# Postgres, Mongo, Redis, Neo4j, DuckDB. Know when to use each.

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Brand: frontendmasters.com
Category: newsletter

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## Email content

Hi there,

Most database confusion comes down to one question people don't ask: what are you actually optimizing for? Postgres and MongoDB handle thousands of small reads and writes per second. DuckDB and the columnar formats behind it scan billions of rows for one report. Vector databases find the hundred results that mean something similar to your query, even when no keyword matches. Three different jobs, three different shapes, and no amount of indexing will save you if you pick the wrong one.

Brian Holt works as PM for Postgres at Microsoft, and before that he shipped engineering work at NeonDB, LinkedIn, Reddit, Stripe, and Netflix. That kind of range means he's not loyal to any one tool, he's loyal to picking the right one. In this course, he hands you that same judgment.

Complete Intro to Databases, v2

Get hands-on with very different databases and learn exactly when each one earns its place in your stack.

Brian Holt teaching his new complete intro to Databases course

What you'll walk away with:

Run Postgres, MongoDB, Neo4j, Redis, and DuckDB with confidence

Write SQL queries that go beyond SELECT, including joins, subqueries, and indexes

Build vector search and RAG features using PG Vector and local LLMs

Model graph relationships in Neo4j with Cypher

Choose the right database for any workload you encounter

The thing that makes this course stick is Brian's refusal to pick favorites. He shows you what each database is genuinely good at, where it falls down, and how to think clearly about tradeoffs instead of chasing trends. By the end you're not just someone who knows databases, you're someone who knows which one to reach for! https://frontendmasters.com/courses/databases-v2/

--

Marc Grabanski

CEO, Frontend Masters

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