Where to learn SQL

SQL is powerful and ubiquitous and it's one of the easier data science tools to get started with. An informal polling of data scientists online generated a great list of possibilities. Here are a some of my favorites.

All of these courses are beloved by someone. There are probably other good ones that I haven't included. But it's a place to start. I'm biased toward courses that are accessibile (free, no signup, intuitive to navigate) and emphasize practice. I focused on courses recommended by someone other than their creator.

Best first course

SQL Bolt comes well recommended. It's intuitive and lightweight. Practice available throughout. Free with no sign-in.

Best preparation for working in Kaggle

Kaggle's Intro to SQL also comes highly recommended. It focuses on using Google BigQuery in the Kaggle environment. Registration required. It also comes with a Kaggle SQL summer camp video companion.

Most polished

SQL for Data Science Analysis, through Udacity has a highly professional presentation throughout. It's free, but sign-in required. A sequence of video examples gives a gentle progression through the material.

It's taught by Derek Steer, former CEO of Mode Analytics, which also produces the popular Mode tutorials and the Mode SQL editor.

Also good

• Free Courses
  • SelectStar.com Clean design, case-driven. Free with interspersed practice. Thoughtfully written tutorial matter in between.
  • PostgreSQL Exercises PostgreSQL-specific with practice throughout. Lightweight and free with no sign-in.
  • W3 Schools An oldie, but a goodie. Especially good for reference.
• Paid Courses These cost money. Some come with a seven-day free trial. There is a you-get-what-you-pay-for component, but the correlation isn't perfect. I wasn't committed enough to my research to pay for these, but you can look at their reviews and marketing materials to get a better sense of what they're about.
  • Complete SQL bootcamp, through Udemy taught by Jose Portilla. Well rated.
  • Cloudera (on Coursera) Modern Big Data Analysis with SQL Specialization
  • Duke University (on Coursera)
  • Code Academy

Originally published June 27, 2019