Welcome to Hey Node

Welcome to Hey Node. I’m Jon, the lead instructor on our first tutorial series on data brokering. As a writer in the tech industry, I get the privilege of turning ideas into tutorials. Flipping the switch on Hey Node has meant doing just that.

Now that this first series is under my belt, the thing I’m most proud of (aside from surviving), is realizing how much I learned in order to properly teach concepts in Node.js. It’s the perfect metaphor for an industry that’s basically all about learning. And now it’s my full time job. Cool.

Contributing to open source has been key to becoming a developer and the ongoing learning that entails. I started in open source by contributing to Botkit, which exposed me to a ton of other peoples’ code, as well as their ideas. I’ve practiced a lot, too, and thought about things that I want to exist before building them.

Learning through open source contribution also helps me to think like a beginner and that’s had a direct impact on how I teach. As I learn something new, I’m continually asking myself, “How would this look to a beginner? What’s important? What would I need to know first before I master this particular concept?”

These questions definitely help me take aim when mastering a subject. Since Node.js is changing every year, it’s also good to never forget I’m aiming at a moving target.

It helps that my colleagues have over ten years experience teaching Drupal. Amber and Joe have been essential in helping me figure out how to break down ideas. Like Drupalize.Me, Hey Node is about building reference materials so people can come back and not just learn coding by numbers, but grok abstract concepts. My colleagues have helped me to slow down and see what the broader themes are within this project — what someone could take from my specific lesson and apply to something they need to do in their own work.

We chose data brokering as the focus for our opening series, because that’s what the community said they wanted to learn. It’s something people stumble into — something they may not realize they’re doing until they’re actually doing it. In this first series, we introduce the problem and explain different ways to solve that problem. Then we show what the benefits of those different solutions are.

Our goal is to teach not only what data brokering options exist, but what a good toolkit looks like to solve various problems. While the challenges surrounding data brokering can be complex, the solutions can be fairly elegant and simple, once you’re able to zoom out, analyze the problem, and know what your options are.

So again — welcome to Hey Node! We hope you find the tutorials we’ve released so far useful. We’ll be adding more topics to Data Brokering with Node.js including using proxy APIs, streaming, message queues — as well as practical advice on setting up your local Node.js development environment. We’re glad you’re here and hope you’ll make us part of your journey into Node.js.