5 Advantages Developers Gain by Learning SQL

We live in a data-driven world. Everything that we do online creates data. Every business transaction creates data: cash register sales, inventory changes, and upcoming shipments. According to Forbes, 90% of the data in the world was created in the last two years. All of this data provides invaluable information for businesses. Over 97% of business organizations are investing in data. 

SQL (Structured Query Language) is a programming language used to manage data in databases. SQL is the second-most popular programming language, and it is used by 50% of all developers. It has been the primary language of digital databases since the 1970s. 

SQL is the most common method of accessing the immense amount of essential data stored in databases. Given how valuable this data has become to companies, people who know how to use SQL to access it has a considerable advantage in the job market. 

In this article, we’ll explore the most significant advantages that you can gain by learning SQL, including:

• Increased marketability as a developer
• Countless technological uses
• Foundational knowledge for learning other programming languages
• Secure future for SQL
• Powerful features of SQL

Learning SQL Increases Your Marketability as a Developer

SQL as a job skill is relevant in every industry and one of the foundations of a career in data science: a hot career path Harvard named “the most promising career of the 21st century.” Learning SQL is recommended for anyone who wants to work in either coding or data. Some job positions that require SQL training are SQL Developer, Software Engineer, Data Scientist, Data Analyst, Database Administrator, and Big Data Architect. 

All of these jobs offer lucrative salaries and show excellent growth potential. Data Scientists make an average salary of $121,000. A Software Engineer earns an average salary of $109,000. The average annual salary for an SQL Developer is $91,000. A Database Administrator makes an average salary of $98,000 a year. These SQL salaries are around or more than double the U.S. national average.

For a lot of people, the idea of learning to code can be intimidating. But there is no need to be intimidated: anyone can learn SQL, and it’s especially accessible for people who already have some programming experience. For example, learning Python first can give you a headstart on learning SQL and a jumpstart on a lucrative career as a data scientist. 

SQL Has Countless Technological Uses

SQL is the primary programming language for retrieving data from or interfacing databases. Knowledge of SQL is critical for anyone who wants to interact with data professionally. 

Two of the primary uses for SQL include:

• Numerous types of databases, including Microsoft SQL, MySQL, and PostgreSQL. These databases support innumerable companies of various sizes: Microsoft SQL alone is used by over 200,000 companies worldwide. 
• SQL can also be found in other types of technology, including iPhones and Androids. For example, SQLite is used on every smartphone, in every browser, on Skype calls, music streaming services, and some televisions. 
• Unlike other languages, SQL can be used for non-programming purposes: such as marketers or finance workers querying for data.

With such widespread usage, developers who learn SQL will remain in demand for decades.

Mastery of SQL Makes it Easy to Learn Other Languages

Learning SQL is an excellent introduction to coding. The skills you’ll learn with SQL can be translated into many different career fields and offer a foundation for understanding many other types of programming languages. Many developers discover that learning SQL makes learning languages like C++, JavaScript, and Java much more accessible.

There are several reasons why SQL makes it so much easier for workers to learn other programming languages, including:

• SQL’s structure offers a straightforward framework for data analysis
• SQL is flexible and can be optimized by developers to run any query
• SQL language can be adapted and extended with new calculations

SQL Has a Secure Future

Unlike many other programming languages, SQL has roots that extend back to the 1970s, and the language has remained one of the most popular programming languages ever since. 

While SQL has changed in some ways over the years, most parts of the language have remained the same. When you learn SQL, you learn a program that will not become irrelevant soon. 

Here are a few of the reasons SQL has experienced such longevity:

• SQL has proven to be reliable for numerous industries in a variety of settings
• SQL is both one of the easiest languages to learn and the most helpful
• It is possible to adapt SQL with only slight modifications
• SQL is more efficient than writing lines of code on your own

SQL Has Powerful Features

Rather than rely on basic pre-built reports, SQL empowers users to do countless things with databases. 

These are only a few of the skills that users can learn to perform after training in SQL:

• How structural databases function and how to create one
• How to perform SQL queries to obtain information
• How to manage databases and how to set up databases for scalable growth
• How to operate MySQL and other database management systems
• How to interact with PHP and MySQL to achieve various database goals