Ask HN: Experienced JavaScript programmers, what are your recommendations?

I dumped node.js on the server site like a hot potato. At the time (2014), it didn't scale well and was quite porous dealing with stuff you'd get free in a framework like django (like db-backed form validation).

But, I can't say I regret learning JS. You won't be able to do the job developing websites if you can't wrangle it. It's so ubiquitous, despite my efforts to keep a node-free codebase, I still had to cave in. Even if it's just getting your foot in the door using SCSS. Or wiring in that jQuery plugin.

Whether it's situational awareness or dealing with webpack configurations, getting that last 10% cinched is going to require understanding what's going on.

What I think people need to know about JS is that they shouldn't just drink the Kool Aid because everyone else seems to.

The problem is not the language or even the ecosystem, but the jobs. Most JS gigs are not interesting and not technically challenging. For all the noise the community makes about us being 'engineers', the overwhelming bulk of JS jobs today are just the CSS/HTML tweaking roles of five years ago implemented in 2017 technology.

Occasionally you will get to write some Node server code. These apps will usually be thin proxies over 'real' API web services and the tickets will generally be about marshalling data, waiting for asynchronous responses and handling authentication.

I have been lucky enough to do better: first an adtech R&D role (mixed bag - I hate adtech as an industry, and I loathed our rapacious attitude to people's personal data, but I had lots of autonomy and got to manage my own feasibility studies); the second was a soujourn into web VR (not as technically deep as it sounds - you might get to write a shader or two; that's it).

JavaScript development is good if you want to make decent money doing something easy, and never worry about unemployment. It is not good if you want anything else. It is not a promising field if you want programmatic challenges; if you want to build in a niche of domain-specific knowledge; if you don't like relearning basic tools because the basics keep being reinvented; if you want to be respected as more than a pixel wrangler (you get a LOT of direct requests from senior managers to swap things around etc.); or if you want to keep your options open.

That last point is important. It is quite hard to move out of front end development. The field still has a poor repuation, and because the work is generally basic employers tend to be a little sceptical of your skills. Not insuperable but definitely a strike against JS as a specialism.

I really regret not getting out of JS when I could.

It's like [Obama's suits][1]. JS gives you all these little decisions you _can_ make, which wear you down. As soon as you stop caring and decide to "just pick one", you'll generally be fine.

[1]: https://www.fastcompany.com/3026265/always-wear-the-same-sui...