There is one thing that unites people who work on software: we like to create things that work. Nothing is more satisfying than finishing a feature or project that simply does what it was intended to do. When it comes to my side projects, I love learning new frameworks, technologies, and languages. But in the end, the most rewarding and satisfying part is finishing the project and releasing something to the wild. Let’s be honest, if you work full-time and worry about things like exercising, chores, and possibly sleeping – then you understand me when I say it is not always easy finding time to complete a side project. We can help ourselves by planning ahead and perhaps utilizing some fancy project management tools. But what about our technology stack? If our end goal is to finish and release our project, then it makes sense to pick a technology stack that is well-suited for rapid development.

Node.js has become a popular server-side platform used to power the web servers for many modern web applications. When developing a Node.js application, you will be writing everything in Javascript and you will be able to run your applications on any type of server (Windows, Mac, or Linux). Node.js consists of a large pool of tightly-scoped modules and packages that you can utilize. What is great though is that you only use what you need, keeping your application as lightweight as possible. At the end of the day, side projects should still be enjoyable, and Node.js applications are fun to write. Continue reading “Node.js for side projects” →