It started innocently enough, a simple SQL query to fetch user data. But then the server got a little too big, and the queries got a little too slow. And then, in the blink of an eye, the whole system went ka-BOOM!
A year of database crashes, of tables that refused to align, of indexes that got lost in the sauce. It's a miracle anyone got anything done at all.
But we persevered, dear reader. We fought through the errors, the timeouts, and the endless loops of 'Could not connect to database server'. And in the end, we emerged with... well, not exactly a functioning database, but at least a good story to tell.