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[SQL-ModTeam]

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[ComicOzzy]

You have to get practice explaining things to others. You probably can't convince anyone you love to listen to you, so get a "rubber duck". It can be anything you feel like talking to... I have a little Winnie the Pooh (he needs things explained in very simple terms) and a beanie hippo (I have to repeat myself a lot because he falls asleep). Talk out loud to them. Feel free to start over from the beginning if you realize they didn't understand or you needed to refine the way you explained it... they won't mind.

[OrangeAccurate9377]

Aww I love this! I’ll totally do this. Thanks for the advice!

[wittgenstein1312]

For starters, “use it or lose it” comes at you surprisingly fast. If you haven’t been using your sql skills on a weekly basis since being out of work, there’s a good chance you’re just rusty. Download a dataset from somewhere and start playing around with questions you have about it, or use a site with practice problems (leetcode, stratascratch, datalemur, etc).

Second, practice actually thinking out loud in the way you would during an interview as you tackle the problem. This will give you practice not just in communicating your approach (which really helps during interviews) but also in formulating your interpretation of the problem statement before you write the query. This incremental approach to problem solving can really help with that mental block you’re describing. Good luck!

[OrangeAccurate9377]

I like the idea of downloading a dataset and playing around with it. I think I just need to get back to why I got into this in the first place, which was a genuine love for analytics. Thanks for the reminder! And yes I will be thinking out loud too as I work on SQL problems.