✍️ @Kendall's Blog : Learning PostgreSQL on the Fly: Building and Integrating Tables, Models, and Migrations Using Knex

[ktrudickm]

• 📰 Dec 8th have rough draft in
  • Mentor reviews by 12/15
• Dec 15th-20th turn in final draft

📋 Title: Learning PostgreSQL on the Fly: Building and Integrating Tables, Models, and Migrations Using Knex

Requirements

Questions to consider:

• Who’s reading this? Where are they in your dev journey? What do they need to know before they can dive into this story?
  Developers that are beginners to using/working with Postgres, those who are interested in working on Open Source projects but feel intimidated, those looking to learn new technologies but feel overwhelmed or daunted by it.
• If people could leave with just one action, what would it be?
  It's good to put yourself in challenging situations, as sometimes that's the best way to learn and grow. Also, most things aren't as difficult as they seem. Sometimes we stop ourselves from taking on something new because we think it will be too difficult or hard, but in reality it never is that bad.
• Were there surprises or alternative problem solving you want to give a heads up to?
  My surprise laid in the fact that the task I completed was not as difficult as I anticipated and I learned a great deal from completing it. It gave me the confidence moving forward knowing that if I want to learn a new technology, it is not so bad and it is helpful to learn by doing.

Outline

1. Introduction

• Brief overview of the open source project and the specific issue/task undertaken.
• Mention the unfamiliarity with PostgreSQL and the need to learn on the go.

2. Getting Started with PostgreSQL

• Experience delving into PostgreSQL documentation for the first time.
• Discuss initial challenges and key takeaways from the documentation.

3. Navigating the Codebase

• Exploring the existing codebase to understand the context of the project.
• How studying other tables in the codebase helped in guiding the process.

4. Utilizing Knex for Database Migrations

• Introduction to Knex and its role in managing database migrations.
• Learning how to set up and use Knex to create tables and schema.

5. Collaboration and Feedback

• The importance of collaboration in an open source environment.
• Working alongside other developers, seeking feedback on pull requests.
• It's OK to ask for help!

6. Lessons for First-Time Contributors

• Encouraging other first-time contributors with practical advice.
• Sharing insights gained from the learning process.

7. Conclusion

• Sometimes the best growth and learning comes from throwing yourself in unfamiliar waters.
• Most things are not as difficult as we make them out to be.
• Reinforcing the importance of continuous learning and adaptability in open source contributions.

8. References

• Postgres documentation
• Knex documentation
• Amplify github repo

📰 Blog Rough draft: Format into a google doc

Questions to answer across draft

• Why is this helpful for a reader?
• What problem does this help them solve?
• What kind of experience should the reader have or that you will provide so they’re up to speed
• What larger problem is this solving?
• Were there other ways of solving this problem - what made you choose the one that you did?
• What were the positive tradeoffs? (Did it save time? Save hours? Was more secure?)
• What is the best way to present the content (i.e. code snippets, graphics) ?
• What additional resources can they provide the reader if they want more information?
• Is there a call to action?

To do: when you complete the requirements, add "draft ready" label on your issue

• intro paragraph
• context of Amplify
• paragraph on problem
• paragrph compare your solution
• paragraph impact your solution
• Less than 600 words
• Drop link to your google doc (with permissions for edits) in review issue

[unnamedrd]

Thanks @ktrudickm . When you get a chance update the ticket with your blog topic. I'm happy to take a look if you want

[ktrudickm]

@unnamedrd Where/how do I update the ticket with my topic? I was thinking of doing something along the lines of: Building a database table, model, and schema in Postgres without any prior Postgres experience.

Here is the title I was thinking of:
"Learning PostgreSQL on the Fly: Building Tables, Models, and Migrations for an Open Source App"

[ktrudickm]

@unnamedrd Outline is ready! I am not sure how to add a new label.

[unnamedrd]

Thanks! @ktrudickm You can add a label by selecting the settings gear in the label section in the right panel of this screen, and select whichever one you want. In this case "outline"

[ktrudickm]

Okay thanks @unnamedrd! I'm not sure why, but the gear is not showing up for me.

[ktrudickm]

@unnamedrd @Alex-is-Gonzalez Here is my rough draft! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KQ7V3yNg99XKal-f5J39BAh1-RPgtZ0hpyMt0oh8704/edit?usp=sharing

Feel free to add any feedback 😄

I also don't have the ability to add/change tags for this so if someone could change this to draft-ready that would be super helpful!

[ktrudickm]

@Alex-is-Gonzalez @unnamedrd Also, here is the completed medium post: https://medium.com/@ktrudickm/learning-postgresql-on-the-fly-building-and-integrating-tables-models-and-migrations-using-knex-07c4c942f062

[unnamedrd]

@ktrudickm not sure if you got a notification but there are some edits in there for you. :-)

[ktrudickm]

@unnamedrd thank you for the edits! I went ahead and revised the file. Here is the link to the Medium post: https://medium.com/@ktrudickm/learning-postgresql-on-the-fly-building-and-integrating-tables-models-and-migrations-using-knex-07c4c942f062