# Why JOIN USING Can Lead to Errors in SQL

DevFeed: [Why JOIN USING Can Lead to Errors in SQL](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/why-join-using-can-lead-to-errors-in-sql-28973.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://blog.jooq.org/why-join-using-can-lead-to-errors-in-sql/>)

Author: lukaseder

Published: 2026-05-04T14:02:39Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [jOOQ](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/jooq.md>)

Topics: [SQL](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/sql.md>), [Databases](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/databases.md>), [PostgreSQL](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/postgresql.md>)

Tags: [audit-columns](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/audit-columns.md>), [errors](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/errors.md>), [join](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/join.md>), [postgresql](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/postgresql.md>), [production](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/production.md>), [schema](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/schema.md>), [sql](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/sql.md>), [statement](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/statement.md>), [syntax](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/syntax.md>), [table](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/table.md>)

## AI overview

The article explains why JOIN USING and NATURAL JOIN can make SQL queries fragile as schemas evolve. Adding a same-named column can introduce ambiguity or change join behavior, causing existing queries to fail, so explicit join conditions are recommended for production queries.

## Source excerpt

Some SQL operators are as esoteric as they're powerful. One of the oldest operator that you've likely hardly ever used in real world applications is NATURAL JOIN which is the default in relational algebra. We've covered a funky use-case for NATURAL JOIN earlier on this blog. The main reason why it's not very useful is ... Continue reading Why JOIN USING Can Lead to Errors in SQL ->