#002: The Week In Stories — Metaverse, Deno, and WebHooks
Tags: webdev, javascript, programming, productivity
Published: 2022-02-06 23:25:37

Hi all!

Welcome to another edition of **{Tech & Dev}** Newsletter. This week is all about the metaverse, remote work, and tech things with movies to watch list (if you haven’t seen them) at the end.

Without further ado, let’s dive into this week’s stories.

## Metaverse jobs are on the rise, but what exactly are they?

The metaverse is coming — or rather, it is already here. The idea of virtual worlds has been around as far back as the 90s, if not earlier through the imaginations of writers and creative thinkers.

While we’re not as dramatically plugged in via a physical cord, all things digital and internet accessible tethers us to our extended worlds. From remote work to school to keeping up with our friends, our interconnectivity is the edge of the metaverse as we are about to know it.

So what exactly is the metaverse? What does it mean for our future? and what can we do to keep ourselves from being obsolete?

Read it here 👉 [**Metaverse jobs are on the rise, but what exactly are they?**](https://medium.com/madhash/metaverse-jobs-are-on-the-rise-but-what-exactly-are-they-afbb0010a9f2)

## Setting up Scalable WebSockets — WebSockets for real-time communication with Node.js

A WebSocket is web protocol that facilitates bi-directional communication between clients and servers. In addition, WebSocket can send messages in either direction in near real-time, unlike HTTP.

But why WebSockets?

You can use WebSockets whenever a low-latency, near real-time connection between the client and the server, is required. Here are a few examples:

- Multiplayer gaming
- Instant messaging applications
- Voice/video media exchange
- Live sports scores

Depending on the usage, it can influence your architecture.

Read it here 👉 [**Setting up Scalable WebSockets — WebSockets for real-time communication with Node.js**](https://layercode.com/community/scalable-websockets)

## Work From Home or Work From Office — Why Not Both?

Working from home is hard. Sure, there are perks like no commute, increased flexibility and the ability to establish better work-life balance. Yet, working from home isn’t for everyone. The practice can erode the clear distinction between work and home life, raise stress levels at home and increase the likelihood of burnout from overworking.

As the world gets into the rhythm of remote work, what have we learned since 2020? Is working from home really the best option? Or is there an alternative solution?

Read it here 👉 [**Work From Home or Work From Office — Why Not Both?**](https://builtin.com/remote-work/work-from-home-hybrid-work)

## What is a webhook and how to use one

At some point, you’ve probably seen the term webhooks written in the documentation or as a field for third-party application integration. It’s not an API but acts sort of like one — well, half of one.

In its simplest form, a webhook is a one-way interface to another application. For a webhook to work, it needs a trigger event that allows it to share data to a set destination.

A webhook can be seen as a type of API that’s event-driven rather than based on requests. Instead of an application making a direct request to the API endpoint, something happens to trigger the webhook. The webhook then triggers the destination API.

Webhooks are often used to bridge third-party applications to another source. It acts as an intermediary between the trigger and the destination source.

Let’s look at [UseCSV](https://layercode.com/usecsv) as an example.

Read it here 👉 [**What is a webhook and how to use one**](https://layercode.com/community/webhooks)

## The Return of Server Side Routing

Return? It never went away. Or at least that is what some smug “told you so” is going to say. But for those who haven’t been living under a rock for the past decade, for better or for worse much of the web has been moving to client-side navigation on their sites.

This movement has been fueled by the adoption of tools that support this sort of architecture. The “modern” JavaScript framework is designed to build applications. Single Page Applications. A name originated from the fact that it does not go back to a backend server to navigate between pages. All routing happens in the browser.

The common thread is to send less JavaScript to the browser seen most recently championed by [0kb of JS frameworks](https://dev.to/this-is-learning/is-0kb-of-javascript-in-your-future-48og). But I want to expand on this as the repercussions are about more than progressive enhancement or lazy hydration. Everything is converging on architectural change that we have not seen the likes of since when SPAs came on the scenes over a decade ago.

We’re putting routing back on the server.

Read it here 👉 [**The Return of Server Side Routing**](https://dev.to/this-is-learning/the-return-of-server-side-routing-b05)

## How To Write Commit Messages That Won’t Tilt Your Teammates

We’ve all used `git` in some form or another. The code versioning system is an industry staple. With over 40 million users worldwide and 190 million repositories on GitHub, `git` is here to stay.

While the concept of `git` is easy - pull your code, do whatever, save, add, commit, and push - there is one thing that no one really talks about and that is the commit message.

The commit message is such a simple concept yet also one that can cause a lot of issues further down the road. Why? Because you can write whatever you want — including highly useless commit messages like `done` and `updated` .

So, how exactly should we be writing `git` commit messages? Here is a quick and opinionated guide on how to write a highly informative `git` commit message that won't tilt your teammates.

Read it here 👉 [**How To Write Commit Messages That Won’t Tilt Your Teammates**](https://www.dottedsquirrel.com/git-commit-messages/)

## 4 steps to becoming an employable self-taught developer

[Developers are in demand](https://www.cyberstates.org/). In the U.S, it’s a $1,989 billion industry and makes up 10% of the national economy. Approximately 3.9 million tech jobs were posted in 2020 with software, programmers, web, and QA being the highest in demand.

I’ve been in the industry for nearly over a decade now and I often get asked the same questions over and over again by devs who are trying to break into the industry. They tend to look something like this:

*Do I need a degree? How do I get a job? How do I get experience when everyone wants 2–3 years in a junior role? I’ve applied to over a hundred companies but no one wants me, what am I doing wrong?*

If these questions look familiar, I hope this guide will help you answer them.

Read it here 👉[ **4 steps to becoming an employable self-taught developer**](https://medium.com/madhash/4-steps-to-becoming-an-employable-self-taught-developer-7a9ed071dddb)

## Deno is the new Node.js — well, sort of…

It’s been three years since Ryan Dahl — the same guy behind Node.js — hatched Deno into the world wide web. This opensource and V8 runtime powered serverside has over [80k stars on GitHub](https://github.com/denoland), [42k followers on Twitter](https://twitter.com/deno_land), and [$4.9 million](https://deno.com/blog/the-deno-company) in seed capital from various investors and Mozilla Corporation for its commercialization.

But what exactly is Deno? How is Deno different from Node.js? and will it take over as the new Node.js?

Read it here 👉 [**Deno is the new Node.js — well, sort of…**](https://medium.com/madhash/deno-is-the-new-node-js-well-sort-of-c02069ccdced)

## How to Use Source Maps in TypeScript Lambda Functions (with Benchmarks)

TypeScript is a popular language for developers of all kinds and it’s made its mark on the serverless space. Most of the major Lambda frameworks now have solid TypeScript support. The days of struggling with webpack configurations are mostly behind us.

Read it here 👉 [**How to Use Source Maps in TypeScript Lambda Functions (with Benchmarks)**](https://dev.to/aws-builders/how-to-use-source-maps-in-typescript-lambda-functions-with-benchmarks-4bo4)

## Caching In Node.js Applications

In the context of server-side applications, caching aims to improve the application’s response times by reusing previously retrieved or computed data. For example, instead of repeating network requests for data that do not change often or at all (such as a list of banks in your country), you could store the data in the cache after the initial request and retrieve it from there in subsequent requests. This makes the subsequent requests for that data an order of magnitude faster leading to improved application performance, decreased costs, and faster transactions.

Caching is a common technique for making your applications faster. It lets you avoid slow operations by reusing previous results. In this article, Ayo Isaiah walks us through the different options for caching in NodeJS applications.

Read it here 👉 [**Caching In Node.js Applications**](https://www.honeybadger.io/blog/nodejs-caching/)

## 10 Best Developer Movies And Series

The criteria to meet this list was pretty straightforward, the movie (or series) had to feature a programmer as the protagonist (or antagonist), not a supporting character like those used to hack the mainframe (looking at you *Mission Impossible)*. Without taking any more of your time, here are my top 10 picks for the best developer movies and series that I’ve seen.

Read it here 👉 [**10 Best Developer Movies And Series**](https://cult.honeypot.io/reads/best-developer-movies-and-series)

That's it for this week. Stay tuned for more awesome tech stories and finds next week.