How We Optimized Concurrency Using Node.js at Skeelo
Article Summary
Skeelo's engineering team achieved a 30% performance boost by rethinking one simple thing: when NOT to use await in Node.js.
The team discovered they were blocking their main thread unnecessarily by awaiting operations that didn't need immediate responses. By strategically using callbacks and letting Node's Event Loop handle non-critical tasks, they dramatically improved their app's responsiveness.
Key Takeaways
- Reduced login function execution time from 500ms to 350ms (30% faster)
- Fire and forget pattern for queue events keeps main thread unblocked
- Node's Event Loop handles background tasks without blocking I/O operations
- Strategic use of .then() and .catch() enables true concurrency
Critical Insight
Not every async operation needs await: identifying which tasks can run in the background cut response times by 30%.
