When Should I Use OOP Instead of Scripts in Programming?

OOP has its place, but I’ve found that introducing it too early can complicate things unnecessarily. I usually wait until a project starts getting complex before I adopt OOP principles. For simpler scripts, sticking with procedural programming often works just fine. It's good to have experience with various approaches to know when and where to apply them effectively.

In scenarios like yours, functional programming could be a better fit than OOP. Focus on making your functions side-effect free and using immutable data structures. This helps keep your data transformations clean and reliable. OOP shines when you have complex data states to maintain, but that doesn’t seem necessary for your pipeline work.

I think OOP is just one way to structure code. Depending on the situation, other paradigms like functional programming might actually serve you better. If you find yourself copying and pasting functions, those pieces can be turned into a library. Just keep in mind that if a function needs more than five parameters, it might be time to rethink the design.

In my experience, OOP is often overhyped. I find more success by focusing on procedural, data-driven designs unless I absolutely need OOP, which I usually introduce when managing a lot of parameters or tightly coupled data. OOP is useful, but don’t force it into every piece of code; there are many ways to keep your code organized.

As a senior developer, my advice would be to not overly focus on OOP, especially in your SQL-heavy environment. It's often more beneficial to dedicate your time to unit testing or setting up automated tests. It provides better assurance that your work is correct while also giving you proof of success to show management later. OOP is beneficial in some contexts, but defining all your objects when the overhead is unnecessary might not yield much gain from it.