10 Free Courses to learn Database and SQL for Programmers and Data Scientists
Free courses learn SQL and Database concepts for beginners using Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, and MySQL from edX, Udemy, and Coursera.
Hello guys, I have been sharing some free programming resources like books and courses in this blog for quite some time. Earlier I have shared free courses on Java, Maven, Spring, and Data Structure and Algorithms and today I’ll share some of the free online training courses to learn SQL and Database.
Why you should learn SQL? Well, it’s one of the must-have skills for programmers, application developers, and IT professionals. Like Linux, this is one skill that is going to serve you longer than any other programming language, framework, or library.
SQL is used to interact with Database Systems like Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Microsoft SQL Server. As per ANSI (American National Standards Institute), SQL stands for the Standard Query language for Relational Database Management Systems.
SQL is one of the important programming languages to interact with various Database Systems for many decades. While many languages that existed two decades ago are extinct now, SQL has always maintained its supremacy in the RDBMS world. Over time, it has only advanced with new features and standards. And it seems to stay that way for years to come.
Most of the real-world applications use relational data in one way or another and SQL is the query language to work with those data. IT allows you to query data to find what you are interested in.
SQL helps you to understand the data, an important part of your application as well as during troubleshooting.
For example, if you are working for an e-commerce giant like Amazon then you can pull out the best selling items by writing an SQL query. Good knowledge of SQL needs to effectively do your job.
10 Free Courses to Learn SQL and Database using Oracle, MySQL, and SQL Server
In this article, I’ll share courses that will help you to learn the basics of SQL and Database. You will learn how to write SQL queries, both basic and advanced like using joins and aggregate functions, etc. I have also included a course on Oracle and SQL Server, two of the most popular database of the modern world which enhance SQL with some proprietary features.
1. Introduction to Databases and SQL Querying (Udemy best course)
This is an introductory Udemy online course on Databases and SQL Querying. There are no pre-requisites for this course. If you are looking to get acquainted with the concept of Databases and Queries for maybe your next interview as an analyst, this is the right course for you.
In this course, you will learn about writing simple queries including queries related to Dates, String manipulation, Aggregation, etc. The advanced concepts like joining multiple tables are not covered but you get a good idea of SQL to explore further yourself.
In short, a good SQL course for beginners with absolutely no experience in database or programming. Apart from DBA and Application developers, BA, QA, and other people who want to learn SQL can use this course.
Here is the link to sign up for FREE — Introduction to Databases and SQL Querying
2. SQL for Data Science (Coursera Best course to Learn SQL)
SQL is one of the most important skills for Data scientists, probably more important than any programmer because they have to deal with Data for than anyone else.
While Pandas is great and Microsoft Excel is also a useful tool for any Data Scientist, there is no substitute for SQL and if you are serious about learning SQL from the best of the best then this free SQL course from Coursera is the best way to start with.
In this free SQL course, offered by UCDavis and Coursera, SAdle St Lawrence will teach you SQL from scratch.
The purpose of this course is to introduce relational database concepts and help you learn and apply foundational knowledge of the SQL language. It is also intended to get you started with performing SQL access in a data science environment.
Here is the link to sign up for FREE —SQL for Data Science
And, if you find Coursera courses useful, which they are because they are created by reputed companies like Google, IBM, Amazon, and best universities around the world, I suggest you join the Coursera Plus, a subscription plan from Coursera
This single subscription gives you unlimited access to their most popular courses, specialization, professional certificate, and guided projects. It cost around $399/year but its complete worth of your money as you get unlimited certificates.
3. Introduction to SQL — Free (DataCamp)
If you are looking for a free, hands-on course to learn SQL where you could not just learn theory but also practice SQL queries then you will love this free SQL course from Datacamp.
Datacamp is an interactive online learning platform created for Data professionals like Data Analyst, Data Scientist as well as Data Engineer and its designed to teach you necessary data skills in a interactive way.
In this free course you will learn how to create and query relational database in just 2 hours. The course not just contains video lessons but more than 24 exercises to give you enough practice, and the best thing is that you don’t need to download or install any SQL platform like MysQL, PostgreSQL, or bulky Oracle and SQL Server.
Everything you will do in browser like writing SQL queries and executing them, which is really nice. Talking about social proof, almost half a million people have joined this course and it has amazing ratings and reviews.
Here is the link to join this free course — Introduction to SQL
I also liked the Datacamp platform as a whole because of data focused content and engaging delivery. if you also find it useful then you can also get a paid Datacamp subscription.
I generally recommend the standard plan because it is right-priced and you get access to all the essentials to grow your data skills like 350+ courses, 14 career tracks, 50+ skill tracks, unlimited practice challenges, and live code along. It cost around $25/month on an annual plan and it’s totally worth it.
4. Microsoft SQL Server for Beginners | ZERO to HERO (Free)
This is another great free course to learn SQL basics from Udemy, particularly how to write SQL queries on Microsoft SQL Server. The author, Future Ibeche, who is a Data Analyst and Business Analyst have done a good job of explaining tricky concepts like joins to beginners.
In this course, you will not only learn about SQL basics like primary key, foreign key, and performing CRUD operation but also learn advanced concepts such as writing SQL joins, and how to write aggregation based queries and how to do backups and restores.
The course uses SQL Server and all the scripts which are used of course are also available for download to make your learning better. In short, good SQL overview courses for students and programmers starting the first time with SQL and Database.
Here is the link to sign up for FREE — Microsoft SQL Server for Beginners | ZERO to HERO (Free)
5. Oracle SQL: An Introduction to the most popular database
If you have worked with the database in real-world projects then you know that every vendor is different. Each vendor provides some additional functionalities or operators to SQL running on their system. That’s SQL query that runs on Oracle might not run on Microsoft SQL or MySQL, unless you are using ANSI SQL.
Oracle SQL is a little bit different than ANSI SQL and used for Oracle RDBMS, one of the leading relational databases in the world
This is a beginner-level course and even if you are starting with SQL and database first time, you can join this course. If you are thinking to learn SQL for the Oracle database then this is the right course for you.
Here is the link to sign up for FREE — Oracle SQL: An Introduction to the most popular database
6. Querying Data with Transact-SQL (edX free course)
Along with Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server is another popular relational database and it has its own SQL dialects T-SQL. It provides some useful functions and operators to standard SQL.
If you want to learn SQL in Microsoft SQL Server then this is the right course for you. In this free online training course from edX, you will learn how to install SQL Server Express for free, thanks to edX Team
You will also learn how to create tables and add data to tables. Once you have your database ready you can start practicing SQL queries. This makes this course ideal for beginner DBAs as well as for programmers and application developers who use MSSQL.
Here is the link to sign up for FREE — Querying Data with Transact-SQL
7. SQL and Database course by freeCodeCamp
FreeCodeCamp Youtube channel also has a nice SQL and Database course to learn this important skill. In this course, Mike Dane will teach you database management basics and SQL.
In this course, Mike will help you install MySQL on Windows or Mac. Then he explores topics like schema design, Create-Read-Update-Delete operations (CRUD), and other database fundamentals.
If you’ve never studied databases or SQL before, this is a great starting point as the course covers things like What is Database, What is SQL, Creating Tables and Inserting data, etc. You can watch the full course on Youtube.
8. Introduction to Structured Query Language (SQL) (Coursera)
This is another free course to learn SQL and Database from Coursera. This course is offered by the University of Michigan and relieved by Charles Russel Severance, one of the top instructors on Coursera.
This course is also part of the Web Applications for Everybody Specialization, and completing this course will count towards that certification.
In this course, you will learn about how to perform CRUD operations (Create, Read, Update, Delete,) but also learn some advanced SQL query techniques like SQL JOINS and Stored procedures.
You’ll also learn about single table queries and the basic syntax of the SQL language, as well as database design with multiple tables, foreign keys, and the JOIN operation. Lastly, you’ll learn to model many-to-many relationships like those needed to represent users, roles, and courses.
Here is the link to sign up for FREE —Introduction to Structured Query Language (SQL)
9. Advanced Databases and SQL Querying (Udemy)
This course is an advanced T-SQL Querying course for programmers who have basic Ideas of SQL and Microsoft SQL Server.
It expects that you are already aware of basic database concepts and are comfortable writing basic T-SQL queries like SELECT, JOINS, etc. This course covers advanced topics like views, triggers, dynamic queries, pivots, etc.
If you looking for your next database job or trying to improve your existing SQL Server and T-SQL knowledge and apply it to your projects, this is the right course for you.
Here is the link to sign up for FREE — Advanced Databases and SQL Querying
10. Learn PostgreSQL Tutorial — Full Course for Beginners
If you want to learn SQL using the PostgreSQL database then you will love this free course from freeCodeCamp.
In this 4 and a half online SQL training course, you will learn how to use PostgreSQL in this full course. PostgreSQL is a general-purpose and object-relational database management system. It is the most advanced open-source database system widely used to build back-end systems.
You can watch this course for free on Youtube on freeCodecamp channel on here itself, here is the link:
11. Learn SQL for FREE (CodeCademy best course)
This is another great resource to learn SQL and Database basics online on CodeCademy. If you prefer short, interactive, and structured learning then you will really love this course.
In this course, you’ll learn how to communicate with relational databases through SQL. You’ll learn — and practice with 4 projects — how to manipulate data and build queries that communicate with more than one table.
You will learn about basic SQL commands, manipulations, queries, and aggregate functional like COUNT, SUM, MAX, MIN, etc. You will also stress-test your knowledge with quizzes that help commit syntax to memory
Here is the link to join this free SQL course — Learn SQL
That’s all about some of the free courses to learn the database and how to write SQL queries. As I said, SQL is an important skill and every programmer should know it. If you don’t know SQL then you should spend some time learning basic SQL commands and advanced concepts like joins, aggregation, and window functions. The time and money spent on learning SQL will serve you well in your IT career.
If you have any other course which we can add into this list, feel free to suggest.
Other Free Online Courses You May like to explore
5 Free Courses to learn Docker for Beginners
10 Free Courses to Learn AWS for Beginners
5 Free Courses to learn R for Data Science
15 Free Courses to learn Python Programming for Beginners
10 Free Courses to learn Java Programming
10 Books and Courses to learn Angular for Web Development
My favorite free courses to learn Data Structure and Algorithms
My favorite free JavaScript Tutorials for Beginners
10 FREE Python Tutorials form Microsoft and Google
100+ Udemy free Courses to learn Programming
My favorite free courses to learn Jenkins, Maven, and Docker
Thanks for reading this article so far. If you like these Database and SQL courses then please share them with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions or feedback then please drop a note.
P. S. — If you don’t mind investing a few bucks on your learning then I also suggest you check out The SQL Bootcamp course by Jose Marcial Portilla on Udemy. It’s a very hands-on and comprehensive course and very affordable too. I bought it for just $10 on the Udemy sale.
