Think you know SQL? Sam and Shifra break down what separates a query writer from a true data thinker, from basic selects all the way to distributed systems, query plans, and the four pillars of production-ready code. Plus: why your data provider's incentives are working against you, how a 1,400-line monolith hid millions in overstated revenue, and the one approach that will save you from silent, soul-crushing data failures.

🌊 Check out the deep dive here: https://youtu.be/ayNKmcIELEo

We talk about:

- Three levels of SQL (and a secret fourth)

- What they don't teach you in school: data fluency, granularity, and audit patterns

- Why SELECT DISTINCT and ORDER BY are secretly expensive

- WORM vs. WARO: taking cost at write time vs. read time

- Idempotency, query plans, and writing SQL like a query engine

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Chapters:

0:00 - Intro: Squeal and Sasquatch

2:34 - The three levels of SQL: Basic, intermediate, and advanced

6:47 - When advanced SQL isn't really SQL anymore

9:12 - The 1,400-line monolith horror story

13:00 - The four "ilities": Readability, maintainability, observability, and explainability

15:34 - Write once, read many: Taking the cost at write time vs. read time

18:04 - SQL as analyst vs. SQL as architect

22:52 - Platform-dependent code and why your cloud provider is not your friend

25:31 - What school never taught you: Data fluency, granularity, and knowing your tables

35:09 - Why all of this matters: Defending your query like a lawyer

41:49 - What's holding people back: Select star, distinct, and the monolith trap

46:30 - Idempotency, query plans, and thinking like an engine