Great comment.
Along similar lines, I can see GraphQL replacing traditional REST APIs for an increasingly large percent of new projects, and reaching a majority.
Once I learned Cypher and some common graph data modeling constructs, I found I could build more complex applications faster using Neo4j, largely because I found the graph model of my project's domain more intuitive and easier to work with than a relational database model.
Similarly, building and using GraphQL APIs has been a huge productivity win once I figured out how to build GraphQL services.
Of course, when used together, Neo4j and GraphQL have some great synergies, since it's graph all the way down ;-)
It's also worth pointing out that Neo4j has some great GraphQL integrations [1].
Lessons learned for me:
- start with very small datasets (mine was 10k nodes/40k edges/5 types and that still sent it to the moon in many cases)
- get to know the query planner right away
Cypher seems to reward a more deliberate and iterative approach to learning it rather than the ol' grip it and rip it. Once I settled down a bit it came together quite nicely.