I have been working at MongoDB for nearly 5 years now. That’s also roughly how long I’ve been doing my dev side projects. It’s no coincidence that MongoDB and non-relational databases in general are the default tool I reach for when I need a database for a personal project. I have written and shipped multiple apps that use non-relational databases.
My wife has been a software developer for a lot longer than that. She also uses MongoDB in some of her personal projects, but she comes from a long relational DB background. Her default brain reaches for relational. She keeps trying to convince me to use SQL for things that I am convinced don’t need SQL.
At the same time, I keep catching her ranting about complicated joins and groupings in some of her projects that still use SQL. They’re typically problems I just don’t have in my non-relational world.
My takeaways:
- Old habits are hard to break. She can’t quit her SQL even though it’s bad for her 😉
- If I can go the rest of my career without ever having to use a relational DB, I will be a happy human 😂