How long would it take to learn enough SQL to get a decent job using it?

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you're good to go

Chasing money Now wrote:

Assume I'm a reasonably intelligent and computer/tech savvy guy. How long would it take to learn SQL well enough to get a decent job using it? How much could I expect to make? I've heard a person can learn SQL in as little as two weeks, but this sounds crazy given some of the jobs pay nearly $150k/year. If it was that easy, everyone would be doing it.

You can learn SQL basics in about one day if you have some background in programming. That's what I did, when I started my first job out of school. I read one of those "learn SQL in 8 hours" books over the course of an afternoon and I knew enough basic SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, etc to be decently proficient. It took me probably five years to get really good and a decade to truly master.

None of which has anything to do with how long will it take you to learn enough to "get a job." That all depends on how well you interview and who you're interviewing with and nothing really to do with your actual skills -- that's how tech interviews really work. So I'd focus on that, not the SQL.

Learning the SQL language is rather easy, that doesn’t mean the high-paying jobs that use it are easy. SQL is simply a tool.

Just like learning Python/R does not make you a data scientist, there is a gap between being able to USE the tool, and knowing what to do with it.

That said, there are lots of entry level tech jobs one could get with little more than a solid grasp SQL. It is a path I would wholeheartedly recommend, just curb your expectations a bit. I made a mid-career shift myself from pharma to tech, and am a Data Engineer for a huge company now. However, I got here through patience, hard work, and temporarily accepting jobs with lower pay than I was used to.

Good luck!

"Learning SQL" really needs broken into two trains of thought. Which one of these are you seeking to do?

1. Learn the SQL language to be able to query a database and produce reports, etc

2. Learn SQL to become a Database Admin, where you actually manage the Database provisioning, health, administration, etc.

These are two distinctly different things and each has its own amount of time to learn the skill. Would take much longer to become a DBA, rather than someone who just runs queries.

ohia wrote:

"Learning SQL" really needs broken into two trains of thought. Which one of these are you seeking to do?

1. Learn the SQL language to be able to query a database and produce reports, etc

2. Learn SQL to become a Database Admin, where you actually manage the Database provisioning, health, administration, etc.

These are two distinctly different things and each has its own amount of time to learn the skill. Would take much longer to become a DBA, rather than someone who just runs queries.

Agreed, it’s one thing to know SQL language and syntax. It’s a whole different thing to understand how to apply and structure it. I used to be able to create four table inner joins but now that I’ve been away from regular complex use of SQL I need to rely on Google to get me close. At least I understand what I’m looking for and why. The actual syntax escapes me from lack of use.

No such thing as a job where all you do is sql DEVELOPMENT (as in writing procedures / functions). You might be talking about DBA, and it'll take longer than two weeks to be good. You'll need a cert of some sort. Right now you best be looking at cloud certifications (AWS, Azure).

Learning ANSI sql can be done in a week or two, but it's just one tool that most developers are expected to have, not their exclusive tool.

Oh Please wrote:

No such thing as a job where all you do is sql DEVELOPMENT

Yes there is. On a big project with a serious data focus it's common to have a database specialist or two around. Most generalist/full-stack devs aren't good at modeling data and writing high performance queries. I did almost nothing but pure SQL development for 15+ years and could still be doing that if I wanted. But after all of that time I got bored and decided to move on to other stuff. (I should note that the OP has no chance of landing that kind of role without quite a bit of experience; it's a specialist gig and requires demonstrable expertise.)

probably like a weekend or something

do you have programming experience?

Oh Please wrote:

You might be talking about DBA, and it'll take longer than two weeks to be good. You'll need a cert of some sort. Right now you best be looking at cloud certifications (AWS, Azure).

DBA roles are practically obsolete. Many companies have gotten rid of that title. The sorts of daily tasks that DBAs would do have been automated away with features of Azure SQL for example.