self taught dev here too. I have never used make files, but pretty sure I'm using NodeJs in a similar role. I use it to automate all my "scripting", including deploying of my SaaS product to the cloud and running unit tests.
PS: I do my primary development on windows, but my production environment is ubuntu. node apps "just work" on both environments. truely cross platform.
If it sounds interesting, check out https://www.npmjs.com/package/shelljs
PS: I do my primary development on windows, but my production environment is ubuntu. node apps "just work" on both environments. truely cross platform.