A Comprehensive Guide To Different Types Of SQL Courses

By Indeed Editorial Team

Updated 7 November 2022

Published 13 December 2021

The Indeed Editorial Team comprises a diverse and talented team of writers, researchers and subject matter experts equipped with Indeed's data and insights to deliver useful tips to help guide your career journey.

If you are a database administrator, data analyst, developer or a non-technical person like a teacher or a financial advisor, knowing Structured Query Language (SQL) can add to your list of technical skills. SQL is among the most popular and commonly used database query languages. A certification course in SQL can give you an advantage while looking for new job opportunities. In this article, we examine the type of SQL courses, their benefits and list five popular SQL server certification courses.

What Are The Types Of SQL Courses?

You can pursue different types of SQL courses based on your current knowledge and exposure to SQL. There are different courses available for beginners with no SQL knowledge, professionals with some knowledge of SQL and developers with good SQL knowledge. You can join either an offline or online programme. Popular types of SQL courses include introductory courses and intermediate-level courses. Advanced courses teach database concepts, database design with SQL, big data analysis and business intelligence.

While some basic courses last two to three weeks, advanced courses may be six months long. You can quantify online programmes in terms of hours and they are mostly self-paced, giving you the flexibility of learning at your convenience. The amount of practise you get and work experience in real-world projects improves your mastery over SQL.

Who Can Join A SQL Certification Course?

SQL is a programming language that communicates with a database. SQL has countless technological uses and it is a useful additional skill for back-end developers, database administrators, data analysts, machine learning specialists, mobile app developers and data scientists. While developers can learn SQL as an additional skill to expand their knowledge and increase their marketability, analysts use it to update and retrieve data. SQL courses may benefit non-technical people like business owners, data analysts, financial analysts, financial advisors and marketing professionals. Education, healthcare, quality assurance and business intelligence companies also hire SQL proficient employees for data analysis.

What Is The Difference Between SQL, MS-SQL And MySQL?

When you start your research on what SQL course may suit you, you may come across the terms MySQL and MS-SQL. SQL is a Structured Query Language used to manipulate and manage relational databases. MS-SQL and MySQL are Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) offered by different vendors. MS-SQL is an RDBMS from Microsoft. MySQL is from a Swedish company called MySQLAB, which is now part of Sun Microsystems. Other popular databases include PostgreSQL, SQLite, MongoDB, Redis and Firebase.

5 Popular SQL Courses

There is no specific eligibility criteria or entrance examination for basic SQL courses. If you want to join advanced courses, you may require SQL knowledge and experience working with relational databases or software development life cycles. If you are want to learn SQL, you can consider the following types of courses:

1. The Complete SQL Bootcamp 2020: Go from Zero to Hero from Udemy

If you have basic computer skills with no knowledge of SQL but are interested in learning it, you can join this course. It is a nine-hour programme for beginners. This course teaches you to create complex queries in a database using PostgreSQL. The advantage of this course is that you can apply the same skills to other SQL systems including MySQL, MS-SQL Serve and Redshift. It is a self-paced course with challenges and tests based on real-world scenarios. The course teaches you the following:

SQL syntax
Basic to advanced commands
Aggregate functions
PostgreSQL and PgAdmin
String operations
Comparison operations
SQL JOIN commands
Table creation
Python programming

2. Structure Query Language Intro by the University of Michigan offered by Coursera

This is a self-paced 16-hour intermediate course, ideal for those with basic knowledge of SQL. This course is part of four courses on Web Applications for Everybody Specialisation. The topics of this course include:

Installing a text editor
MAMP
XAMPP
Creating a MySQL database
Phypmyadmin
MySQL
Relational databases
Single table queries
Data table design
Modelling many-to-many relationships

3. The Ultimate MySQL Bootcamp: Go from SQL Beginner to Expert from Udemy

This certification course provides a comprehensive understanding of MySQL. The course aims to help you create databases, generate complex SQL queries and model real-world data. There are no prerequisites for this course and you can join without previous knowledge of SQL or programming languages. You can register online, pay the tuition fee and download the course materials. After completing the 20-hour course, you can use your skills in real-life situations like identifying top users of a website, identifying top students of a class or identifying popular and trending hashtags. The certification course helps you to:

Learn SQL syntax
Write complex queries using MySQL
Build web apps using MySQL and NodeJS
Create databases
Analyse and report actual data
Write JavaScript code to generate dummy data set
Write common SQL joins

4. Analysing Big Data with SQL from Coursera

Analysing Big Data with SQL is a beginner-level certificate course and is ideal for professionals who have basic knowledge of SQL. If you are in big data, this course may be ideal for enhancing your knowledge of big data. Knowing the fundamentals of SQL and the ability to install virtual machines and software are the only prerequisites for this course. It is an 18-hour course where you can pay for downloading materials and start learning. The course teaches concepts related to SQL, including:

Overview of SQL SELECT and its clauses
SQL engines Apache Impala and Apache Hive
PostgreSQL and MySQL
Data analysis
Data filtering
Data combining
Data sorting and limiting

5. Complete SQL+Databases Bootcamp: Zero to Mastery 2022 by ZTM

If you are looking for a comprehensive online certification course for SQL, you can consider this course. It covers an exhaustive syllabus on SQL concepts. This is ideal for an SQL developer or any other professional working with databases. It covers most aspects of SQL that you may want to master. Starting from the fundamentals of SQL, it progressively covers advanced concepts and topics that help in decision-making for any data-related work in a company. There are no prerequisites for this course as it starts from the basics. Some topics covered in this course are:

SQL basics and functions
Subqueries
Indexes
SQL JOINS
Database types
Postgres/SQL data types
Big data and analytics
Database security
Data engineering
NoSQL (MongoDB) vs PostgreSQL
MySQL vs New SQL

What Are The Benefits Of Learning SQL?

SQL is easy to learn and is a universal programming language. Individuals can use it to track and monitor expenses and institutions can track student performance using it. If you are a developer, learning SQL can help you transition from one database to another, enhance your programming skills and make troubleshooting easy. Some benefits of learning SQL include:

Optimising information from data

Some businesses and services work in non-technical areas. They may have a lot of data generated from their transactions. For example, educational institutions, retail companies and e-commerce platforms are data driven. Learning SQL improves your skills, allowing you to diversify your role within a company. Companies often hire professionals with skills that can help them increase productivity, cut costs and identify best and worst performing areas.

Learning an in-demand skill

Many technologies like smartphones, web applications and databases in small and big businesses use SQL. SQL is the default code language for interfacing with databases. The demand for developers with SQL is likely to be evergreen and hence, learning an in-demand skill can benefit a developer.

Improving understanding of RDBMS

Developers use databases to solve many complex problems. Learning SQL helps them remove poor code and identify errors and bugs faster. SQL knowledge helps a developer understand the limitations of an RDBMS and helps them decide which applications can be in a database and which they can move. It also gives a developer a better understanding of data validation within a database.

Increasing marketability for developers

Some IT roles that require knowledge of SQL are back-end developer, database administrator, data scientist, machine learning specialist and app developer. By developing SQL skills, a software developer can increase their scope of employment. SQL is an easy language to learn and as someone with a programming background, developers can learn SQL quickly.

Earning a higher salary

Along with education and experience, certifications and additional skills are key factors that determine a professional's salary. If you know an in-demand skill, a company may not require the services of an additional professional for data analysis. Data analysis can impact a company positively in multiple ways. You can use this to negotiate for a raise in salaries.

Generating new business

In software development, your customers may expect trained professionals to handle their database management needs. To better serve those who count on you, including customers and internal or external stakeholders, it is important to ensure that qualified people are doing the work. One way to do that is to hire professionals with valid certifications in SQL.

Please note that none of the companies, institutions or organisations mentioned in this article are associated with Indeed.