What do Dow Jones, Uber, GoDaddy, PayPal, and Netflix have in common? They’re among numerous high-traffic sites relying on top Node.js developers for web and mobile application development in mission-critical contexts. So it follows that Node.js was 2023’s most-used web technology among professionals worldwide and has several appearances in the top 50 projects out of more than 420 million on GitHub as of July 2024.

The popularity of Node.js is intertwined with that of its native language, JavaScript, which has been the top professional programming language for more than 10 years in a row. This is a double-edged sword when hiring Node.js developers: They’re copious, but there’s a vast range of expertise among them. As such, hiring Node.js developers is more challenging than it may first appear.

The wide range of features that Node.js offers further fuels the demand for, and difficulty in, hiring experienced Node.js developers. With so many Node.js use cases, a given expert won’t necessarily be ideal for your specific needs. Your first step is to follow this Node.js developer hiring guide to help sharpen your assessment of candidates and their skills.

What Attributes Distinguish Quality Node.js Developers From Others?

Node.js developers are responsible for data exchanges between servers and users: Skilled ones will ensure that server code appropriately responds to all requests and correctly handles all exceptions and error cases. Node.js developers generally focus on using back-end frameworks, but smaller teams and startups might prefer to hire a full-stack Node.js developer to employ JavaScript in a front-end context using frameworks like React, Vue.js, and Angular.

Whether a Node.js developer is a generalist or a specialist, several skills help distinguish top-tier candidates:

Soft skills

• Communication and Collaboration: How they work with teams outside their own area of expertise—front-end, DevOps, and database teams—is almost as crucial as their direct contributions.
• Drive and Curiosity: They must thrive in a space replete with constantly evolving technologies.
• Accurate Self-assessment: They should be confident that their code will fulfill goals while adhering to business rules.

Technical skills

• Experience with:
  • At least one Node.js framework like Express.js, NestJS, Strapi, or Meteor
  • Separating development and production environments (for teams lacking DevOps specialists)
  • HTML and CSS (to better collaborate with front-end specialists)
• Knowledge of:
  • JavaScript, TypeScript, and Node.js best practices, as well as common libraries and modules
  • The internal features of Node.js, including its asynchronous programming model, event loop, and its package manager, npm.
  • System architecture, including monolithic systems, microservices, containers, and serverless solutions
  • Databases and object-relational mappers (ORM)

Last but not least, to facilitate future development, quality Node.js developers will also properly document their code and create testable and reusable code with automated test routines.

How Can You Identify the Ideal Node.js Developer for You?

It’s crucial to start with the question, “Why am I looking for a Node.js developer?” Answering this will shed light on the specifics needed for their role in your project, whether you want to hire Node.js programmers to enhance your in-house team’s development capacity and skill set, mentor colleagues, lead a digital transformation, or launch an MVP.

Identify the services and tasks you want to integrate into your project.

Clarifying these elements to include in your job description and to reference during Node.js developer interviews will allow potential applicants to self-filter and/or to preview specific documentation and envision how they would structure solutions. This leads to a more efficient interview process, as applicants can discuss background knowledge relevant to your business needs.

Estimate the timeline of your project.

Before you hire a Node.js developer, get clear on the scope of your project. Whether or not your project is underway, the more detail you can provide, the better. Expect different scenarios: optimistic, realistic, and pessimistic. The expertise of your candidate and the clarification of your project requirements will help the development follow a more predictable roadmap.

Consider the stage of your project development.

The earlier the phase a Node.js project is in, the more it will need experienced developers, as they can guide you through the most complex and vital decisions. In this case, focus on explaining your key project goals and shortlist the most experienced candidates.

Projects that are further along may require a Node.js expert for maintenance, debugging, or developing minor features. In such cases, you might get by with a junior-level or mid-level developer, but evaluate how much experience they have with the specific tech stack, frameworks, libraries, tools, architecture, and services used in your project. More complex tasks such as optimization or migration may require a developer with more years of experience. Senior developers come with another advantage in that they are able to lead teams and perform code reviews.

Gauge the level of expertise your project requires in adjacent Node.js developer skills.

Node.js is never used in isolation, so there are many other hard skills to consider:

JavaScript: Originally developed to run within webpages to make them more dynamic and interactive, JavaScript’s capabilities and corresponding design patterns have evolved significantly, even after Node.js started to gain popularity. That’s why every Node.js developer must be proficient not only in JavaScript programming, but also be aware of—and in the habit of conforming to—its current best practices.

TypeScript: Node.js developers often prefer TypeScript over JavaScript because it is a programming language that improves upon JavaScript’s readability and maintainability by providing type-safe syntax, which helps reduce bugs and makes coding easier. TypeScript code is then transpiled (automatically translated) into JavaScript code before being executed. For robust, scalable projects built by collaborative teams, TypeScript is an important Node.js developer skill.

Express.js: Express.js is the most common framework Node.js developers use, and many frameworks are built on top of it. It’s a force multiplier, giving Node.js developers a flexible, well-organized way to write code for everyday tasks such as routing, authentication, and error handling. Express.js also has a massive library of third-party plugins and extensions, making it extremely useful and customizable for any back-end application. Unless your project specifically avoids Express.js, you’ll want a Node.js developer who knows it well.

NestJS: NestJS is a framework for developing server-side Node.js applications written in TypeScript and is usually based on the Express.js framework. Node.js developers who know NestJS well can more easily create powerful GraphQL and REST APIs, use WebSockets, schedule cron jobs, and build robust and modular applications—as long as your project leverages this technology already or if your tech stack is still flexible enough to allow its inclusion.

npm: The Node.js package management tool, npm, is the standard for downloading, installing, and managing code dependencies, typically from the more than 2 million packages. Many Node.js developers prefer an npm alternative called Yarn, which provides all the standard features of npm but is more efficient, consistent, and user-friendly. Good npm or Yarn knowledge is a must-have Node.js developer skill.

JSON: JSON is a well-known and lightweight data format used in almost all JavaScript applications. JSON is human-readable, easy to parse and generate, and ideal for exchanging data—even with non-JavaScript applications. Hire only Node.js programmers who are familiar with JSON’s uses and limitations.

MongoDB: MongoDB is a NoSQL database often used with Node.js applications. Unlike SQL, MySQL, and other relational databases—where developers work with rows of data stored in tables with rigid schemas—MongoDB allows developers to store data as documents (JSON-like objects). This flexible format can be especially beneficial for projects with rapidly changing requirements, so even if you’re prototyping and your tech stack isn’t yet finalized, it may be wise to focus on an applicant’s experience with MongoDB.

React: If you’re looking to hire a full-stack Node.js developer, therefore, you may want them to have React experience. React is a modular JavaScript-based front-end framework often used in conjunction with Node.js because they’re both extremely popular, but the two technologies are independent—a front end could just as easily be built with Angular or Vue.js. In other words, only require React experience if your project already depends on it and your team won’t have at least one dedicated front-end developer.

REST API: REST APIs are web services that conform to the highly scalable REST architecture, which sets standards for using HTTP methods to securely exchange information with a server, usually using JSON in requests and responses. Node.js developers commonly create REST APIs because they are easy to document, understand, and use. Whether working on code to interface with your app’s front end or with other back-end services, the Node.js developer you hire should be familiar with REST API development.

GraphQL: GraphQL is a newer alternative to REST-based architectures. GraphQL is more flexible than REST, allowing API users to issue queries that back-end developers may not have foreseen. GraphQL is also more efficient in some cases because API users specify the exact data to return, which improves network and computing performance by avoiding unnecessary extras. GraphQL-based APIs do have trade-offs, but this is increasingly considered an essential Node.js developer skill; you’ll want candidates with GraphQL experience if there’s any chance your project will support it.

Whether your back end will provide a GraphQL or REST API, your Node.js developer will almost always need to interact with a database. Check whether your project uses database tools such as Mongoose, Sequelize, Prisma, or TypeORM; your candidate’s familiarity with your particular dependency in this area could be a bonus or a hard requirement, depending on how your project uses it.

Finally, knowledge of cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), or Microsoft Azure is often a significant advantage in a Node.js developer candidate, but if your project is locked into a particular cloud provider already, recent experience with that same cloud provider should be a hard requirement. If you’re hiring a Node.js developer to start a project from scratch and deliver a reliable and scalable cloud application, staying flexible on which provider they need experience with will leave you with a larger candidate pool.

How to Write a Node.js Developer Job Description for Your Project

Just as you must identify the high-quality candidates from among all applicants, your customized Node.js developer job description must also stand out from the list of available jobs. Be sure to provide applicants with enough information to get them excited about the job and determine whether they’re a fit:

The Project

• List the main goals of your project and how you plan to achieve them.
• Detail any known current and future development constraints.
• For projects already underway, provide an overview of how it started and how you will define it as “done.”
• If there are multiple projects, give a brief summary of the ones coming up in the pipeline.

The Role

• Note whether they’ll be primarily a back-end specialist or in a full-stack developer role.
• Explain their responsibilities for each of the primary technologies involved.
• Define their relationships within the development team and any adjacent teams.
• Discuss how your team handles project management and list any specific methodologies that are used.
• Clarify if the position is part-time or full-time, and if you are looking for on-site, hybrid, or remote Node.js developers. Specify your time zone and working hours, as some remote workers may not have overlapping hours.

Whether you are building an in-house team or outsourcing, a comprehensive job description is invaluable when hiring highly technical engineers. After a solid Node.js developer job description is posted, the next stage of the hiring process is interviewing candidates.

What Are the Most Important Node.js Developer Interview Questions?

It can be revealing to ask a Node.js developer candidate what mistakes they have made in previous projects, what they learned from them, how those missteps might relate to your specific project, and how their soft and hard skills helped them. Starting with high-level questions is effective for vetting a candidate’s experience; for example:

Have you ever deployed a Node.js application to a production environment? Explain your process.

Answers here will vary widely, but common themes to watch for include cloud services (AWS, GCP, Azure, etc.), Docker containers, dependencies, environment variables, and load balancers. Experienced developers will also be able to elaborate on scaling, fault tolerance, CI/CD process creation, logging, and performance monitoring, as well as the use of toolsand libraries from the Node.js ecosystem.

How would you secure a Node.js application?

Applicants should mention keeping project dependencies current using Yarn’s or npm’s auditing feature. Node.js developers will also know to protect endpoints by authentication and authorization mechanisms (such as JSON Web Tokens) to ensure that no users have unintended data access. Your candidates should know to use salted and hashed password storage, avoiding deprecated algorithms like MD5 and SHA1. Expert developers may also mention extra security layers such as firewalls, Content Security Policy (CSP), rate limiting, and implementing a security-focused development approach, such as a secure software development life cycle (SDLC), to ensure security is integrated into every phase of the development process.

What is the importance of exception handling in a Node.js application?

Expect candidates to know how crucial exception handling is to minimizing the impact of errors—in particular, that unhandled exceptions can mean unnecessary app downtime. On the security and regulatory fronts, it’s especially critical to handle exceptions by providing helpful error messages to API consumers without revealing sensitive information.

What is your experience using Git?

Git, the ubiquitous version control tool, allows developers to track code changes and collaborate without overwriting one another’s work, provided they use it correctly. Developers must be familiar with Git commands such as add, commit, and push. It’s also essential to master the concepts of branching and merging. Candidates must know the importance of clear, concise branch names and the necessity of frequent check-ins with good commit messages. Experienced developers must also master the concepts of rebasing, cherry-picking, and resolving merge conflicts, as well as be able to implement Git hooks and other tools to ensure code quality and security standards.

Have you made any contributions to the community, such as creating or contributing to existing npm packages, creating or maintaining open-source projects, or providing training?

Not all candidates will be active contributors to the Node.js community. But if they are, you can ask for further details, like how many people have benefitted from their training. It’s a bonus if the applicant has participated (especially as a speaker or an organizer) in community events such as hackathons, meetups, or conferences.

In the case of open-source contributions, you can see how many downloads their project has had and how often it’s maintained. Better still, you can get a direct professional opinion about the quality of code the candidate contributes and their communication style in READMEs and issue threads.

In addition to these conceptual, experience-based questions, it’s worth posing some specific, practical technical questions in at least one interview stage.

Why Do Companies Hire Node.js Developers?

Node.js developers work with one of the most common programming languages in the world, JavaScript, and thus can leverage an enormous amount of libraries and community resources in developing back-end solutions. Since JavaScript is the de facto standard for front-end web development, Node.js developers can ensure an app’s front-end and back-end share code for consistency and maintainability.

Although the choice of technology stack always depends on the specific resources and requirements of the project, many companies choose dedicated Node.js developers over specialists in other technologies such as Django, ASP.NET, or Ruby on Rails.

The main factors of this decision often include:

• Performance: The biggest factor involved is most often the underlying language, and the Google V8 engine that powers Node.js execution allows JavaScript code to run quickly and with low latency. For example, PayPal was able to reduce the response time of its app by 35% by switching from Java to Node.js. In most cases, when it comes to Ruby on Rails or Django versus Node.js, the latter outperforms the competition. For ASP.NET versus Node.js, speeds are generally comparable, but there will always be cases in favor of either one.
• Scalability: Node.js can handle a large number of concurrent connections efficiently. Because of its event-driven, nonblocking I/O model, Node.js is easier to scale with than Django and Ruby on Rails.
• Size of developer community: Like its competitors, Node.js has a large developer community that provides a wide range of ready-to-use libraries. For organizations using Node.js, there is a wealth of resources and support available to developers. In terms of the underlying programming languages used, the JavaScript community easily surpasses the others in terms of the number of developers.
• Cross-platform compatibility: Node.js developers can create apps that use various platforms, including Windows, Linux, macOS, and Docker, making it a safe choice for organizations that need to support multiple environments. In this respect, Node.js is on par with ASP.NET, Django, and Ruby on Rails.

If you need to create or improve a web app that involves third-party API integrations, database connections, or scheduled processes, you’re right to seek out Node.js developers: The best Node.js developers can do all of these tasks and much more.

Node.js is an extremely popular, versatile, and robust technology often used for high-traffic and high-performance websites. Thousands of the most well-known companies have hired Node.js developers to create back ends for web applications, SAAS applications, desktop apps, and mobile apps. This wide range of applications shows that Node.js is a universal, powerful technology that can drive all kinds of projects and, in the hands of a skilled Node.js developer, offers better performance than competing technologies, as well as great developer and user experiences.

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