I started with MySQL. I dabbled with SQLite. Then I tried PostgreSQL, and I understood why experienced developers get weirdly passionate about it. JSON columns, full-text search, window functions, CTEs, JSONB indexing—Postgres isn't just a database, it's a Swiss Army data platform. Here's why I switched and never looked back.
I dismissed SQLite as a 'toy database' for years. No server, no configuration, just a file. Then I learned that it runs on every smartphone, every browser, every Mac, every Python install, and handles more read queries per day than all other databases combined. I was very, very wrong about SQLite.
Goodbye in-memory ArrayList, hello real database. Learn to connect Spring Boot to MySQL using MyBatis, write SQL mappers, handle transactions, and stop losing data every time you restart the server.
Before I understood databases, I stored everything in JSON files and localStorage. Then I discovered MySQL, and suddenly data had structure, relationships, and rules. Here's how I went from 'what's a JOIN?' to actually building things that persist.