7 Database Design Mistakes to Avoid (With Solutions)

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Designing a database is an important part of implementing a feature or creating a new application (assuming you need to store data).

There are many different ways data can be stored. There are some limitations put in by the database, but there are a lot of different techniques that can still be used.

This can mean there are some design concepts that are used that I believe should be avoided.

I’ve listed these “database design mistakes” in this video. I’ve explained what they are, why it’s not a good idea to use them, and what the solution should be instead.

Some of them you may disagree with, and some of them you may have seen in live production systems that work well. That’s OK. This video explains the reasons why it’s not usually a good idea and what the alternatives are.

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:25 Mistake 1 - business field as primary key
02:18 Mistake 2 - storing redundant data
03:24 Mistake 3 - spaces or quotes in table names
04:49 Mistake 4 - poor or no referential integrity
06:11 Mistake 5 - multiple pieces of information in a single field
07:30 Mistake 6 - storing optional types of data in different columns
09:04 Mistake 7 - using the wrong data types and sizes