Mongoose retrieval of info from multiple collections - mongodb

Question

I'm building a resume building app with Mongoose and Express. I set my models up so that education and work experience are both in their own collections. something similar to this:
"degree" : "BA",
"major" : "Econ",
"minor" : "Bus. Admin",
"startDate" : ISODate("2013-12-31T00:00:00Z"),
"endDate" : ISODate("2013-01-01T00:00:00Z"),
"user" : "example#gmail.com",
"created" : ISODate("2013-10-15T19:32:09.357Z"),
"_id" : ObjectId("525d9839ddc8bf7855000001"),
"school" : {
"name" : "university of alabama",
"loc" : "austin, tx"
},
"__v" : 0
I have a reference to the _id of the User model in the "user" value. my User model looks like so:
var schema = mongoose.Schema({
_id: {type: String, lowercase: true, trim: true, validate: validEmail }
, name: { first: String, last: String}
, salt: {type: String, required: true}
, hash: {type: String, required: true}
, edu: [{type: String, ref: 'Education'}] });
When I try to populate the edu section of my User model with information from the education model it's not finding anything.
My query is this:
var query = User.findById(user)
.populate('edu');
So how would I properly allow my User model make references to the education model so that I can send info from both to a view? Could I populate to fields like that?
Any advice would be mega helpful. I'll be scouring the docs, google and trying random things that kind of make sense in the mean time.
Thank you.

Answer 1

You need to use the mongoose.Schema.Types.ObjectId type in order for populate to work properly.
var schema = mongoose.Schema({
_id: {type: String, lowercase: true, trim: true, validate: validEmail }
, name: {first: String, last: String}
, salt: {type: String, required: true}
, hash: {type: String, required: true}
, edu: [{type: mongoose.Schema.Types.ObjectId, ref: 'Education'}] });
side note:
you don't need to define _id as you get that automatically and it should not be an email. Use a separate email field for that.