SQL Isn’t Boring. It’s the Reason I Got Shortlisted in 6 Companies

📌 Introduction
Let’s be honest—SQL doesn’t sound as sexy as machine learning or AI. But guess what? I cracked my first job because I was good at writing clean, optimized SQL queries. And even now, in my 4th year in the industry, SQL is still my daily bread.

🧑‍💻 What Helped Me Stand Out in Interviews

• I could explain why I used LEFT JOIN over INNER JOIN.
• I understood window functions and could write queries using ROW_NUMBER() to deduplicate data.
• I always added a real-world use case when answering technical SQL questions.

💡 Example: Interview Question
Q: How would you get the 2nd highest salary in a table?
Most candidates blurt out subqueries. I said:

“In our payroll project, I once had to find the second-highest payout by department. I used DENSE_RANK() over a partition by department_id and filtered where rank = 2.”
And that context is what impressed the panel.

🧠 Key Concepts Every Data Person Should Master in SQL

• Joins (not just syntax—real use cases)
• Aggregations and GROUP BY
• Window Functions
• CTEs and Subqueries
• Indexing and Query Optimization

✅ Final Tip
Don’t just write queries—explain them. Learn how your SQL logic solves business problems. That’s what hiring managers want.