What I Learned After Completing a MySQL Course as a Beginner Developer

Samson Thuo — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 11:08:31 +0000

My name is Samson, and I’m currently learning backend development.
When I started, one of the hardest things for me to understand was databases. I spent a lot of time on YouTube, but honestly, most tutorials left me more confused than before. Some were too fast, others skipped important steps, and I never really felt confident.
Everything started to change when I found Scrimba.
After completing their MySQL course, I finally understand how databases work and how they are used in real applications.
If you're starting out, you can check it here: [https://scrimba.com/?via=community]

The Turning Point for Me

Before this course, SQL just looked like randomn commands I had to memorize.
But during the course, something clicked.
Instead of just copying code, I started understanding:

Why we create tables
How data is structured
How backend systems actually use databases

That shift from confusion to understanding made a huge difference for me.

What I Learned

Tables, Rows, and Columns

At first, this sounded basic—but it’s everything.
Now I understand that a database is just structured data.

CRUD Operations (This Was Huge)

This is where things started feeling real.

Example I practiced:

INSERT INTO users (name, email)
VALUES ('Samson', 'samson@email.com');

SELECT * FROM users;

This is exactly how apps store and retrieve data.

Queries Finally Made Sense

Before, I didn’t understand what queries were doing.
Now I can read something like:

SELECT name FROM users WHERE id = 1;
And actually understand it.

Understanding Relationships

This part was challenging, but also very important.
I learned how tables connect using:

Primary keys
Foreign keys

This is what allows real-world systems to work, like:

Users and their orders
Posts and comments

What I Struggled With Before

To be honest:

I didn’t understand how databases connect to backend code
SQL felt like something to cram, not understand
Tutorials didn’t explain the “why”

I used to think maybe backend wasn’t for me.

What Made Scrimba Different

What helped me most was:

Interactive learning (not just watching)
Clear explanations
Practicing while learning

Instead of just watching, I was doing.
That made all the difference.

What I’m Learning Next

Right now, I’m moving into:

Node.js
Building APIs
Connecting MySQL to backend systems

Final Thoughts

If you're struggling like I was, don’t give up.
Sometimes you just need the right learning approach.
Things will eventually click.
And if you're curious, you can check out Scrimba here: [https://scrimba.com/?via=community]

Thanks for reading .

DEV Community: Samson Thuo