5 Great Reasons to Learn SQL

Who out there is affected by databases?

Just about everyone's hand should be raised. In some shape or form, databases impact our everyday lives. Take coffee, for example. Each time you buy a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte, you scan your Starbucks card and earn two Starbucks Stars (points) that you can redeem later toward the purchase of more lattes. All that information then goes into a database.

Judging by how popular Starbucks is, you can probably imagine how much data there is to be stored and retrieved. Pretty overwhelming, right?

Don't worry SQL is here to help us utilize large amounts of data, it's a programming language that's designed to manage data in a relational database management system. Now that we've gotten our Starbucks and earned our rewards, let's dive into five reasons why you should learn SQL.

1. Data is Everywhere; SQL Helps Manage it All Data is awesome. Nearly every job in the world relies on data, even farming can be augmented with GPS and databases, but where does this data come from? SQL is the answer, friends! SQL gives you the capability to ask for exactly what you want, every time. That idea seems simple until you're staring 500 petabytes in the eye and can't get a straight answer from it. SQL fixes this problem, giving you the data you want, the first time you ask for it, as long as you know how to ask. 

2. SQL Plays Well with the Cloud The cloud is ushering in a new age of technology. That said, SQL isn't going away anytime soon. Quick, Google "which cloud platforms use SQL?" The first four queries our search returned were related to Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure. And if you dig deeper, you'll learn AWS supports SQL within Amazon's Relational Database Service (RDS) with a full array of tools that enable you to maximize your data. What does this mean? SQL will continue to play a valuable role as technology evolves, even as NoSQL applications in the big data realm become useful.

3. SQL Skills Increase Your Marketability With that last reason in mind, being a go-to person for SQL can make you extremely marketable, especially as big data continues to gain traction in the IT-sphere. After all, data is useless if there's nobody who understands how to manage, retrieve, and understand it. That's where you can come in. Conquer SQL, and help supply the demand for professionals who can leverage SQL.

4. Don't Forget: SQL Server 2016 is Here Microsoft Windows Server 2016 might be getting more buzz at the moment, and rightfully so, but let's not forget about the other flagship product that recently launched. No, not Windows 10. Microsoft SQL Server 2016 is fully loaded to encrypt, analyze, and optimize your data. Microsoft SQL server has been around since 1989, fulfilling your relational database needs. It's widely used and respected, and the newest release places all the tools you need at your fingertips to become a SQL wizard! Once again, as long as you know how to use them.

Course update: CBT Nuggets trainer Garth Schulte will be creating training for SQL Server 2016 soon. In the meantime, his Microsoft SQL Server 2014 training should get you into all but the newest SQL features.

5. SQL Still Reigns Supreme Sure, there are differences between platforms that utilize SQL, but queries used to access data, whether they are simple or complex, are nearly universal. The bottom line is this: SQL remains the most popular standard query language. So, again, understanding SQL and being able to use it effectively, can enable you to harness powerful features offered by Google and Amazon Web Services.

So, are you ready to conquer SQL? Browse our database training and hit the ground running.