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I’ve been in a rut lately. Missing obvious things, shipping less than my best code. It’s come to my attention that I’m not as good at programming as I am at cra

I’ve been in a rut lately. Missing obvious things, shipping less than my best code. It’s come to my attention that I’m not as good at programming as I am at crafting database queries and tuning them but that’s such a small niche given how easy it is to pick up SQL that I’m having an existential crisis. So I’m working on getting better and getting more confident.

her_tummy_hurts 7y ago
You could make a career out of just SQL. I know my company could use a decent SQL programmer. We’ve got hundreds and hundreds of procs written by SQL amateurs
- gigatexal 7y ago
  That’d be a lot of fun. I find so much joy in that actually. Figuring out what variation of a query satisfies the query planner to create the most performant plans is fun!
- denton-scratch 7y ago
  Correct. Tuning SQL queries can deliver performance improvements of several thousand percent, in exchange for just a few hours' work. EXPLAIN is your friend.
northwest65 7y ago
>I’m having an existential crisis Don't. There are so many poorly performing queries and databases in the world that you could make a very tidy income just specializing in sorting that out. Even if you knew nothing else that skill will keep you employable for decades to come.
- seppin 7y ago
  Or more to the point, don't define yourself by your work.
pnako 7y ago
It's easy to pick up anything. It's difficult to master most. If you're good at SQL, why not transition to be a full-time DBA? In the right companies, good DBAs are highly valued. I suspect there is quite some business helping companies wanting to transition from Oracle or MongoDB to PostgreSQL.
- gigatexal 7y ago
  I was a SQLServer DBA for a while and found the administration of things so boring. It was the crafting of queries and the designing of schemas that was the most fun. If the administration part is a necessary tax to be paid then so be it if I get to do the other part.
BurningFrog 7y ago
> So I’m working on getting better and getting more confident. FWIW, I'd say the most important characteristic of terrible programmers is their supreme unearned confidence! Which is to say: Focus on getting better. The confidence is secondary.
- gigatexal 7y ago
  The confidence is for sanity reasons purely. There’s nothing more demoralizing than agreeing to do a seemingly simple task and then failing. So I’m getting better so that I have the confidence in my self
  - BurningFrog 7y ago
    I'm a quite senior engineer, and I fail routinely at tasks. My secret trick is simply to ask people for help when I'm stuck.
gigatexal 7y ago
I will say the support to my thread has received has been super nice and helpful.

her_tummy_hurts 7y ago

You could make a career out of just SQL. I know my company could use a decent SQL programmer. We’ve got hundreds and hundreds of procs written by SQL amateurs

gigatexal 7y ago
That’d be a lot of fun. I find so much joy in that actually. Figuring out what variation of a query satisfies the query planner to create the most performant plans is fun!
denton-scratch 7y ago
Correct. Tuning SQL queries can deliver performance improvements of several thousand percent, in exchange for just a few hours' work. EXPLAIN is your friend.

northwest65 7y ago

>I’m having an existential crisis Don't. There are so many poorly performing queries and databases in the world that you could make a very tidy income just specializing in sorting that out. Even if you knew nothing else that skill will keep you employable for decades to come.

seppin 7y ago
Or more to the point, don't define yourself by your work.

pnako 7y ago

It's easy to pick up anything. It's difficult to master most. If you're good at SQL, why not transition to be a full-time DBA? In the right companies, good DBAs are highly valued. I suspect there is quite some business helping companies wanting to transition from Oracle or MongoDB to PostgreSQL.

gigatexal 7y ago
I was a SQLServer DBA for a while and found the administration of things so boring. It was the crafting of queries and the designing of schemas that was the most fun. If the administration part is a necessary tax to be paid then so be it if I get to do the other part.

BurningFrog 7y ago

> So I’m working on getting better and getting more confident. FWIW, I'd say the most important characteristic of terrible programmers is their supreme unearned confidence! Which is to say: Focus on getting better. The confidence is secondary.

gigatexal 7y ago
The confidence is for sanity reasons purely. There’s nothing more demoralizing than agreeing to do a seemingly simple task and then failing. So I’m getting better so that I have the confidence in my self
- BurningFrog 7y ago
  I'm a quite senior engineer, and I fail routinely at tasks. My secret trick is simply to ask people for help when I'm stuck.

gigatexal 7y ago

I will say the support to my thread has received has been super nice and helpful.