role with no senior engineer on the team is not a junior role; it is a solo role with a junior title and a junior salary.
- Is the "3+ years" a requirement or a wish? Adverts routinely list a preference as a bar. If the rest of the advert describes supervised work and code review, it is a wish.
- Does it name a stack you can evidence? Apply where your projects match. Two strong matching applications beat forty generic ones, and the forty cost you the time the two needed.
If you are applying from outside the US, read the eligibility line before anything else. A large part of the federal and federal-adjacent market requires US citizenship, which the main React guide covers in full.
What Junior Adverts Ask For Beyond React
Junior React adverts rarely stop at React, and the additions are worth reading carefully, because one of them has a published standard behind it that most candidates get slightly wrong.
- Accessibility, and which version of it. Adverts increasingly ask for WCAG 2.2 rather than 2.1. These are not the same bar, and US law currently sits on the older one: the Department of Justice's ADA Title II rule requires WCAG 2.1 Level AA, while WCAG 2.2 became a W3C Recommendation on 12 December 2024 and adds nine success criteria on top of 2.1. Only four of those nine are Level AA, and they are the ones worth being able to name: Focus Not Obscured (Minimum), Dragging Movements, Target Size (Minimum) and Accessible Authentication (Minimum). An advert asking for 2.2 is asking for more than the federal rule requires — knowing that, and knowing which four criteria account for the difference, is a genuinely strong answer in a junior interview.
- TypeScript rather than JavaScript alone. Treat this as part of the core ask now, not an extra. It is the same language plus a type checker, so it is a days-to-weeks addition for someone who already knows JavaScript — which makes it one of the cheapest gaps on a junior application to close.
- A component system, not loose components. Adverts naming a design system — or an existing library of primitives — are describing maintenance of a shared surface rather than building screens. If your portfolio has one reusable, documented component set behind two projects, say so; it answers this directly.
- Tests. A junior is rarely expected to design a test strategy, but is expected to write a test for the component they just wrote, and to be able to read a failing run. One project with real tests evidences it.
One thing worth not being surprised by: a junior title can still carry a clearance requirement. Government-adjacent contractors attach eligibility conditions by the work rather than by the seniority of the post, so a first job can ask for US citizenship and a degree that a private-sector equivalent would not. The main React guide sets out how that eligibility filter actually works, including the point that you cannot apply for a clearance yourself.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I get a React developer job with no experience?
The occupation does not require it. The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists work experience in a related occupation as None, and on-the-job training as None, for both occupations React work is counted in. Individual employers set their own bars, but the field has no structural one.
Do I need a degree to be a React developer?
BLS lists a bachelor's degree as the typical entry-level education, but its web developer page says requirements "range from a high school diploma to a bachelor's degree" and that candidates "may not need specific education credentials if they can demonstrate their abilities through prior work experience or projects".
How much do entry level React developers earn in the USA?
There is no federal wage for a junior React title. As calibration, the lowest 10 per cent of web developers earned less than $48,100 in May 2025, and the lowest 10 per cent of software developers less than $82,460. Those are occupation-wide tenth percentiles, not entry level averages.
What should I build for a React portfolio?
Two or three deployed applications, built the way React currently recommends: with Next.js, React Router or Expo, or with a build tool such as Vite, Parcel or RSbuild. A deployed app that handles its own error states beats a prettier one that does not.
Is Create React App still fine for a portfolio project?
No. React deprecated it on 14 February 2025 and its installation page states plainly that Create React App has been deprecated. A CRA build signals out-of-date information before a reviewer reads your code.
Are there paid React apprenticeships in the USA?
Registered Apprenticeship covers IT and software work, and payment is a regulatory requirement: programmes must set a progressively increasing wage schedule with an entry wage not below the FLSA minimum. An unpaid apprenticeship is not a Registered Apprenticeship.
How long is a registered apprenticeship?
An apprenticeable occupation must require at least 2,000 hours of supervised on-the-job learning, with a recommended minimum of 144 hours of related instruction for each year.
Is junior different from entry level?
Mostly they are the same posting under two names, so search both. "Entry level" appears more often on graduate engineering tracks and "junior" on supervised agency work, but it is a tendency and not worth filtering on.
People Also Search For
React developer jobs no experience
BLS records no work experience and no on-the-job training requirement for either occupation React sits in. Projects are the officially named substitute for credentials.
Junior React developer jobs USA
The same postings as entry level in most cases. Judge the advert by whether it describes supervised work and code review, not by the adjective in the title.
React portfolio projects for beginners
Deployed applications built on a currently recommended setup. React names Next.js, React Router and Expo, or Vite, Parcel and RSbuild without a framework.
Is Create React App deprecated
Yes, since 14 February 2025. React recommends migrating to a framework or to a build tool such as Vite, Parcel or RSBuild.
Software developer apprenticeship USA
Registered Apprenticeship under 29 CFR Part 29: paid by regulation, at least 2,000 hours of on-the-job learning, with related classroom instruction.
Entry level web developer salary USA
No federal entry level figure exists. The tenth percentile for web developers was under $48,100 in May 2025, against a $92,650 median.
How to learn React officially
React's own Learn section, in four chapters: Describing the UI, Adding Interactivity, Managing State, and Escape Hatches. The Quick Start covers what it calls 80 per cent of daily concepts.
Web developer job outlook 2035
Web developers and digital designers are projected to grow 5 per cent from 2025 to 2035 with about 13,600 annual openings; software developers 10 per cent with about 106,100.
Related career guides
- React Developer Jobs in USA — the main guide: pay bands, the toolchain that dates you, and the clearance filter on federal work.
- Remote React Developer Jobs in USA — W-2 against 1099, self-employment tax, and which state ends up taxing you.
- Web Developer Jobs in USA — the occupation with the lower floor, and how freelance rates work against US tax.
- Front End Developer Jobs in USA — accessibility law and Core Web Vitals, the two measurable skills that move an offer.
- How to Apply for React Developer Jobs in USA — the application process, what employers may ask, and how to spot a scam.
- Frontend Developer Coding Tests in USA — the coding test and take-home stage, and the accommodation you are entitled to ask for.
- Senior React Developer Jobs in USA — the far end of the same ladder, and the overtime exemption the grade crosses into.
- React JS Developer Contract Jobs in USA — the staffing route many first roles arrive through, and the STEM OPT rule agencies get wrong.
- React Developer Internship Jobs in USA — the step before this one, and whether an internship has to be paid at all.
- JavaScript React Developer Jobs in USA — the fundamentals round, and why half of it is not the JavaScript language at all.
Official sources
- BLS, Web Developers and Digital Designers
- BLS, Software Developers, Quality Assurance Analysts, and Testers
- React, Creating a React App
- React, Sunsetting Create React App
- US Department of Labor, Apprenticeship
- Apprenticeship.gov, apprenticeable occupations
This article is for general informational purposes and is not careers or legal advice. Wage data, projections and library recommendations change — confirm the current position with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, React's official documentation and the employer's own advertisement before relying on any of it.
