Part of deploying my Rails application on Heroku meant replacing the default SQLite3 database. While SQLite3 is lightweight and great for development, it’s not supported in Heroku’s production environment. Instead, I switched to PostgreSQL, which is one of the most robust and widely-used open-source databases. I was excited about the change because it gave me the chance to get hands-on experience with a more powerful database with my DBMS of choice in a real-world scenario, and TablePlus is proving to fit the bill nicely alongside PostgreSQL.
In the process of learning PostgreSQL, I made a few mistakes along the way, like accidentally dropping a table before fully understanding the consequences—trust me, that can cause a lot of issues! Definitely a 0/10, do not recommend moment. But through those challenges, I learned a lot, including how to perform regular backups using pg_dump to ensure my data is safe. I’ve also become more comfortable with the command line and PostgreSQL’s interactive shell (psql), discovering useful commands for database management. It’s been a great learning experience, and I feel like I’m gaining valuable skills that will be useful in any real-world development setting.