19 Ways to Become a Better Node.js Developer in 2019

Yoni Goldberg, an independent Node.js consultant and co‑author of *Node.js Best Practices*, shares 19 actionable topics and skills that developers should explore in 2019 to stay competitive and write more reliable JavaScript applications.

1. Use Types and Schemas – TypeScript is a great choice

Static typing reduces bugs; consider JSON Schema or Joi for runtime validation and adopt TypeScript or Flow for static analysis. Useful resources include a type‑usage study, the jsonschema npm package, joi, and Facebook Flow.

JSON Schema: https://www.npmjs.com/package/jsonschema

Joi: https://www.npmjs.com/package/joi

Facebook Flow: https://github.com/facebook/flow

2. Enrich Your Linters

Linters act as a free‑lunch code‑assistant, catching serious issues such as unhandled errors, missing information, or never‑resolved promises. Examples include eslint-plugin-chai-expect, eslint-plugin-promise, and eslint-plugin-security.

3. Add More Java, Less Ruby – Deepen Your Architecture Knowledge

Move beyond MVC and Ruby‑inspired patterns; explore domain‑driven design, hexagonal architecture, and avoid mixing business logic with Express objects. Recommended reading includes the first part of *Node.js Best Practices* and discussions on data‑mapper patterns.

4. Plan How to Use Async Hooks for Better Tracing and Context

Async hooks let you inject custom code at the start and end of asynchronous operations, preserving request context for logging and monitoring. Useful tools: cls-hooked, Jaeger client, and community guides on async‑hook opportunities.

5. Learn the Latest Serverless Features

Serverless (FaaS) is maturing and may compete with Kubernetes. Understand the trade‑offs between bare‑metal instances, Kubernetes, and FaaS. AWS examples: SAM for local development, gray‑deployment support, and Lambda layers for shared logic.

6. Keep Up with Upcoming JavaScript Features

Follow TC39 proposals and resources like node.green to discover promising features such as class fields, BigInt, and async iterators.

7. Master at Least One API Technology – GraphQL Is a Good 2019 Choice

While REST remains useful, GraphQL offers dynamic search and hierarchical data fetching; gRPC remains a lightweight option for server‑to‑server communication.

8. Go Beyond Unit and Integration Tests

Adopt modern testing techniques such as consumer‑driven contracts, snapshot testing for APIs, component testing, and watch Yoni Goldberg’s video on five shiny Node.js test types.

9. Align Monitoring with SRE/DevOps Best Practices

Focus on customer‑facing metrics (error rate, latency) rather than only system metrics; read *Google Site Reliability Engineering* and consider the request-stats package.

10. Think Like an Attacker to Improve Security

Study common attack tools (e.g., OWASP ZAP) and embed security thinking into the development process; refer to Yoni’s Node.js security best‑practices list.

11. Define a Package‑Update Strategy

Avoid the dangers of overly aggressive updates; use tools like npq or Greenkeeper to manage safe dependency upgrades.

12. Perform Incremental Deployments, Separate Deploy and Release Phases

Adopt canary deployments with staged rollout (deploy → test → release) and consider platforms like Spinnaker for advanced pipelines.

13. Kubernetes Is Eating the World

Gain proficiency with Kubernetes, Istio, K‑Native, Helm, and related ecosystem tools; the technology is now a de‑facto standard for cloud‑native workloads.

14. Blockchain Offers Interesting Opportunities

Beyond cryptocurrencies, blockchain can be applied to distributed transaction processing.

15. Acquire Reliable Machine‑Learning Skills

Even a basic ability to discuss ML concepts and use JS libraries such as TensorFlow.js or brain.js adds value.

16. Browse Source Code of Selected Open‑Source Libraries

Regularly study successful open‑source projects to broaden perspective and discover alternatives.

17. Deepen Understanding of Linux, Especially Process Anatomy

Master Linux process lifecycle, signals, permissions, and related commands to improve debugging, monitoring, and container management.

18. Dive Into Node.js Internals

Explore V8, libuv, event‑loop phases, and native module creation to better handle performance and production issues.

19. Finish Strong: Learn How to Learn Using Scientific Methods

Apply spaced repetition, chunking, teaching, and reflective practices to retain new knowledge effectively.