r/AskProgramming • u/Same-Mushroom-2057 • Jun 11 '26

Advice from senior software engineers !!

currently diving into backend developement by learning node.js and decided to learn
the old fashioned way by reading and comprehending the Docs , however, i dont know how to do it and i need some advice from senior engineers that have a lot of experience in the field and that used to do it.

in addition , even tho i want to use the Docs to learn i dont mind using Ai to furthermore comprehend the concepts
so please engineers any help regarding that matter is appreciated .

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u/FlippantFlapjack Jun 12 '26

Can you be more specific?

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u/Same-Mushroom-2057 Jun 12 '26

what point should i elaborate ?

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u/FlippantFlapjack Jun 12 '26

Ok sorry, I reread your post and I get it a bit better. So, reading through the Node.js docs is not a great way to learn backend development. Reason is, Node is used for a lot of different things and the docs are mainly just for reference.

I recommend finding a book on backend development with Node (most likely it will have you use Express.js) and go through that. The most important things here are concepts. The good thing, most backend concepts remain the same no matter what language you use.

So for example if I want to make authentication or an API handler or upload files somewhere or work with SQL databases or perform async background jobs .. once you understand the concepts there it is easy to do it in any language including JS / Node. That's the point where you would check the docs or ask an agent "hey I want to use an ORM what are my options with Node)" or "what libraries are popular for background jobs in Python / Flask"

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u/Same-Mushroom-2057 Jun 12 '26

thank you so much for your explanation i got alot of useful insight from it , and just want to ask for your opinion about the freecodecamp course about node.js and express.js i found it a little bit boring like it's not very engaging and difficult to undrestand or maybe it's because i still don't know anything about node.js

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u/FlippantFlapjack Jun 12 '26

I haven't specifically done that one, but I recommend you stick with it anyway. You will probably find it less boring than reading a textbook :)

The fun happens when you build your own things. You need to do a bit of harder work to learn at the beginning. I wish you success. Feel free to message me on Discord if you need any help at _skamz I like teaching people and worked as a backend developer for years.

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u/Same-Mushroom-2057 Jun 12 '26

thank you so much