I always see the programmer sentiment that “people should not be using excel for (project). It should be a database.”
I am guessing by that they mean SQL? I dont know a thing about that except the acronym. The most ive done is a basic linux script and 2 hours of a VBA course. I suck at understanding programming, so id like to understand exactly how one uses a database vs excel. Like whay are the actual steps id have to do?
What you use depends on your requirements. Excel can be just the right thing if it gets the job done, it has some great features, and with some outside help you can do basic versioning and whatever else you may need.
Databases are best for when you need:
Documented Approval processes
Documented versioning
Interfaces with other IT tools
Managing LOTS of various types of data
Metadata
Especially the last two are where a database shines. If you have lots of different types of data/files, then there is no good way to keep them organized in a static file structure. By adding tags to them (like date created, file type, priority, status, customer, project name, etc.) you can later search and filter based on what you are looking for. Need all files related to a certain project with the status “active”? Easy, just tell the database that it should filter based on those tags and boom, done.
SQL is a great place to start if you want to learn about programming. If you are just looking to stay organized, then programs like obsidian are awesome. You can very easily make a database out of obsidian with the free tutorials for plugins like dataview and templater.