My journey with programming started early, and I fell in love with coding—or more precisely, the process of thinking through solutions and solving problems. The first language I remember learning was HTML. I still recall the excitement of printing “Hello, World!” for the first time—perhaps the moment when my inner Tushar whispered, “Hey, you can code!” Ha!
As my interest grew, so did my curiosity to explore new languages. By the time I entered college, I was introduced to C. However, my enthusiasm took a hit. C started feeling less like a programming language and more like my letter grade! There were two reasons behind this. First, I struggled to keep up with my peers—they seemed to write code effortlessly, while I had to spend hours just trying to understand it. Many of them, especially those from the U.S., had been coding since high school, working on projects or tinkering for fun. For them, it was second nature; for me, it felt like an uphill battle. Second, the complexity of C and further C++ became overwhelming, and I found myself increasingly disengaged.
Things only got worse when I encountered Java—I could barely enjoy it because I was too busy trying to keep up. Then, everything changed when I was introduced to databases in my Management Information Systems (MIS) program. That’s when I found my best friend—Structured Query Language, aka SQL.
SQL just clicked for me. Unlike traditional programming languages, where I often found myself lost in syntax and debugging, SQL was intuitive. Writing queries felt natural, and the ability to get instant results from a database was incredibly satisfying. College played a significant role in strengthening my fundamentals, and this knowledge helped me land my first job. Over time, working on real-world projects further sharpened my SQL skills, allowing me to advance in my career.
For those unfamiliar, SQL is essentially a language used to retrieve, manipulate, and manage data stored in a database. What made me fall in love with it was its immediate feedback loop—run a query, get results. If something was off, I could tweak the query and see the changes instantly. Another thing I appreciated was how easy it was to explain SQL to others. In less than a minute, I could walk someone through what my query was doing, and more often than not, they would refine their request on the spot after realizing they needed something different.
Of course, SQL isn’t just about basic queries. As I gained experience, I learned advanced techniques that helped me optimize performance, reduce hundreds of lines of code into just a few, and explore multiple approaches to solving the same problem efficiently.
SQL started as my friend and eventually became my bread and butter, helping me grow professionally. If you’re looking to learn SQL, my advice is simple: start with the basics, practice regularly, and embrace those “Aha! Makes sense!” moments. If you’re in college, take an SQL course—it helps with discipline and building a strong foundation. If you’re already in the industry or just eager to learn, there are countless free resources online. And if you’re like me, YouTube is always a great place to start!