Why You Should Learn SQL – Even If You‘re Not a Developer

If I had a dollar for every time someone told me they didn‘t need to learn SQL because they‘re not a developer, I‘d have enough money to buy a lifetime supply of servers. But here‘s the thing: SQL is not just for software engineers. It‘s an essential skill for anyone who works with data — which, in today‘s world, is pretty much everyone.

I‘m a full-stack developer, and I use SQL every single day. But you don‘t have to be a coder to reap the benefits of this powerful language. In fact, I‘d argue that learning SQL is one of the most valuable things you can do for your career, no matter your role or industry.

What is SQL, anyway?

Before we dive into why SQL is so awesome, let‘s start with a quick primer on what it actually is. SQL, which stands for Structured Query Language, is the standard language for relational database management systems. It‘s used to perform CRUD operations – Create, Read, Update and Delete data.

Think of a database as a giant spreadsheet, with rows and columns of information. SQL allows you to talk to that database and ask it for specific subsets of data, make updates, and more. It‘s incredibly efficient and versatile.

Now, I know what you might be thinking: "Databases? Queries? That sounds way too technical for me." But hear me out. You don‘t need to be a computer science whiz to learn SQL. The basics are actually quite intuitive, and the payoff is huge.

Why SQL is a game-changer for non-developers

So why should you, a non-developer, care about SQL? Let me count the ways:

1. You‘ll be more self-sufficient

How many times have you had to bug a developer or data analyst to pull a certain metric or segment of data for you? Wouldn‘t it be nice if you could just do it yourself? With SQL, you can.

Let‘s say you‘re a marketer who wants to see how many users opened your last email campaign. Instead of waiting on someone else to get you that number, you could write a simple SQL query like:

SELECT COUNT(*) 
FROM email_events
WHERE event_type = ‘open‘
AND campaign_id = ‘123‘;

Boom, done. No more bottleneck or delays.

2. You‘ll make better decisions

When you can easily access and analyze data yourself, you can make more informed, data-driven decisions. No more guessing or going off of gut feelings.

For example, let‘s say you‘re a product manager trying to decide which features to prioritize. With SQL, you could query your user event database to see which features are being used the most, and by which segments of users.

SELECT 
  feature,
  COUNT(*) AS num_events,
  COUNT(DISTINCT user_id) AS num_users
FROM user_events
GROUP BY feature
ORDER BY num_events DESC;

Armed with that insight, you can confidently prioritize the features that will have the biggest impact on your users and business.

3. You‘ll be more valuable and marketable

Like it or not, data skills are highly sought-after in today‘s job market. A study by IBM found that the number of jobs for data professionals will increase by 364,000 openings to 2,720,000 by 2020.

And it‘s not just data analyst or data scientist roles. Even traditionally "non-technical" jobs are now listing data skills like SQL as a preferred or required qualification. Just look at some of these real job postings:

By learning SQL, you‘re not only making yourself more valuable to your current company – you‘re also opening up a whole new world of career opportunities. It‘s a skill that will serve you well no matter where your professional journey takes you.

SQL is not as hard as you think

Now, I know the thought of learning a "programming language" can be intimidating. But trust me, SQL is one of the easiest languages to learn. Its syntax is very simple and readable, almost like plain English.

For example, if you wanted to find all users who signed up before January 1, 2020, you could write:

SELECT *
FROM users
WHERE signup_date < ‘2020-01-01‘;

Pretty intuitive, right? Obviously queries can get more complex, but the building blocks are straightforward. And there are plenty of resources out there to help you learn – from online tutorials to SQL courses to good old fashioned books.

One of my favorite things about SQL is the immediate satisfaction of being able to retrieve and manipulate data. Unlike some programming concepts which can feel abstract, with SQL you can see the results of your queries right away. It‘s incredibly empowering.

SQL is not a replacement for other tools, but a complement

Now, you might be thinking, "Why do I need to learn SQL if I already know how to use Excel/Google Sheets/some other data tool?" It‘s a fair question.

Here‘s the thing: SQL is not a replacement for those tools, but rather a complement to them. There are some things that Excel is great for, like ad hoc analysis and data visualization. But when it comes to handling large datasets, automating repetitive tasks, or combining data from multiple sources, SQL is the clear winner.

Plus, once data gets too large or complex to handle in a spreadsheet, you‘ll need SQL to even access it in the first place. So while you don‘t need to abandon your beloved pivot tables, learning SQL will level up your analytical capabilities big time.

A day in the life of SQL

To give you a concrete idea of how SQL can be used on a daily basis, let me walk you through a typical "data day" for me:

8:00 AM – I check our key business metrics first thing, using a SQL query that pulls data from our production database into a Google Sheet. No more manual exports or CSV wrangling.

10:00 AM – An executive asks for a breakdown of Q2 revenue by product line and sales rep. I hop into our data warehouse and write a query to pull the necessary data, then visualize it in a Looker dashboard.

1:00 PM – I‘m working on a machine learning model to predict customer churn. I use SQL to pull a training dataset of user behavior and feed it into my model. SQL and data science, working together in perfect harmony.

3:00 PM – I get a ping from the marketing team asking for a list of engaged users to target in a new email campaign. I write a query to find all users who have logged in within the last 30 days, then pass that list off to the marketers. Teamwork makes the dream work.

Throughout the day, I‘m constantly turning to SQL to answer questions, automate tasks, and make data-driven decisions. And the beautiful thing is, you don‘t need to be a developer like me to do the same. Anyone can learn to harness the power of SQL.

Start your SQL journey today

If you‘ve made it this far, I hope I‘ve convinced you of the immense value SQL can bring to your career. And there‘s no better time to start learning than now.

Here are some of my favorite resources for getting started:

• Khan Academy‘s Intro to SQL course
• Codecademy‘s Learn SQL course
• W3Schools SQL tutorial
• The book "Practical SQL" by Anthony DeBarros

And once you‘ve got the basics down, the best way to learn is by doing. Find a database to practice on (there are plenty of free, public datasets out there) and start writing queries to explore the data. The more you practice, the more comfortable and proficient you‘ll become.

Remember, learning SQL is not about becoming a data wizard overnight. It‘s about equipping yourself with a powerful tool that will help you be more efficient, effective, and valuable in your work.

So what are you waiting for? Get out there and start querying! Your future self (and maybe even your boss) will thank you.