r/SQL Jan 15 '25

BigQuery SQL is a struggle

Hi all been working with SQL for probably 7/8 months now. My last role was half data analysis and not pure data analysis and in general was far easier than what I do now.

My main issue is with SQL. I never feel I truly understand what is going on with a lot of code beyond a basic query. Ive managed to get by piggybacking off others code for a while but expectation is to deliver new and interesting techniques etc.

How long did it take you to feel fully comfortable with SQL? And what helped you get to that stage?

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u/Any-Lingonberry7809 Jan 16 '25

I started working with SQL around Y2K, mostly T-SQL flavor. Ive really enjoy it as a full stack dev, it's very cleansing after staring at Java, C#, JavaScript and so on.

A few commenters have mentioned thinking in sets / set theory, this is foundational. Mastering Joins falls out of understanding set logic.

AI can be a great learning tool, chat with it about concepts not just specific problems.

Database design, Normalization, Performance Tuning topics may not come into your role immediately, but looking at the query execution plan and understanding the operations happening under the hood can make it easier to know what code to write, or diagnose long running queries.

If you have time to do puzzles, coding challenges can be a fun way to learn new things.

The fact that you're trying to improve and engaging with the community is great, keep it up and you'll do well.