"All candidates must have solid SQL coding skills and the ability to set up and manipulate multi-table databases." -- From a job ad.
Just spotted this little gem. Surely if you got any SQL skills at all, you'll be able to manipulate a multi-table database? Could it be that the absolute limit of a lot of people out there who claim to be programmers is "select * from table where column=whatever", and "complex joins" just means someone who can do any join at all.