Hey everyone! I'm currently working on a CRM project with some friends from college. We've got the user interface mostly figured out, but we're a bit lost when it comes to choosing the right database. I don't have much experience with databases and was thinking about using MySQL. Do you think that's a good option? We're primarily storing lead data, along with some documents and images, so any advice would be super helpful!
4 Answers
Have you thought about using Google Sheets and their API? It's an interesting alternative for handling data without the complexity of traditional databases.
MySQL is definitely a great pick for a college-level CRM project! It offers reliable relational storage for structured data like leads and contacts. A good tip is to store files like documents and images externally, and just keep their paths or URLs in your MySQL tables. This helps avoid performance hits from using BLOBs and makes your schema easier to manage. If the data gets a bit more complicated later on, MySQL can handle normalization, or you could even explore PostgreSQL for more advanced features if necessary.
That's really useful info! So just to clarify, storing files externally really keeps things running smoothly?
Honestly, it depends on what you need. MySQL works fine for simple projects. If you need something more real-time or serverless later on, you have other options to explore. But for now, MySQL should work just fine for your needs.
You can go with whatever you and your team feel comfortable using! Since this is more of a learning project, MySQL is a solid default choice for a starter database engine. It's reliable and widely used.
Really? That sounds intriguing! Can you share more about why you think it would work?