5 Reasons You Should Learn Microsoft SQL Server
Almost everyone deals with data in the course of their day-to-day work. Whether you’re sorting through Salesforce records, managing customer data in a CRM, or even just looking through an Excel spreadsheet, it’s all data. Dealing with data can become challenging even at only a few hundred rows, but learning Microsoft SQL Server can make even the most complex data set easy to understand.
What is Microsoft SQL Server?
Microsoft SQL (structured query language) Server is one of the most popular database management systems for relational databases. A relational database is simply any collection of data with a predefined relationship (e.g., a name and phone number, or a product and price) and organized with rows and columns. SQL. Microsoft SQL Server lets you ask questions or “query” the database to quickly and easily get the answers about your data set.
I’m not a data scientist or programmer, so why learn SQL?
Even if you don’t consider yourself a “tech” person, learning SQL can make your everyday work more manageable and help advance your career.
Leaning SQL Takes Less Time Than You Think
Microsoft SQL Server can seem intimidating, but most users can learn the basics in a few hours from a course. SQL uses English words for commands like “JOIN, ADD, CREATE, and SELECT .” This makes it clear and easy to understand what queries are doing and how they can work together.
Data Manipulation in SQL is Relatively Easy
Trying to get actionable insights from a massive Excel spreadsheet can make anyone’s eyes glaze over. There’s only so far that filters, vlookup, and conditional formatting can take you. Using SQL you can take complex data sets with thousands of rows and columns and quickly pull clear, actionable insights. Need to know how many customers from a certain region purchased a particular product on a specific date? A single SQL query can get you the answer.
Using Data Visualization Tools Becomes Easier
SQL is the base programming language for many data visualization tools like Tableau, Google Data Studio, and Power BI. Knowing even basic SQL will help you better understand how to display the data you want in the style you want.
Combine Data From More Than 1 Source
Have you ever tried to combine two spreadsheets with closely related but different data? In most cases, you will spend hours trying to manually copy and paste from one data source to the other. Using SQL, commands like JOIN and UNION can be used to quickly and easily combine multiple datasets in a single space.
Advance Your Career
Whether you’re an aspiring programmer, marketer, or customer service professional, knowing how to use SQL can help you advance in your role. Knowing how to manipulate large sets of data can make you a more efficient, insightful, and better all-around contributor.
Ready to advance your data manipulation skills? Microsoft SQL Server courses from ONLC Training Centers can give you the skills to become a data master. Get your SQL education started online or at one of over 300 ONLC Training Center locations.
