Hey friends 👋
Happy New Year!
This year, we'll keep the momentum goin', so let's jump right into it!
I see many beginners jump straight into databases that add unnecessary complexity to their projects.
It usually starts well, then turns into frustration when shipping to production.
Let’s talk about two common ones.
1️⃣ PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL is powerful. No debate there.
But power comes with trade-offs that beginners often underestimate.
What usually happens:
- Hosting it in production is not straightforward
- Managing it without an ORM like Prisma can be stressful
- Even with tools like pgAdmin, the interface is hard to navigate
- Most hosting providers (Render, Railway, etc.) only offer short free periods
- Once the free tier ends, you either pay or risk losing your data
Yes, Supabase exists.
But that introduces another layer you now need to learn and maintain.
For someone still learning backend basics, this is a lot.
2️⃣ SQLite
SQLite is excellent... locally.
It’s simple, fast and perfect for learning.
But in production?
It falls apart.
- It’s not built for multiple concurrent users
- It doesn’t handle real-world traffic well
- It’s fine for demos and practice projects, not client-facing apps
Use SQLite to learn.
Don’t ship it to production for real users.
What beginners often overlook 👇🏽
As a developer, your job isn’t just to write code.
You evaluate cost, scale and trade-offs before writing a single line.
When you’re building for a client, ask yourself:
- What is their budget?
- Who will maintain this later?
- What happens when the free tier ends?
- Is this tool solving the problem, or adding complexity?
Good developers don’t chase the latest tech.
They make smart, sustainable technical decisions.
That’s what clients actually pay for.
🙋🏾♀️ Wrap-Up
If you’re a beginner, start simple.
There’s no prize for making your life harder than it needs to be.
That’s it for today!
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See you next week! 🚀
Till then, write clean code and stay curious. 🦋
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