Press "Enter" to skip to content

Postgres Tooling: Rant and Recommendations

Ryan Booz is not pleased with the current state of tooling for Postgres:

/* Begin Brief Soapbox*/
Honestly, this is by far one of my biggest grips about Open Source software now that I’m older, busier, and don’t want to spin my wheels trying to make something simple work. When the tools make it hard to dig in and work effectively with the database, most developers and shops will default to code-first/ORM only development. In nearly 20 years of software development and leading multiple teams, I’m still surprised how little most developers really care about effectively using a database of any kind. During most interviews only about 30% of applicants can ever answer a few basic SQL questions. And now I think I’m starting to understand why. Most of them have been relegated to an Open Source world with Open Source tooling when it comes to SQL. Yes, it’s cheap and allows projects to spin up quickly, but once those students get past their little pizza ordering app from CompSci 402, they’ll be lost in the real world.
/* End Brief Soapbox */

I completely agree with the tooling point. Having worked with Postgres and MySQL a little bit makes me appreciate Management Studio (for all its flaws) all the more. If you want Azure Data Studio to support Postgres, there’s a GitHub issue that you can vote up.