Have you ever had to analyze or review SQL execution plans?

Yes, analyzing execution plans of SQL queries is an important practice for optimizing database performance.

The execution plan shows how the DBMS intends to execute the query: which indexes to use, the order of table joins, scanning methods, etc. This helps identify bottlenecks and suboptimal operations.

For example, in PostgreSQL, you can obtain a plan using the command:

EXPLAIN ANALYZE
SELECT * FROM users WHERE age > 30;

The output will show how many rows are processed, which indexes are used, and the execution time of each step.

In practice, analyzing plans helps to:

• Determine if additional indexes are needed.
• Understand why a query is slow.
• Identify redundant or inefficient joins.

Even at the junior developer level, it is useful to be able to read plans and make simple conclusions to improve queries.