Developers' SQL Proficiency
This cluster discusses the widespread lack of SQL proficiency among developers, including web devs and analysts, often due to reliance on ORMs or infrequent use, with surprise, calls for better training, and emphasis on SQL's importance.
Activity Over Time
Top Contributors
Keywords
Sample Comments
Not all devs are proficient in SQL. Its another skill that is required.
Tell me more about these developers that don't know SQL. How is that possible? What line of work is this in?
Speaking as a technical development manager, I can say that many people have far less than adequate exposure to SQL, and that training people to use SQL effectively and safely is all too often a common requirement before letting them loose on the database.There are so many ways people misunderstand and misuse SQL and relational databases, it's honestly staggering.So, I second the OP. Learn SQL, and you'll stand out.
Having worked with journalists, I'm still shocked that don't know SQL. It seems like a perfect fit.
You just described most SQL analysts I've worked with
SQL feels to me like bash or regular expressions. You can do amazing things if you do it full time. But if you do it only a few times per month or year you quickly forget all the subtleties and it gets hard to understand even the stuff you wrote half a year ago. I guess in the end things have become so complex that as a dev you can’t be good at everything. I often wish there were dedicated database guys but if you have one usually that person is sysadmin and won’t help much with coding against
Yeah, I guess devs first will need to learn better SQL before it will start to matter.
Surprised and not surprised. There's a lot of devs that know a little SQL, but I think it's different when you're mostly using ORMs to abstract away the DB. For business users, you pull up a GUI like this or the one that comes with the DB and sometimes spend hours writing queries and exploring the schema, so you get used to these kinds of tools... especially if you have to move between several databases. I'm sure plenty of devs, do as well, but probably a smaller proportion.
you wouldnt believe the amount of developers that don't know how to write sql
Programmers would be better served by learning nothing except SQL instead of their current strategy of trying to learn everything except SQL.