When I was a younger developer, knowledge of SQL and how your database processed data was an expectation of everyone around me in the field.
The older I get and end up around younger developers, I find that this has become a rare superpower. These days, if I’m consulting on a problem for somebody I can almost assume that it’s a database problem. Either needs to be tuned, indexes are missing, data has been corrupted or duplicated due to lack of constraints, excessive single writes or any number of other issues.
I never thought something that was always a required skill set to suddenly become rare and shocking.
If it makes you feel better, my company employs a lot of engineers (not developers, more like electrical and mechanical engineers). We all do tons of analysis with our gargantuan database and write lots and lots of SQL. It too amazes us when we deal with other departments that are mostly Excel + Python + APIs. They write a lot of unecessary code where a separation between generic programming language and database would make things a lot more efficient IMO.
I will defend that a little. We are all, to an extent, victims of circumstances. All those Excel+Python+API hacks are result of individuals having to deliver results, but with limited tools at their disposal.
The older I get and end up around younger developers, I find that this has become a rare superpower. These days, if I’m consulting on a problem for somebody I can almost assume that it’s a database problem. Either needs to be tuned, indexes are missing, data has been corrupted or duplicated due to lack of constraints, excessive single writes or any number of other issues.
I never thought something that was always a required skill set to suddenly become rare and shocking.