spO0q 🐒🎃You may read that cheat sheet to get started:
While SQL (Structured Query Language) is not the only programming language to master as a back-end developer, it's a critical one!
Pretty much everything we do allows users to fill a relational database with various entries. Of course, SQL is not the only approach (e.g., NoSQL), but it's a fundamental step in your journey.
MySQL?
MySQL is a product that implements SQL. In other words, it's a relational database management system.
It's still widely used in dev teams, so you should definitely learn it, whether you want to get a job as a back-end dev, a database administrator, a system admin, or a data analyst (or many other jobs).
The key points they don't tell you
By "they," I mean the Illuminati, of course 🤣🤪.
More seriously, you will find everything about the technique on Internet, but the "why" is often skipped.
So, why SQL anyway?
5 reasons in short:
- SQL is everywhere in the IT business
- a well-crafted SQL query can spare significant time and resources (e.g., vs far-fetched PHP operations with big arrays), whereas a slow query can literally ruin your app
- SQL is easy to learn and powerful to extract relevant data in a large dataset
- mastering SQL will help you secure your queries, whereas ignorance will put your app and your users in danger
- very good introduction to programming that will be still valuable over the course of your career
Bottom line: start with SQL
While it might seem opinionated, I would likely recommend starting your journey in programming with SQL.
You won't waste your time at all, and it may even make learning other languages easier.
