(UPDATED 9/2022) - I was "married" to Relational Databases for many years... and it was a good "relationship" full of love and productivity - but SOMETHING WAS MISSING! Let me backtrack. In college, I got a hint of the "pre-relational database" days... Mercifully, that was largely before my time, but - primarily through a class - I got a taste of what the world was like before relational databases. It's an understatement to say: YUCK! Gratitude for the power and convenience of Relational Databases and SQL - and relief at having narrowly averted life before it! - made me an instant mega-fan of that technology. And for many years I held various jobs that, directly or indirectly, made use of MySQL and other relational databases - whether as a Database Administrator, Full-Stack Developer, Data Scientist, CTO or various other roles. But there were thorns in the otherwise happy relationship The root cause: THE REAL WORLD DOES NOT REALLY RESEMBLE THE