Start with React/Redux or with just React?

Hello everyone!

I finished the front end certification last thursday and I started the beta version of free code camp rigth away. I did the ES6, SASS, React and Redux parts during the weekend. It might sounds like a lot but I’ve done javascript for a long time so it was more like trying to understand things that I had already seen and SASS is not really hard.

So for the main topic, I think I understood well the basics of React and feel ready to try some things with the projects. But for Redux, I managed to do the challenges, but I really had a hard time because I actually don’t get the point of combining both, I feel like it’s making it more complex for nothing. From what I’ve read, it might be because I just did simple things and I’ll understand when I make a more complex project.

My question is:
Should force myself to use Redux to be ready when I actually need it, or should I just stick with React for now?

Redux helps you get around some of the challenges with data flow in React. It’s a good idea to do both, imo. If you always use Redux you may not get a full grasp of how parent-child communication really works, but when things get complicated that communication gets really tricky and Redux helps smooth things out. If it is a simple project I’d just used React, though.