It's interesting that you mention GraphQL. For me, using Neo4j and GraphQL were similar experiences, in that once I started using them they offered a more intuitive and productive approach over the "standard" tools (RDBMS and REST, respectively).

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].

[1] https://grandstack.io/docs/neo4j-graphql.html