Introduction to why you should learn SQL

This post covers what SQL is, what jobs you can get, how to install it and where to learn it. SQL all the things.

What is SQL?

SQL (pronounced S-Q-L or sequel) is a programming language for creating, reading, updating and deleting records from structured databases. Common databases that respond to SQL queries include MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQL Server, MariaDB, SQLite and AWS Redshift. You can even use SQL to query data from Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets or Airtable!

These storage systems are known as Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) because they store data in table like structures. If the database has rows and columns there’s a good chance you can use the SQL query language to create, read, update and delete (CRUD) records from it. In addition to CRUD, SQL can perform calculations and gather information from multiple tables.

What are the alternatives to SQL?

Instead of writing raw SQL queries it’s common practice for developers to rely on Object Relational Mapping (ORM) for their programming language of choice. Ruby On Rails has Active Record, Laravel has Eloquent and Node.js has Sequelize. These systems are convenience wrappers enabling developers to…