diff --git a/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md b/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
index 7b004801207054..b8f6faae0f1971 100644
--- a/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
+++ b/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ Contributors guide: https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md
 ##### Checklist
 <!-- Remove items that do not apply. For completed items, change [ ] to [x]. -->
 
-- [ ] `make -j4 test` (UNIX), or `vcbuild test nosign` (Windows) passes
+- [ ] `make -j test` (UNIX), or `vcbuild test nosign` (Windows) passes
 - [ ] tests and/or benchmarks are included
 - [ ] documentation is changed or added
 - [ ] commit message follows commit guidelines
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 4c93bb6fc415f2..ff4b82cdef1986 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ to see how they should be structured can also help.
 To run the tests on Unix / OS X:
 
 ```text
-$ ./configure && make -j8 test
+$ ./configure && make -j test
 ```
 
 Windows:
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ You can run tests directly with node:
 $ ./node ./test/parallel/test-stream2-transform.js
 ```
 
-Remember to recompile with `make -j8` in between test runs if you change
+Remember to recompile with `make -j` in between test runs if you change
 core modules.
 
 ### Step 6: Push
diff --git a/doc/guides/building-node-with-ninja.md b/doc/guides/building-node-with-ninja.md
index a9a3a922ed6820..1f2fd7fda91581 100644
--- a/doc/guides/building-node-with-ninja.md
+++ b/doc/guides/building-node-with-ninja.md
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ ninja: Entering directory `out/Release`
 
 The bottom line will change while building, showing the progress as `[finished/total]` build steps.
 This is useful output that `make` does not produce and is one of the benefits of using Ninja.
-Also, Ninja will likely compile much faster than even `make -j8` (or `-j<number of processor threads on your machine>`).
+Also, Ninja will likely compile much faster than even `make -j` (or `-j<number of processor threads on your machine>`).
 
 ## Considerations
 
diff --git a/doc/onboarding-extras.md b/doc/onboarding-extras.md
index 279bb386381755..a0241d132b38f2 100644
--- a/doc/onboarding-extras.md
+++ b/doc/onboarding-extras.md
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ Please use these when possible / appropriate
   * major vs. everything else: run last versions tests against this version, if they pass, **probably** minor or patch
   * A breaking change helper ([full source](https://gist.github.com/chrisdickinson/ba532fa0e4e243fb7b44)):
   ```sh
-  git checkout $(git show -s --pretty='%T' $(git show-ref -d $(git describe --abbrev=0) | tail -n1 | awk '{print $1}')) -- test; make -j8 test
+  git checkout $(git show -s --pretty='%T' $(git show-ref -d $(git describe --abbrev=0) | tail -n1 | awk '{print $1}')) -- test; make -j test
   ```
 
 
diff --git a/doc/onboarding.md b/doc/onboarding.md
index 2effe6051e9925..ef5a9c4dc9b1d3 100644
--- a/doc/onboarding.md
+++ b/doc/onboarding.md
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ Landing a PR
   * If `git am` fails, see [the relevant section of the Onboarding Extras doc](./onboarding-extras.md#if-git-am-fails).
 * `git rebase -i upstream/master`
 * squash into logical commits if necessary
-* `./configure && make -j8 test` (`-j8` builds node in parallel with 8 threads. adjust to the number of cores (or processor-level threads) your processor has (or slightly more) for best results.)
+* `./configure && make -j test` (`-j` sets the number of jobs that run simultaneously for the make command. To adjust the number of simultaneous jobs, specify a number immediately after '-j' (e.g., '-j8' for 8 jobs, '-j4' for 4 simultaneous jobs)
 * Amend the commit description
   * commits should follow `subsystem[,subsystem]: small description\n\nbig description\n\n<metadata>`
   * first line 50 columns, all others 72