Why do beginners struggle with Node.js?

Running heavy synchronous code on the main thread. Node.js is single-threaded, so one blocking operation stops all requests. Understanding which operations are blocking, like synchronous file reads, is a core Node.js skill.

Because committing secrets to git exposes them to anyone with repo access. Use environment variables with dotenv so secrets live in .env files that are gitignored, never in code.

Usually because of unhandled errors. Always handle errors in async code with try/catch or .catch, and add a global error handler. Unhandled errors crash the Node.js process, which is a common beginner mistake.