Question from someone who is not trained in computer sciences

[Judith Lacoste <jlacoste@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

I think PostgreSQL is the solution for my needs, but I am not a programmer/coder.  If I can confirm PostgreSQL does what I need, I will have to hire someone to assist, I am willing to give the effort to learn myself but it may be difficult, my specialities are biology and microscopy.  Or perhaps the use of PostgreSQL is restricted to people highly trained in computer sciences?

I have been looking around a lot through the PostgreSQL website, searching the archives, and I even contacted PostgreSQL people locally but I still don’t have a clear answer to my first question.  So I am posting it here with the hope to move on with PostgreSQL, or abandon the project.

I plan to install the database on a server in the office. Me and my four colleagues will occasionally connect to this database when we are working in other locations (usually hospitals or universities). In such remote locations, we often do not have internet/network, yet we still need to access the database.  Currently, we use a system where a copy of the database lives on each of our laptops.  We can access all the information in the database despite being offline.  This local copy of the database is synchronized with the server once network becomes available again. 

My question is whether or not such set up is possible with PostgreSQL?  

Why am I interested in PostrgreSQL?  First, my work has made me aware of how precious open source tools are.  Our main tools for data analysis are open source.  Commercial equivalents are black boxes which we try to avoid in the name of science reproducibility and transparency.  Secondly, the commercial software we are currently using is apparently based on PostgreSQL, so I am hoping that using PostgreSQL will make migration less painful. 

Thank you in advance,

Judith