Focus on the 1%

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Hello everyone and welcome to my newsletter where I discuss real-world skills needed for the top data jobs. 👏

In this article I’ll explain how less learning is more. 👀

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The Oxford Dictionary has over 600k words. Including jargon, slang, technical, archaic, and borrowed terms, estimates can exceed 1 million words. A native English speaker typically knows 20,000–35,000 words. College-educated adults may recognize up to 50,000 words.

Most people use only 1,000–3,000 words regularly in daily speech and writing. The majority of us use only 1,000–3,000 words regularly in daily speech and writing. In essence, we use less than 1% of all English words in our everyday lives. 😯

If you want to make it at the top levels of tech, start focusing on the 1% and expand once that one percent is mastered. 🫡

I released my first GPT the other day and I called it SQL Server Hyper Focus. 🎉 The GPT is focused only on the 1% of SQL you must know. It’s the foundation. It’s what you’ll use everyday as a data professional.

The core of the GPT is around 50 statements. If you learn the why behind these fifty statements you’ll make it past 90% of all entry level SQL Server Interviews. How can that be? Because there are foundation concepts and lines of code you’ll use so often you’ll see them in your sleep.

Here are a few examples.

• The ACID properties never change. Learn the idea and move on.

• The SELECT statement is used for reading data. That’s it.

• The WHERE clause filters rows based on the condition you provide it.

• The INNER join is the most common type of join. It returns matching rows from each table.

💻 Here are a few prompts based on the examples I listed.

• what are the acid properties in relational database theory

• explain the select statement using an example

• provide several use cases using the WHERE clause

• explain the INNER join

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There you go. If you know these or learn these right now, you are down to 46 core SQL concepts. 😂

How do you narrow the focus on what to learn? I’ve done that for you. Just purchase SQL Server Hyper Focus and then issue this prompt. (Coupon Code at Checkout for Insane Discount: maynewsletter2025)

provide a course outline for SSHF

Here’s a sample of what you’ll see.

I didn’t see it at first but I do now. 🤯These LLMs are going to revolutionize education and learning. It you’re having a hard time getting started, use this prompt.

can you create a study plan for me for learning SSHF

Here’s what you’ll get.

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Obviously I’m shilling my product but this concept applies to just about everything. I call it concept reductionism. Reduce anything to the 1% and use that as a base for learning everything else.

This is particularly effective to newcomers to any discipline. Any one of these tech skills by itself is overwhelming. If you’re new to any role you might have ten skills you need to learn for an entry level job then you’re immediately overwhelmed. Don’t be. Focus on the 1%.

Let’s do another simple example. If you’re going to work in machine learning then you’ll need to know Pandas and know it well. There are several Python libraries you’ll use every single day and Pandas is one of them. Where do you start? Right here.

list the basic principles of pandas in a course like form

Here’s an abbreviated look at the results. 

ChatGPT actually creates several answers of the 1% in the output to your prompt. Firstly, you’ll need to know what Pandas is. Next, there are two core data structures and they’ll be in every single interview questions on Pandas I guarantee it. Thirdly, the most used function in all of Pandas, the famous read csv function.

If you’re new to machine learning you have your work ahead of you but this is how you build a foundation. If you’re interested in machine learning, here are a few prompts to interrogate the output above.

• What is a Series in Pandas

• What is a DataFrame in Pandas

• What is an array

• What is a multi-dimensional array

• what is a function

• what is a alias in Python

The more you know, the better off you’ll be. With that said, everything in every discipline starts with understanding the basics. 

Have a great day. Stay focused. Stay hyper focused. 👏