Anthony DeBarros

I was born into a Portuguese-Italian family just north of New York City and found a love for books, music, and writing early in life. Only later did I find an aptitude for computing and working with data. I’m glad I did—writing code, counting things, and telling stories about what turned up has become both a career and a lot of fun.

For more than two decades, I’ve been a “data journalist,” combing through spreadsheets, building databases, scraping websites and sorting numbers to find news in data. For the past four years, I’ve worked at The Wall Street Journal, where I work with reporters covering world trade, the economy, demographics, and other topics.

My book, Practical SQL: A Beginner’s Guide to Storytelling with Data, is a mix of basic-to-advanced SQL lessons combined with data analysis tips I’ve learned—sometimes the hard way. Thanks to my publisher, No Starch Press, we’re on a second edition with translations in Korean, traditional Chinese and Polish.

In the past:

I’ve been a team leader, product manager and/or data journalist for USA Today, Questex, the Poughkeepsie Journal, and DocumentCloud. I also flipped burgers at McDonald's and did a stint as a DJ on a rock music station.

My work has received honors including a Silver Baton from the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards.

If you'd like to get in touch, please see the Get Help page on my book website.

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