Exploring Node.js with Mark Hinkle, Executive Director of the Node.js Foundation

Jan 10th, 2018 12:30pm by Swapnil Bhartiya

Exploring Node.js With Mark Hinkle, Executive Director Of The Node.js Foundation

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Even though JavaScript has been around for more than 20 years, it’s becoming the first-class citizen for developing enterprise applications. There is a huge developer community behind this technology.

What makes things even more interesting is that, with Node.js, JavaScript can run on server, so developers can write applications that run end-to-end in JavaScript. Node.js is very well suited for service applications because server applications are increasingly becoming single function event-driven microservices.

That’s not all. “Node.js is the number one workload across a serverless infrastructure out there. It was the first solution that ran on Amazon Lambda, Google functions. It’s the largest workload that runs on an IBM Bluemix,” said Mark Hinkle, the executive director of the Node.js Foundation, speaking with us in an interview for our latest episode of The New Stack Makers podcast, recorded at KubeCon 2017 last month in Austin.

When a technology becomes this popular, the first casualty is the talent pool for the older technologies. As a result, there is a need for certified developers to stay updated. To address this demand, the Node.js Foundation is working on a certification program so that businesses can hire developers with confidence that they have at least minimum development Node.js capabilities.

In This Edition:

0:56: Where does Node.js fit in as the market dynamics are changing?
3:16: What are the challenges Hinkle is seeing, put into the context of the Node.js roadmap?
6:05: Exploring the Node.js certification and developer programs available.
8:50 What was the primary driver behind the Node.js certification program?
12:16: The continuing accessibility of tools for developers to teach themselves skills that are relevant today.
14:05: “Cross-pollination,” of the available open source training and certification projects.

The Linux Foundation, which sponsors the Node.js Foundation as a project, is a sponsor of The New Stack.

Swapnil is a journalist and writer who has been covering Linux & Open Source for 10 years. He is also a science fiction writer whose stories have been broadcast on Indian radio and published in leading Indian magazines.