Hire SQL Developers

Hire SQL Developers

If there is one universal language that can communicate with data in high-performance transaction-processing systems, smartphone applications, and Web interfaces, then it has to be the Structured Query Language (SQL). SQL is a powerful and complex database language that is capable of communicating with large amounts of data. You can find SQL today in a multitude of products and environments.

If you work with a relational database through applications, administrative tasks, or reports, you need to know how to interact with the data in your database. Unfortunately, many backend systems are legacy systems with complex interfaces and non-user-friendly standards. In these cases, a robust programming language like SQL is required to manipulate the complex data.

Structured Query Language – A Sequel

After Dr. Edgar F. Codd developed the relational database model in 1969, the researchers and universities built a language to support the relational model. The researchers Dr. Donald Chamberlin and his colleagues, developed the first version of Structured Query Language, which helped to query relational databases with English-style sentences. They made further revisions and developed SQL which has emerged as the standard database language of today.

Power of SQL

The power of SQL lies in the simple English-like syntax of its statements and the ability to present the desired result, unlike the other programming languages, which require a sequence of steps to be performed. As it is a non-procedural language, it is easy to use SQL to access data in applications. It also allows you to create database structures to store your data like tables and indexes and views to view your data faster. It will enable you to insert, modify, and delete data as required. You can use SQL to your assistance to derive the most out of your databases in application programs.

SQL allows the developer to concentrate on business logic and not be concerned about the processing steps required to derive the results. There are different SQL dialects in other vendor implementations, but most of the features of SQL language are common to the database management systems in use in the market. The critical aspect of the language is that it defines operations against sets of data in a non-procedural format instead of requiring a program to retrieve records one by one and define the processing steps to derive each record. Also, it portrays the closure property by which a set of rows returned by a query in a table format can be inserted into another table.

SQL – Features

SQL is a language through which you create, modify, and query databases. It is different from other programming languages by the way they use constructs and is inflexible to be used for various purposes. Like other languages, SQL follows a definite syntax for its statements, without which you do not get the required results. On the other hand, it is easy to learn as you can use the language like you speak in day-to-day life. SQL can also be embedded in a host language like C++, Java, or COBOL or a scripting language like Python or PHP.

It is an open standard defined by the international standards working group, including the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) under the joint leadership of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Engineering Consortium (IEC).

The SQL language comprises the following elements:

• Queries that help to retrieve data based on specific criteria
• Clauses that form the queries
• Predicates including logical conditions for the results to be fetched from the queries
• Expressions that create scalar values or tables and they are a part of predicates
• Statements that are run to fetch data, including clauses and optionally, predicates and expressions
• Adequate spacing between the constructs in the SQL queries

Structure of SQL

A database engine interprets the SQL statements and efficiently accesses the various data structures to derive the expected results.

The SQL language is comprised of two sets of commands:

1. Data Definition Language (DDL) – helps to define and modify data structures
2. Data Manipulation Language (DML) – enables to access and manipulate data within the data structures defined by DDL
3. Data Control Language (DCL) helps authorize users to view, delete or change data and the database structures.

DDL includes all commands required to create tables, indexes, constraints, and views. DML is used to issue commands like INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, MERGE, and SELECT. In addition, DCL includes commands like GRANT and REVOKE to assign to and remove privileges from users and roles, respectively.

Though developers write more DML statements, they must understand how the data structures are maintained in the database to access the data they need.

Types of Relational Database Management Systems using SQL

Some of the popular RDBMS that use SQL are listed below.

• Oracle – Oracle was first released in 1979, which supported SQL. It can be run on both Windows and Linux platforms. Oracle can handle a large number of databases with ease and comes with a variety of features. New versions are released with robust features. It is fast and stable, with lots of support and documentation available. On the other hand, it offers only one free version, is expensive, and requires database administrator support for maintenance after installation.
• MySQL – Unlike Oracle, MySQL is a free, open-source SQL database released in 1995. The license was bought by Sun Microsystems and later acquired by Oracle. It is used with PHP applications and is available as a less expensive choice for RDBMS users. In addition, MySQL is available for free with a rich array of features, is easy to use and implement, and is fast and stable.
• SQL Server – SQL Server was released in 1989. It has a free version and can be installed on both Windows and Linux. It is a great choice for people who use other Microsoft products. SQL Server offers a wide array of features, including replication, high availability, partitioning, and works great with .NET Framework and Visual Studio. In addition, it is fast and stable to use.
• PostgreSQL – PostgreSQL was released in 1989 and mostly installed on Linux. It is a good choice for enterprises that need a less expensive RDBMS and uses Linux already. PostgreSQL offers a lot of functionality, including high availability and partitioning. It is fast, stable, scalable, and can handle large amounts of data.

Required Expertise

Requirements - hard skills

• Must be fluent with manipulation of data, SQL concepts, and query optimization
• Efficient in database fundamentals with industry development experience
• Should be able to analyze data and study the system to provide meaningful insights on product/feature quality
• Efficient in writing and optimizing SQL queries and statements
• Analytical ability to translate data into informative reports and datasets
• Problem-solving attitude and solution-oriented leveraging SQL coding
• Experience handling integration of multiple concurrent data sources, including relational databases and flat files
• Ability to develop test plans to verify logic of new or modified programs

Experience

Developers require a good understanding of how to approach the data and the data structures used to store information about the enterprise they deal with. Only when they are comfortable with the tables that hold the data in the database can they make additions or modifications to the database structure and efficiently manage it. You don’t have to write complete applications but will be required to write queries or simple scripts to manipulate data as SQL is a non-procedural language. Senior developers will be expected to ensure configurations, environments, and deliverables meet standards and technical specifications.

• Hands-on experience with relational database management and concepts
• Innovate solutions to satisfy business problems
• Gather and translate business requirements for creating solutions
• Design and document solution to address business requirements
• Evaluate the effort required to develop solutions
• Develop new and enhance existing stored procedures, user-defined functions, and other database objects
• Should be able to create complex SQL queries and clean up and index data in tables for fast retrieval
• Cross-collaborate with business stakeholders on other data-delivery solutions
• Provide data management support to users
• Contribute to the teams’ processes, best practices, methodologies, and guidelines
• Evaluate issues and perform root cause analysis to propose solutions

Salary Structure

SQL has a critical role in today’s e-commerce IT systems and a bright future. It is a universal language widely used to retrieve records, perform data manipulation, report, warehousing, and execute hierarchical queries. There is always a demand for SQL developers to meet these requirements. In addition, new applications and products emerge which continue to use SQL for their database requirements. The salary range of different levels of a SQL developer is provided in the below table.

We at Skuad help you in identifying prospective SQL developers for your job requirements.

Industry Expertise

We cater to various sectors - Edutech, Fintech, Healthcare, Logistics & Transport, Retail & Ecommerce, Travel, Banking, Media, and more. From selecting to onboarding, invoicing, compliances, and taxation, we act as your local HR to manage the day-to-day operations related to your overseas employees.