Preface

Nearly a quarter century after the internet became a public-facing tool for the world to use, the tech job market has never been larger. From new startups to large corporations, nearly all entities are looking for an online presence or, even better, sophisticated tools to push their brand and products. Luckily, you don’t need a computer-science degree or a master’s degree in data science to meet the needs of the market these days. Moreover, most of the skills you need to build these tools, you can acquire at little to no cost through open-sourced technologies.

During my time at The New York Code + Design Academy, instructing intensive courses on web development and building new curriculums, I recognized the strength of a full stack education. I’ve taught students with a variety of backgrounds, most of them without development experience, to realize their programming visions in as little as three months. So why not you?

I wrote this book to manifest the stages of learning web development in Node.js. Each unit guides you through a core concept in web development, with instructions on how to apply code and build your own application. I present the building blocks of a web server and show you how to piece together the components that your favorite web applications use. Using the same boot-camp learning strategy, I walk you through the development of a web application with dynamic web pages, user accounts, a database, and a live chat feature. By the end of the book, you’ll have a fully functioning application published on the internet. The work you produce from this book could spark ideas for a new application, become the start of a product for your business, or showcase your development skills as a personal portfolio piece. However you choose to use this book, you can find everything here that you need to get programming with Node.js.

My goal is to make the learning process less intimidating and more exciting. The frustration that many new engineers feel is twofold: resources are scattered, and they don’t always deliver the complete picture. Node.js is a relatively new platform for development, and although the online community can answer common questions, new web developers may struggle to find full ingredient lists and recipes for building a complete application from scratch. This book covers the surface aspects and a little extra.

Be ambitious while tackling the exercises in this book, and be patient while understanding the core concepts. Ask questions where you get stuck, and communicate with other readers through the book’s forum. (They’ll be hitting the same walls as you.) With a little practice and determination, you’ll soon be demonstrating your Node.js talent to the sea of developer-hungry organizations.