I’ve finally started my 20-hour SQL learning challenge! 😅
For someone who comes from a DevOps and cloud automation background, SQL has always felt like that one essential tool I SHOULD know, but somehow kept pushing off.
This time, I decided to approach it a bit differently. The Plan is to learn the fundamentals with just one hour a day and see where it takes me.
💡 Why SQL?
In my day-to-day work, I often deal with infrastructure, logs, and automation scripts. But when it comes to working directly with data writing queries, understanding relationships, and fetching just the data I need, I’ve mostly relied on the internet/others.
I really don’t want to do that anymore.
This challenge is my way of bridging that gap, slowly but consistently.
📝 How I’m Approaching This
While the learning happens daily (1 hour per day), I might post these blogs on a weekly basis — not because I’m lazy, but because I want to truly understand the concepts before I share them.
This isn’t just about checking boxes. It’s about learning deeply and documenting honestly.
🔍 Today’s Focus
I spent time understanding what SQL really is — not just the theory, but how it feels to actually use it.
Day 1 was all about:
- What SQL is and how it works
- Understanding the structure of relational databases
- Learning how data is stored in tables, rows, and columns
- Getting introduced to the
SELECTcommand to retrieve data
I used a beginner-friendly platform called SQLBolt to get started. No installations needed, and I was able to start typing queries immediately, which made the experience very smooth.
✍️ Reflections
To be honest, I’ve known for a long time that SQL isn’t complicated — the syntax is pretty readable, almost like plain English.
But for some reason, I always avoided learning it properly. Maybe it felt too “data team-specific,” or maybe I just kept pushing it aside because it wasn’t part of my core DevOps tasks.
Today, I finally took the first step. And that in itself feels like a win.
📂 My Practice Logs
I’ve created a GitHub repo to track my 20-day journey:
👉 https://github.com/kbrepository/learning-sql-fundamentals
Each day, I’ll push queries, notes, and small reflections there. It’s not meant to be perfect — just real and helpful.
🗓️What’s Next?
Next up: learning how to filter data using the WHERE clause.
The goal stays the same — learn intentionally, not just rapidly.
If you’re on a similar learning path or have suggestions for me, I’d love to hear from you. Let’s grow together.