My career started in SCO Unix, Solaris and SGI then went to Microsoft for years and finally in the past 5 years I am back to almost exclusively Linux and non-mi

My career started in SCO Unix, Solaris and SGI then went to Microsoft for years and finally in the past 5 years I am back to almost exclusively Linux and non-microsoft tech stacks. So I have been on both sides, and can say that each has their blemishes and beauty, but I greatly prefer non-microsoft stacks overall. Like you, I am limited in some ways because I have kids in school, shared custody of my daughter and also really enjoy where I live, so moving isn't really an option. To make it work I do a ton of remote work and collaborate with people from all over the place. To get started, just release some simple things into the wild on GitHub or pick your platform. You could write your own tutorial on learning node doing different common tasks, like reading files, writing files, network communications, API definition, project structure etc. It would serve two purposes, you learn how to solve real problems via node, and you help others with that same transition. You could even do the tutorial idea but use iojs (https://iojs.org/ https://iojs.org/) to show how it differs etc. People would like that and you would be learning something of value. As for remote work, it is doable especially now. Nice part about Javascript in general is even the diehard Microsoft shops will accept node more readily then they would say Rails or other tech stacks. Honestly, it does and doesn't make sense to me why that is but I have found it to be true overall.