Upskilling Diaries: Relearning SQL

By Vanessa
6/13/2023
3 min read
It’s sad when you think you know something, or someone, only to be struck by surprise that you really have no idea what is happening anymore.

To first address the current state of the affairs – I am now back in the market looking for a job. And I admit it’s not as welcoming as last years’ market when even with zero experience, recruiters will still reach out for you. But still, I think I will use the challenge for job hunting as time to upskill… or more like revisit old skills I kind of forgot.

Cue shocked recruiter face. “But I thought you knew how to SQL?!”. Yes I do, but unfortunately I was so used to using ORMs, SQLAlchemy in particular when used with pandas, flask and Django. And that’s why I think I needed to go bare and do just SQL again.

And because I was looking for a job, I figured to update my resume. Not the kind of update to just open the Word file, add some data and make a pdf. Nah, I am unemployed and bored. I wanted to do more. So I decided I should try to re-write it to a database without using any ORM and try to serve it with an API later.

A few hours of manual SQL writing, I generated the ERD from PGAdmin and tadaaa! PGAdmin’s tool wasn’t bad and it’s easy to use – just right click on the database’s icon and click ‘Generate ERD’. I also think it’s a good way to check the relationships between the tables.

I aim to write a proper API for this probably using Django. I only have done tutorials of it, but hey, lots of time here. Either I wallow in sadness for quitting my first job because I was unceremoniously moved to a management team (I’m flattered but I still need tech experience to lead tech people), or I just move on.

And that’s where I am now.

Thumbnail Photo by Mr. Great Heart on Unsplash
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