6. Conclusion: "Visualize the Query"
ORMs are like self-driving cars. Incredibly convenient, but sometimes you need to take the wheel — especially under high traffic.
The difference between developers who use ORMs well and those who don't comes down to this:
- ORM-dependent: Satisfied that
user.getComment() returns the correct data.
- Query-aware: Mentally visualizes what SQL is generated and sent to the DB when that method is called.
"It works" is half the battle. "It scales" is the real goal. Turn on SQL logging right now and hit an API endpoint. If queries are flooding the terminal, there's a performance problem waiting to be fixed — and fixing it can make a meaningful dent in DB costs.