SQL is one of the most important skills for any programmer be it a Java, C++, Python, JavaScript, or Ruby developer. Almost 95% of the Java applications use a relational database in their back-end and almost all web applications use the database. In recent years, one of the most common ways to learn any programming skill is online, at your comfort of the office or home and SQL is no different. Learning SQL online has another advantage of a quick head start because you don't need to install a database and create tables to write some SELECT queries.
The installation and setup are definitely a tough part for beginners and I have gone through that pain every time I have to learn a new database.
Anyway, once you start writing queries and seeing the result, you feel that confidence needed to go to the next level, which involves downloading and installing a free copy of popular databases like MySQL, SQL Server, or Oracle in your machine.
From my experience, I can say that SQL is easy to learn but difficult to master. You can start writing SQL queries in about an hour or so, but when it comes to writing queries to solve real-time requirements or for reporting purposes, it's not that easy.
Practicing SQL online on sites like SQLZoo or SQLFiddle will further help you to keep yourself up-to-date and keep improving your SQL skills, which is the main challenge for any SQL developer or programmer.
Since I have a passion to collect good resources for learning technology, I always bookmark my great discoveries. These websites are some of those.
Though, finding the right course is a tough job there as well because there are literally so many courses and you are not sure which instructor is best and which course meets your requirements, so you need to watch previews, read reviews, and decide based upon that.
If you ask me, The Complete SQL Bootcamp by Josh Portilla is the best course to learn SQL. It has on average 4.5 ratings from more than 127,000 students which are really impressive. The only thing is that it's not free but you can get it really cheap like in less than $10 on Udemy's flash sale which happens all the time.
The course also provides certificates to indicate that you have completed the SQL training, which you can add to your resume or Linkedin profile.
From my experience, I can say that SQL is easy to learn but difficult to master. You can start writing SQL queries in about an hour or so, but when it comes to writing queries to solve real-time requirements or for reporting purposes, it's not that easy.
Practicing SQL online on sites like SQLZoo or SQLFiddle will further help you to keep yourself up-to-date and keep improving your SQL skills, which is the main challenge for any SQL developer or programmer.
5 Best Resources to Learn SQL Online for FREE
Here is my collection of the top five websites, which I found good to learn and master SQL. There are many websites, blogs, and tutorials out there on the internet but at the same time, it's difficult to find excellent resources.Since I have a passion to collect good resources for learning technology, I always bookmark my great discoveries. These websites are some of those.
1. Udemy
This website has the biggest collection of online courses, both free and paid. Since online courses are a great way to learn a new technology or programming language, you can also use to learn the basics of SQL and Database.Though, finding the right course is a tough job there as well because there are literally so many courses and you are not sure which instructor is best and which course meets your requirements, so you need to watch previews, read reviews, and decide based upon that.
If you ask me, The Complete SQL Bootcamp by Josh Portilla is the best course to learn SQL. It has on average 4.5 ratings from more than 127,000 students which are really impressive. The only thing is that it's not free but you can get it really cheap like in less than $10 on Udemy's flash sale which happens all the time.
The course also provides certificates to indicate that you have completed the SQL training, which you can add to your resume or Linkedin profile.
As I have said, Udemy also has a lot of free courses to learn SQL and Database, and the following are my recommendations to start with.
These are some really good quality free courses you can take on Udemy to learn SQL and Database fundamentals, querying, etc.
Though you need to be careful that these courses may not remain free all the time and maybe converted into paid courses once the instructor reaches their promotional targets.
But, once you join, it will be free to you all the time. So, it's better to join them before they become paid course and learn at the time convenient to you.
The SQLZoo provides easy-to-understand tutorials and interactive examples to write queries and see results right in your browser.
You will find SQL interactive tutorials, examples, and exercises on this website. It covers most of the SQL clauses like SELECT clause to read data, CREATE to make a new database, ALTER to change the database, and DELETE to remove data and tables.
It also covers advanced concepts like GROUP BY, Indexes, Views, SQL Joins, Sub-queries, handling NULL values in SQL, etc. SQLZoo also has several SQL quizzes to test your knowledge.
In short, this site is one of the best resources to learn and master SQL online, and it's FREE. Every programmer who has an interest in SQL can benefit from this site.
You can use this course in both registered and non-registered mode, though it's better to get registered to save your progress. It's also a self-paced course so you can learn at your own speed.
This website also provides all course material for free e.g. SQL scripts, course slides, etc which you can download from relevant sections. Given this course is from Stanford University, you can rest assured of quality.
In this tutorial, you'll learn how to use SQL to store, query, and manipulate data. SQL is a special-purpose programming language designed for managing data in a relational database and is used by a huge number of apps and organizations.
I have used some tutorials from Khan Academy in past and this is one of them, it's like a virtual classroom.
- Introduction to Databases and SQL Querying - 4.3 ratings from 175,000 Students
- Advanced Databases and SQL Querying - 4.3 rating from approx. 100,000 Students
- Oracle SQL - A Complete Introduction - 4.5 rating from 25,000 Students
- Microsoft SQL Server - An Introduction - 4.4 ratings from 7,000 Students
These are some really good quality free courses you can take on Udemy to learn SQL and Database fundamentals, querying, etc.
Though you need to be careful that these courses may not remain free all the time and maybe converted into paid courses once the instructor reaches their promotional targets.
But, once you join, it will be free to you all the time. So, it's better to join them before they become paid course and learn at the time convenient to you.
2. SQLZoo
SQLZoo is one of the best and I guess the most popular website for learning SQL online. It provides both tutorials and exercises and that's why it is equally useful for someone just starting with SQL and programmers who know SQL but want some good practice to really master it.The SQLZoo provides easy-to-understand tutorials and interactive examples to write queries and see results right in your browser.
You will find SQL interactive tutorials, examples, and exercises on this website. It covers most of the SQL clauses like SELECT clause to read data, CREATE to make a new database, ALTER to change the database, and DELETE to remove data and tables.
It also covers advanced concepts like GROUP BY, Indexes, Views, SQL Joins, Sub-queries, handling NULL values in SQL, etc. SQLZoo also has several SQL quizzes to test your knowledge.
In short, this site is one of the best resources to learn and master SQL online, and it's FREE. Every programmer who has an interest in SQL can benefit from this site.
3. SQL Course from Stanford University
This is a free SQL course provided by Stanford University. This course contains good SQL video tutorials to explain both the basic and advanced concepts of SQL and Relational databases.You can use this course in both registered and non-registered mode, though it's better to get registered to save your progress. It's also a self-paced course so you can learn at your own speed.
This website also provides all course material for free e.g. SQL scripts, course slides, etc which you can download from relevant sections. Given this course is from Stanford University, you can rest assured of quality.
4. SQL Course from Khan Academy
Khan Academy, one of the best websites to learn computer science and programming online also has a good SQL tutorial with the title "Intro to SQL: Querying and managing databases".In this tutorial, you'll learn how to use SQL to store, query, and manipulate data. SQL is a special-purpose programming language designed for managing data in a relational database and is used by a huge number of apps and organizations.
I have used some tutorials from Khan Academy in past and this is one of them, it's like a virtual classroom.
A good companion of SQLZoo makes your study complete. You can also take help from some good SQL books like Head First SQL if you are a beginner, the head first way is one of the best ways to learn SQL.
It contains 20 lessons starting from a basic SQL query to more advanced and confusing Join queries, aggregation, filtering, and dealing with nulls. It is one of the best resources to learn SQL for complete beginners.
So if you are the one who wants to learn SQL or you know SQL but don't feel comfortable then go and try out SQLBolt's interactive SQL tutorials. SQLBolt also has SQL tasks after each lesson, which will force you to use the knowledge you have learned in the lesson.
The quality of queries is good, easy to start with, and getting difficult afterward. If you are stuck while writing an SQL query to solve the task, you can even take help from their solution.
I suggest you finish the task as soon as you finish the lessor and then the next day just do the task with some variation.
That's all about some of the best resources to learn SQL online for FREE. Though the Internet is full of free stuff it's hard to find a good resource. I still respect curated resources and have benefited a lot from them. Though nothing can substitute classroom training, a combination of books, blogs, video tutorials, and interactive websites can really help you to get there.
Some other FREE online resources for Programmers
5. SQLBolt
SQLBolt is another good website to learn SQL with simple, interactive examples. It contains a series of interactive lessons and exercises designed to help you quickly learn SQL right in your browser.It contains 20 lessons starting from a basic SQL query to more advanced and confusing Join queries, aggregation, filtering, and dealing with nulls. It is one of the best resources to learn SQL for complete beginners.
So if you are the one who wants to learn SQL or you know SQL but don't feel comfortable then go and try out SQLBolt's interactive SQL tutorials. SQLBolt also has SQL tasks after each lesson, which will force you to use the knowledge you have learned in the lesson.
The quality of queries is good, easy to start with, and getting difficult afterward. If you are stuck while writing an SQL query to solve the task, you can even take help from their solution.
I suggest you finish the task as soon as you finish the lessor and then the next day just do the task with some variation.
That's all about some of the best resources to learn SQL online for FREE. Though the Internet is full of free stuff it's hard to find a good resource. I still respect curated resources and have benefited a lot from them. Though nothing can substitute classroom training, a combination of books, blogs, video tutorials, and interactive websites can really help you to get there.
Some other FREE online resources for Programmers
- 10 best SQL and Database Online Courses (best courses)
- The Complete DevOps RoadMap (roadmap)
- 10 Free Courses to learn SQL Server Database (free courses)
- Website to Practice SQL queries online on any database using SQLFiddle (see here)
- 2 Websites to Learn Coding Online in Java and Python (see here)
- Top 5 Java EE Blogs Developer Should Follow (see here)
- Top 5 Websites to learn Java Coding for FREE (websites)
- 5 Best Courses to learn MySQL Database for Beginners (courses)
- Top 5 Forums for Java Developers (see here)
- Top 5 Courses to learn PostgreSQL for beginners (courses)
- 10 Free Books to Learn Java (check here)
- 10 Free Courses to Learn Java Programming for Beginners (courses)
- 5 Free Courses to Learn Spring and Spring Boot (courses)
- The Complete React JS RoadMap (roadmap)
- 5 Free Courses to learn Database and SQL online (courses)
Thanks for reading this article so far. If you like these websites to learn SQL online for FREE 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 are someone like me who knows SQL but always looking to increase knowledge and loves to try out some good SQL queries, check out Joe Celko's SQL Puzzles and Answers, Second Edition, It one of the excellent resources to learn and master SQL programming.
P. S. - If you are someone like me who knows SQL but always looking to increase knowledge and loves to try out some good SQL queries, check out Joe Celko's SQL Puzzles and Answers, Second Edition, It one of the excellent resources to learn and master SQL programming.
livesql.oracle.com is also very useful for this.
ReplyDeleteThere are two new interactive SQL courses that are worth mentioning: SQL Queries course at Vertabelo Academy and Learn SQL at Codecademy. Both courses are completely free and have many interactive exercises to practice your SQL skills.
ReplyDelete@Marc, Thanks for these websites, I agree they are worth including in this list and a great resource for anyone who wants to learn SQL online at free of cost.
ReplyDeleteFor learning PostgreSQL, I recommend https://pgexercises.com, which contains lots of SQL query based exercise and runtime for PostgreSQL database.
ReplyDeleteAnother good site is https://www.sqlteaching.com/ to learn general SQL. both are great resources.
Thanks for sharing this thoughtful list of SQL blogs. Found all of these useful for fine-tuning the SQL skills.
ReplyDeleteSQL Course from Stanford University exercises are way better than others and I highly recommend its exercises.
ReplyDeleteThanks for adding value @Anonymous, can you also post URL, it would help others.
ReplyDeleteThanks for adding value
ReplyDeleteHow can I expertise in SQL in one month?
ReplyDeleteBefore we going into deep lets we discuss about Pareto Principle .It says
“80% of result can be obtained by 20% of your efforts. “
If you can master only important queries then you can easily expertise in sql.
So below are the things we need to give first preference and most focus to start.
* understand tables, columns, rows, DBMS.
* select data using SELECT. How to select with conditions.
* group information in a database with GROUP BY.
* join information from two tables using INNER JOIN, OUTER JOIN.
Once you master this, you can do 75% of the job as a programmer. Later it will be important to learn functions that enable you to format the results you returned with your queries (format string, dates).
To get started, please see my 30 days Action Plan to learn sql in a short period of time .
How to go through my action plan?
After working with hundreds of developers and students , I came to know about this secret .
I enclosed my action plan with oracle certified associate syllabus.
You can see and download my 30 Days Action plan in below link for FREE .
You can also enroll my 30 Days Challenge which is FREE for first 30 days and $9 per month after.
By spending 60 minutes a day for next 30 days you can easily master the SQL course
In my Action plan , I tell about what are the topics and the time you going to spend on Day1 ,Day2…Day30.
What’s in my course?
• 12 hours of hands on training videos
• 21 chapters. Each chapters explain with practical examples
• Quizzes at the end of each chapters
• 3 Model exams
• Sql interview questions and answers
• Sql project query exercise which enable you to write the query for your own
Wish you all the best .Happy Learning!!!
http://abdul.cc/sqlmaster
yes i learnt sql in 30 days by using above website http://abdul.cc/sqlmaster
Delete. Was very useful . Thanks Fathy
Great post, really appreciable.
ReplyDeleteJavin, please can you add one more resource in your free list - https://helpercodes.com/sql-query-cheatsheet-tutorial/
ReplyDelete