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Build a Personal Library API with Node.js, Express and MongoDB

By Amanda Ene Adoyi. Updated Wed Sep 24 2025

The principle that guides the Mastering Backend community is simple: You can only ever really make progress by building real-world applications which help to solve real-world problems. If you’re looking to build an impressive portfolio, it is crucial that you do not underestimate any APIs that are well-built. A mistake a lot of new backend devs make when building portfolio projects is pressure themselves into building spectacular projects that either become too complicated to finish alone, or don’t address real-world pain points. I would advise that you repeat a mantra and sing it to yourself as you begin this project – Keep it Simple, Stupid. Simple is best, because it allows you address several issues actual users may face and gives your logic sufficient room for expansion without overcomplicating things.

That said, while the project you’ll build here may not address every problem a user would face, it introduces key practices such as documentation and authentication that would help improve your craft in backend development. You’ll be taken on a step by step guide on how to build a personal library API using Node.js, Express and MongoDB.

These are some important concepts and tools you should be familiar with to build this project:

Build a Personal Library API with Node.js, Express and MongoDB

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Atomic Primitives in Rust: You don't need a mutex

By Ugochukwu Chizaram Omumusinachi. Updated Tue Sep 16 2025
Atomic Primitives in Rust: You don't need a mutex

Picture this: you're building a smart building management system for a high-rise office complex. Temperature sensors, smoke detectors, and CO2 monitors are scattered throughout every floor, constantly feeding data to your central Rust application. 

FastAPI Authentication Fundamentals

By Jane Nkwor. Updated Wed Sep 03 2025
FastAPI Authentication Fundamentals

Building secure APIs is essential. Whether you're protecting user data, securing business logic, or managing access to premium features. In this guide, we’ll walk through three core ways to authenticate users.

PromptCraft: Mini AI Prompt Generator App Spring AI and Spring Boot

By Ayush Shrivastava. Updated Thu Aug 28 2025
PromptCraft: Mini AI Prompt Generator App Spring AI and Spring Boot

Spring Boot is a popular Java framework that makes it easy to build and run applications quickly. It provides ready-to-use features so you can focus on writing code instead of setting up everything from scratch. With Spring Boot, you can create web apps, APIs, and services in less time.

How to Optimize Your LinkedIn as a Backend Developer

By Cynthia Osarumwense Udoh. Updated Wed Aug 27 2025
How to Optimize Your LinkedIn as a Backend Developer

You don’t get hired for your LinkedIn; you get hired through it. For backend developers, LinkedIn is both an SEO surface and a trust ledger. This guide gives you an end-to-end system to turn your profile, activity, and outreach into a predictable interview engine.

Proper Error Handling for your Node.js Application

By Amanda Ene Adoyi. Updated Fri Aug 22 2025
Proper Error Handling for your Node.js Application

As a developer you kind of feel-in-the-dark in a situation where you’re forced to deal with a codebase that is the product of bad error handling practices. To avoid that frustration, you need a solid approach to managing errors in your Node applications.

Rust Doesn’t Need a Garbage Collector — Here’s Why

By Ugochukwu Chizaram Omumusinachi. Updated Mon Aug 11 2025
Rust Doesn’t Need a Garbage Collector — Here’s Why

If you're coming from a language like Python or JavaScript, you're used to not worrying about memory. When you're done with a value, the garbage collector quietly comes in and frees that memory for you. It’s automatic, and most of the time, it just works.

Python Packages Every Developer Must Know(Especially Beginners)

If you're just getting started with Python, you're probably wondering which libraries are essential and what problems they solve. I recently began my Python journey and compiled this list of must-know Python packages. Whether you're into web development, data science, automation, or building APIs, these tools will come in handy.

Handling forms and file uploads with FastAPI

By Jane Nkwor. Updated Wed Jul 30 2025
Handling forms and file uploads with FastAPI

Handling forms and file uploads is a common requirement in many APIs, especially in applications like resume builders, image galleries, and document submission platforms. In this guide, we’ll walk through how to handle both form data and file uploads in FastAPI.