SQL vs. MySQL vs. NoSQL
SQL is a query language (and shorthand for "a relational database, any relational database"); MySQL is one specific relational database product that speaks SQL; NoSQL is the opposite category — databases that deliberately don't use SQL's table/row model at all.
How to tell them apart on a resume
SQL
Refers to relational database skills generally — could mean Postgres, MySQL, SQL Server, or Oracle; the resume rarely says which.
MySQL
Refers to one specific database product — a real signal, but only about that one engine, not relational databases broadly.
NoSQL
Refers to document, key-value, or wide-column stores like MongoDB or DynamoDB — a different category, not a competing SQL dialect.
The question that settles it
“When you say SQL, which database engine specifically — and when you say NoSQL, do you mean something MongoDB-style?”
Read the full definitions
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