Extracting information and insights from the masses of data every business collects is critical to long-term success. One of the best ways of achieving this is through SQL (Structured Language Query), and below we've showcased some of the best SQL courses around to help you or your employees upskill in this vital programming language.
Upskilling is a proven method for gaining necessary technical skills across a team, including with database programming. And those in the job market can see that a range of technical skills are in demand, none more so than SQL programming.
Businesses are also casting their recruitment nets far wider than just graduates. With so many online courses available, many people have chosen the self-taught route to gain the needed programming skills. The quality of courses available today is also very high, with many courses offering recognized qualifications. So, learning SQL programming could be a lucrative career move.
What is SQL?
SQL (pronounced ‘sequel’) has been a widely used programming language since its appearance in the late 1970s. SQL is often used to manage and manipulate databases, and to query relational databases that contain information related to other datasets.
The skills needed to write SQL queries have been in constant demand since the inception of SQL databases. Today, most businesses use SQL and, consequently, have a high demand for staff with SQL programming skills.
Whether you want to expand your skills or are beginning your coding career, becoming proficient with SQL programming will deliver many potential job opportunities. Below are what we consider to be some of the best SQL courses on the market today, covering both beginner and advanced learning.
The best SQL courses for 2024
The Ultimate MySQL Bootcamp: Go from SQL Beginner to Expert
Best overall SQL course
Provider: Colt Steele (via Udemy)
Price: $109.99 (£59.99)
Course link: The Ultimate MySQL Bootcamp: Go from SQL Beginner to Expert
Course duration: 20 hours
This course boasts that you will go from beginner to expert in just over 36 hours. The course is undoubtedly comprehensive, moving students from basic concepts to data types and aggregate functions. Using MySQL 8, new topics, including Windows Functions, Views and SQL modes, have been added foe 2023. The hands-on boot camp approach taken with the course means there are plenty of practical exercises to complete.
Upon completion, students should be able to interact with and query any SQL database and generate reports, answer company performance questions using data, and integrate MySQL into complete applications.
Databases and SQL for Data Science with Python
Best SQL course with academic credit
Provider: IBM (via Coursera)
Price: $47 (£38) per month
Course link: Databases and SQL for Data Science with Python
Course length: 31 hours
Aimed at the beginner with no prior database programming knowledge, this course moves students through basic to foundation concepts of the SQL language. Over the six modules the course consists of, students cover relational databases and tables, accessing databases using Python and advanced SQL for data engineering.
Students who complete this course earn college credits towards a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences.
SQL: Master SQL Database Queries in Just 90 Mins!
Best SQL course for intensive learning
Provider: Udemy
Price: $44 (£34.99)
Course link: SQL - Master SQL Database Queries in Just 90 Minutes!
Course length: 1 hour 30 minutes
If time is of the essence, this course aims to teach SQL database queries in just 90 minutes. As SQL databases are so entrenched in most businesses, understanding how to write basic queries is a skill many workers should possess.
This course is ideal for anyone who has regular contact with SQL databases. It is a crash course, but the structure moves students through foundation concepts to actually writing their first queries.
SQL & Database Design A-Z: Learn MS SQL Server + PostgreSQL
Best SQL course for data science
Provider: Kirill Eremenko, et al (via Udemy)
Price: £59.99 ($75)
Course link: SQL & Database Design A-Z: Learn MS SQL Server + PostgreSQL
Course length: 12 hours 30 minutes
This course is an excellent foundation for anyone building a career in data science or data analytics. Students learn how to create database queries for PostgreSQL. The course also looks more closely at OLAP (Online Analytics Processing) and OLTP (Online Transaction Processing) databases, particularly how they differ.
The core of this course is how databases are designed, which is an essential skill to build a career in SQL query programming.
Advanced SQL for Query Tuning and Performance Optimization
Best SQL course for advanced users
Provider: LinkedIn Learning
Price: $20 - $50 (£16 - £40) (including VAT) for individual courses. A monthly subscription costs $39.99 (£32) or yearly for $323 (£257). LinkedIn Premium members can access every course for no extra cost.
Course link: Advanced SQL for Query Tuning and Performance Optimization
Course length: 1 hour 44 minutes
Learning to create SQL queries in isolation will not deliver the depth of understanding needed today. This course places SQL queries in the real world, as it considers the execution of SQL queries, how they impact the database and the processing power needed.
The course reveals how SQL query designers can model strategies to ensure each query runs efficiently and doesn't have a negative impact on database performance.
Excel to MySQL: Analytic Techniques for Business Specialization
Best SQL course for Excel users
Provider: Coursera
Price: $47 (£38) per month
Course link: Excel to MySQL: Analytic Techniques for Business Specialization
Course length: 6 months (5 hours per week on average)
This course invites students to turn data into value. SQL query programming has become an essential skill all enterprises need to extract valuable information from their SQL databases. This course is thorough and comprehensive for students who need more advanced training with SQL and its specific applications to Excel.
Learn SQL
Best SQL course for comprehensive learning
Provider: Udacity
Price: $399 (£320) per month (pay-as-you-go) (or save with two or more months access with upfront payment)
Course link: Learn SQL
Course length: 2 months (estimated)
The simple title of this course reveals a syllabus that equips students to create SQL and NoSQL queries for extensive dataset analysis. Beginning with an overview of SQL commands, functions and data cleaning methods, students then move on to learn how these query foundations are used with relational and non-relational databases.
Real-world projects and access to on-demand help and support make this course comprehensive and accessible for anyone looking to begin or enhance their SQL skills.
MS SQL Server: Learn MS SQL Server from Scratch
Best SQL course for MS SQL users
Provider: Udemy
Price: £64.99 ($81)
Course link: MS SQL Server: Learn MS SQL Server from Scratch
Course length: 5 hours 30 minutes
This course teaches the fundamental aspects of creating a database with MS SQL queries and moves on to managing SQL database (MS SQL server). Also, students will be introduced to MS Management Studio, which offers a graphical interface to manage and extract information from SQL databases.
At the end of this short course, students should be able to create SQL queries but also understand how these relate to an MS SQL server.
Learn Intermediate SQL for Marketers and Product Managers
Best SQL course for marketing
Provider: Codecademy
Price: £120 ($149.99)
Course link: Learn Intermediate SQL for Marketers and Product Managers
Course length: 5 hours (approx.)
This course is aimed at anyone within the marketing industry who needs to query SQL-based data. As with the financial application of SQL (often Excel spreadsheets), for marketers' sales funnels, churn metrics and customer data are all databases that can be queried for practical insights.
The hands-on nature of this course makes it accessible to anyone with no prior programming knowledge.
Deploying Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics and Azure SQL Database
Best SQL course for MS Azure users
Provider: Pluralsight
Price: £24 ($30) / month (after a 10-day trial)
Course link: Deploying Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics and Azure SQL Database
Course length: 1 hour 57 minutes
A core focus of this course is to place SQL querying within the context of Azure SQL Databases, Azure Data Warehouses, and Azure Data Factory resources. In addition, Deploying Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics and Azure SQL Database are covered as part of the CI/CD process.
This short course delivers highly focused information that equips students to use Azure DevOps to deploy Azure SQL Data Warehouses and Azure SQL Databases as part of an Agile development process.
SQL for Data Analysis: Beginner MySQL Business Intelligence
Best SQL courses for business leaders
Provider: Oak Academy (via Udemy)
Price: £59.99 ($75)
Course link: SQL for Data Analysis: Beginner MySQL Business Intelligence
Course length: 4 hours 30 minutes
For businesses that need to understand how the data their companies have can influence their strategic planning, this course offers an excellent foundation to build their knowledge and skills. The course uses MySQL database and MySQL Workbench to develop SQL queries for multiple tables by creating MySQL JOIN statements.
The real-world business cases related to these skills make this course highly practical for all business leaders.
