Top 10 Node Js Developer Skills to Have in 2024

In today’s world, Node JS is used everywhere. Companies like LinkedIn, PayPal, and Netflix utilize Node JS for their web services. Slack uses Node JS for its backend to handle real-time messaging. It is used for developing RESTful APIs due to its non-blocking I/O model. Uber and eBay have microservices architectures built on Node JS. It is also used extensively in IoT applications. Thus, with this growing use of Node JS, its popularity is also increasing. So it is important to learn some important skills to use Node JS to its maximum capabilities.

In this article, we’ll be discussing the top 10 Node JS Developer Skills to Have in 2024.

What is Node Js?

Node Js is a cross-platform, open-source JavaScript runtime environment that can run on Windows, Linux, Unix, macOS, and more. It is used for server-side programming. A Node application runs in a single process. Node JS is event-driven and runs asynchronously. Its features include asynchronous and event-driven models, single-threaded architecture, scalability, quick code execution, cross-platform compatibility, and no buffering. It can be used for single-page applications, Data-Intensive Real-time Applications, I/O bound Applications, JSON API-based applications, and Data Streaming Applications.

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Top Node Js Developer Skills

1. Javascript Proficiency

Javascript abbreviated as JS is a scripting language used to develop web pages. It is used to build both the front end and back end of web applications. A strong understanding of Javascript is important for all Node JS developers as it is built on Javascript. Understanding this language is necessary for building server-side and networking applications.

Some important concepts to take away from the language to be a good Node JS developer are functions, event loops, closures, callbacks, promises, ES6+ features, serverless architecture, event-driven models, and asynchronous programming. You should know how to write clean, efficient, and scalable code that can handle varied tasks.

You can also use an alternative to Javascript i.e. Typescript which is simply just all the Javascript features along with type system.

2. Asynchronous Programming

Asynchronous programming is a technique where a program can handle multiple requests together rather than sequentially executing all the tasks. Thus, a program can continue working on a task while waiting for an external event. Asynchronous programming is a main feature of Javascript.

To manage asynchronous operations, a developer should be well-versed in callbacks, promises, and async/await. Callbacks enable functions to run asynchronously. Promises handle these asynchronous operations in a more organized manner. Callbacks are attached to promises to handle the outcome of an action that might be a success or an error. The async/await feature helps write asynchronous code in a more synchronous, readable manner. The keyword used to declare an asynchronous function is ‘async’ and the ‘await’ keyword is used inside an asynchronous function to pause the execution until a promise is resolved. Thus, learning all these key concepts is important for a better understanding of Node JS.

3. Node Js Frameworks

You can create your module to be used in your application using the HTTP module but Node JS provides a long list of pre-made frameworks and libraries for you to work with. Some popular frameworks are Express JS, Koa JS, Nest JS, and Sails JS and some popular libraries are Lodaash and Moment JS.

Express JS is the most liked Node JS framework. It does not have a steep learning curve and its fast, robust, and asynchronous architecture makes it a good choice. It is used by Twitter, Uber, and Accenture to deploy their applications.

Koa JS has recently gained popularity due to its great and easy features for building APIs. It is very similar thus you can enjoy creating while experiencing the same flexibility and less complexity.

4. RESTful API Development

Most of the modern web services depend on RESTful APIs (Representational State Transfer). It is an interface that is used between two systems to securely exchange information across the internet. The REST architectural style is used for creating APIs due to its scalability.

Every Node JS developer should know about the working of APIs, designing API endpoints, data optimization in RESTful APIs, handling HTTPS requests, caching, authentication, authorization, and handling request and response formats like JSON and XML. The principles of REST should also be known. These include client-server architecture, statelessness, uniform interfaces, and resource-based communication.

By following all these basic and important principles, developers can easily develop scalable, simple, reliable, and interoperable APIs.

5. Database Management

Database knowledge and management is an important skill for every Node JS developer. It is an important part of the backend and is used to efficiently store and work on your data for applications on the server side. Node JS can use various types of databases like relational databases, NoSQL databases, and real-time databases.

Relational databases store data in the form of tables with each table having a relationship with another table. MySQL, Oracle, and PostgreSQL are some relational databases. NoSQL databases store data in various formats like documents, key-value pairs, graphs, etc. MongoDB, Redis, Cassandra, and Neo4j are some NoSQL databases. Real-time databases provide real-time synchronization between servers and clients. Firebase, RethinkDB, and Couchbase are some Realtime databases.

Developers should know which database management system to choose according to the application’s use case and perform basic CRUD (Create, Retrieve, Update, and Delete) operations on these database management systems.

6. Testing and Debugging

The reliability of an application is very important. To ensure that the application works on all the possible scenarios and returns the correct response, it is important to test your application thoroughly. Every developer should know how to write unit tests, integration tests and end-to-end tests using frameworks like Mocha, Jest, or Chai.

Debugging is the processing of fixing errors in the code. Developers should know how to use built-in debugging tools, console logs, and third-party debugging tools like ndb or Node Inspector.

Knowledge of monitoring tools like Prometheus and Grafana is also an important skill for monitoring application load.

7. Security

Security is an important aspect of every application. Each application should be protected against threats, attacks, unauthorized access, and security breaches to preserve the integrity of the application. Some aspects of security include authentication and authorization such that only authorized personnel can access the service and data of your application. Encryption is a very good way to preserve your data while it is being traveled across the internet. Developers should know about good encryption algorithms and how to incorporate them into their applications. Security against common vulnerabilities like SQL injections and Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) is important. Applications must follow security standards.

8. Cloud Platforms, DevOps and CI/CD

Cloud Platforms like AWS, Azure, and GCP can be used to deploy, manage, and scale applications. These platforms provide services like managing databases and deploying applications that can be used instead of maintaining your on-premise infrastructure. Thus, developers should learn about cloud engineering as by using the cloud you can easily scale, ensure high availability, pay-as-per-use, and effectively collaborate with the DevOps environment.

DevOps enables software development (dev) and operations (ops) to accelerate delivery through automation, collaboration, fast feedback, and iterative improvement. CI/CD stands for continuous integration and continuous deployment. It automates the build and deployment process ensuring fast delivery. CI/CD tools like Jenkins and GitLab CI are important tools to learn.

Understanding containerization technologies like Docker and orchestration tools like Kubernetes is also important.

9. Git/Version Control

Version control is the practice of tracking and managing changes to software code. Git is a version control tool that is important for collaboration and code management. Every developer should know basic git commands like git init, git status, git add, git commit, git push, git pull, git merge, etc. Knowledge about branching, merging, and resolving conflicts is an important skill.

10. Package Management

Package Management is the process of managing software dependencies within a project. Npm and yarn are the two tools used for package management in Node JS. Package management is essential for maintaining project dependencies, ensuring collaboration among developers, and ensuring consistency across environments. By using npm or yarn and following best practices, Node JS developers can streamline their development workflow and manage dependencies efficiently.

Conclusion

In conclusion, in this article, we discussed the various skills that every Node JS developer should have. It ranges from Javascript proficiency as JS is the main base of Node JS and its knowledge is of utmost importance. Asynchronous programming is an important feature that helps run multiple parts of the program simultaneously. Node frameworks like Express and Koa have gained much popularity because of their flexibility. RESTful APIs are important to send data across the internet. Database management is crucial to manage your data and efficiently perform operations on it. But an application is useless if it gives the wrong result thus testing and debugging an important skills along with maintaining the integrity of the application is important thus learning about security best practices is necessary.