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0 pointslonelappde6y ago0 comments

Would you really interview and hire for a job based on SQL tricks instead of spending $50 to give someone a reference book?

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4 comments · 1 top-level

kragen6y ago· 3 in thread

If someone claims to be a SQL expert but hasn't bothered to read a comprehensive book cover to cover, it probably isn't because they didn't have $50, especially now that we have Library Genesis.

WWLink6y ago

I've never claimed to be an expert in anything, but if I read a book on SQL from cover to cover, I'd probably still not remember wtf BETWEEN ROWS was unless I was using it daily.

-- The guy that uses C and C++ all the time and often forgets the order of the arguments to common functions.

yellowapple6y ago

Hell, at least 50% of my day job involves hacking together SQL Server sprocs, most of which have thoroughly used (and abused) most or all of the concepts demonstrated in the article, and I take no shame in admitting that I'm frequently double-checking syntax or looking at how other people solved similar problems.

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kragen6y ago

I guess what I'm trying to say is that having a reference book won't help you if you don't know what to look for. Perhaps the interview problems can tell you who knows what to look for and who doesn't.

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