Neo4j is a graph database that treats data relationships as first-class entities, providing connectedness to the data, which was not achievable with traditional relational databases. The author, who initially used RDBMS for their project, discovered Neo4j's capabilities and realized that data connectedness is key to unlocking real value in applications. This perspective shift has helped the author reconnect with building something tangible and worthwhile, leading them to create an online course, "NoSQL: Neo4j and Cypher", to share this knowledge with others. The course covers both beginner and intermediate levels, focusing on practical skills for working with connected data using Neo4j's Cypher language.