chore: pin node version using pnpm #1852

[yesudeep]

RATIONALE: Some older systems cannot be updated to use the latest version of system software and nodejs owing to access restrictions.

Pinning the version of node used by the project and allowing PNPM to manage the version of node is a suitable workaround.

ISSUE: #1852

CHANGELOG:

• Update the .npmrc file to set the version of node used by the project.
• Update the CONTRIBUTING.md file to include information about managed node versions.

Checklist (if applicable):

• PR title is following https://www.conventionalcommits.org/en/v1.0.0/
• Tested (manually, unit tested, etc.)
• Docs updated (updated docs or a docs bug required)

[tonybaroneee]

I'm not sure that we want to be in the business of mandating the node version on the user's machine like this, which causes a whole extra node installation which they may not want. There are projects like nvm that are better suited for this sort of thing. We support all versions of node above v20 and probably wouldn't want to stomp over whatever locally installed version someone wishes to use. In your case, I'd see if you could be granted to exception to use other versions of node.