You should expect to learn the basics of the language in less than a month, or even as little as 2 weeks, if you are dedicated. But to be comfortable and perform non-trivial operations, it takes a few months to get your bearings in SQL. Because SQL is close to the English language, it is not very difficult to read, write, and understand if you're familiar with the English language. Even if you have no programming background, you should be able to learn SQL quickly. It does take a lot of practice to become a good SQL developer. Reading and writing SQL is just one component of being a SQL programmer. It is even more important to know how to structure data and manage relationships between tables. You need a deep understanding of relational databases to create a data structure that will work well with the type of data you have gathered, and that can answer the question that you want to answer. Like many programming languages, SQL requires life-long learning to utilize its potential fully.

Because SQL is so similar to the English language, it is pretty easy to learn on your own. You can learn it quickly by going through online tutorials that teach the syntax and keywords in the language. But, to get good at SQL, you will want to practice and work with data regularly. Therefore, some people may find it easier to learn by following a tutorial, taking a course, or getting a certification. These methods often provide structured exercises and/or assignments, which allow you to practice the skills you are learning. This type of experience will help you to progress faster.

SQL is the standard programming language for managing relational databases. These databases are used in a wide range of businesses and industries, so demand is high in technical and non-technical fields for people with a background in SQL. On the technical side, people with SQL skills can typically find work in database administration, web and software development, and server management. A background in SQL can also lead to jobs in the fast-growing fields of cloud computing, application development, and software as a service (SaaS). SQL specialists can also build careers in the commercial sector, with opportunities in business systems analysis, quality assurance testing and engineering, information technology, and other jobs involving managing company databases and extracting data for daily operations.

There are many forms of SQL, but PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL, and MySQL are the three most widely used. Although each of these forms is an implementation of SQL, their standards were set by different organizations. PostgreSQL and MySQL are both open-source platforms maintained by a wide community of developers, while Microsoft develops Microsoft SQL. Syntactically, they can differ regarding whether they require case sensitivity, whether they use single quotes or double quotes, and what functions they support. As an example, Microsoft SQL server uses GETDATE(), MySQL uses CURDATE(), and PostgreSQL uses CURRENT_DATE(). They also differ in languages supported; MySQL supports languages that PostgreSQL and Microsoft SQL don't, such as Haskell and Ruby. As Microsoft SQL is proprietary, it costs money to license — but that does mean that it comes with robust support.

SQL injection is a common hacking technique. It uses SQL commands to manipulate a database. It can occur when an application has been poorly developed and allows a user to insert information directly into a database. For example, if you ask a user to submit their name, a hacker can type in a SQL command instead. If that command directly executes against the database of the application an injection attack has occurred. For a database, a command is a command and it cannot determine whether a command is from a valid user or not. Because this is a common threat, it is easy to prevent. A golden rule of database management is to never input user data directly into the database. Many programming languages will have a function that checks for SQL injections. So, it is pretty easy to guard yourself against an SQL injection attack.