how do I query sql for a latest record date for each user

select t.username, t.date, t.value
from MyTable t
inner join (
    select username, max(date) as MaxDate
    from MyTable
    group by username
) tm on t.username = tm.username and t.date = tm.MaxDate

Using window functions (works in Oracle, Postgres 8.4, SQL Server 2005, DB2, Sybase, Firebird 3.0, MariaDB 10.3)

select * from (
    select
        username,
        date,
        value,
        row_number() over(partition by username order by date desc) as rn
    from
        yourtable
) t
where t.rn = 1

I see most of the developers use an inline query without considering its impact on huge data.

Simply, you can achieve this by:

SELECT a.username, a.date, a.value
FROM myTable a
LEFT OUTER JOIN myTable b
ON a.username = b.username 
AND a.date < b.date
WHERE b.username IS NULL
ORDER BY a.date desc;