Advanced SQL courses for ongoing career learning
Whether you’re looking to upskill your team or onboard new hires, advanced SQL can help you reach your goals. Let’s start with a quick ‘why’ and ‘how,’ then we’ll dive into the courses themselves.
Why advanced SQL matters for business
Ever-expanding data volumes and increasing data complexity are the order of the day for the modern business world. There’s immense value locked away in these gigabytes of data, but it takes skill to know how to get at those valuable insights.
Advanced SQL skills make it easier to get the most out of your business’ data. Mastering advanced SQL grants the ability to extract valuable insights from large datasets, perform intricate data manipulations, and create custom reports tailored to specific business needs.
Why advanced SQL matters for career advancement
Taking advanced SQL courses deepens your team’s technical knowledge and expands their problem-solving abilities. They will learn advanced techniques for data analysis, gain insights into database optimization, and understand how to design efficient and scalable data architectures.
These skills not only make teams more proficient in working with databases but also equip them to tackle complex data science projects and collaborate effectively with data teams.
In addition to career growth, acquiring advanced SQL skills can lead to personal fulfillment. It allows your employees to develop a deeper understanding of data management principles and empowers them to contribute meaningfully to the field of data science.
Three essential types of advanced SQL Courses
Each of these types of courses can enhance and advance your team’s capabilities. You can explore the individual courses below, or visit the LinkedIn Learning Resource Center to explore learning paths.
Database management courses:
Led by: Jess Pomfret, Database Platform Architect
This course, dives into the realm of sophisticated SQLite queries, tackling complex join types, mastering grouping and advanced select options, exploring the power of windowing functions, and much more.
What sets this course apart is its integration with GitHub Codespaces—a seamless development environment that provides all the functionality of your favorite IDE without the hassle of local machine setup. With GitHub Codespaces, learners can practice hands-on from any machine, at any time.
Each installment offers bite-sized programming challenges which are designed to cater to various levels of difficulty, allowing learners to continuously challenge themselves and reinforce what they’ve learned. It's an ideal way to build confidence and solidify SQL expertise.
Advanced SQL: Window Functions
By Ami Levin, Trainer, Consultant and Mentor
Window functions are a significant and fundamental enhancement to modern SQL, offering a host of powerful capabilities. They provide access to neighboring rows without the need for subqueries, making it easier to develop higher-performing, more concise solutions.
In this course, your team will learn various constructs and advanced solution techniques using window functions, as well as how to harness the declarative and composable nature of SQL and its processing order. By the course's conclusion, learners will have gained a comprehensive understanding of the inherent advantages and disadvantages associated with each method.
Advanced SQL for Query Tuning and Performance Optimization
By Dan Sullivan, Data Architect, Data Engineer, Cloud Architect
Poor performance and long-running queries are commonplace, even for skilled SQL programmers. When teams understand fully how databases turn SQL queries into action, they will be better equipped to keep queries fast and efficient.
In this course, Dan offers strategies to analyze how queries are executed. He also explains the different types of indexes and how to tune queries for each, offers several methods for more efficient joins, and covers how to use partitioning and materialized views for further gains.
Data science and analytics courses:
Advanced SQL for Data Scientists
By Dan Sullivan
SQL is the go-to language for data analysis, and many data scientists are familiar with its basics. But as data sizes grow, it's crucial to go beyond the basics and level up your team’s SQL skills. That's where this course comes in.
Dan covers table design for large databases, takes a deep dive into indexes, including specialized indexes, and covers query optimization, too.
The course also covers SQL extensions, like user-defined functions and specialized data types. These extensions give the flexibility to apply custom business logic and enhance data analysis.
Advanced SQL for Data Science: Time Series
By Dan Sullivan
Time series data presents unique challenges for data scientists, as it encompasses various metrics, user interactions, and sensor-generated information collected over time. However, SQL provides features specifically designed to assist in analyzing time series data. This course teaches how to effectively standardize and model this type of dataset.
Instructor Dan Sullivan covers essential topics such as windowing, the difference between sliding and tumbling window calculations, and the use of SQL constructs like OVER and PARTITION BY to simplify analysis. Learners will also explore optimization techniques such as indexing, and dig into time series analysis methods like previous time period comparisons, moving averages, exponential smoothing, and linear regression.
Advanced SQL: Logical Query Processing, Part 1
By Ami Levin
This course goes beyond the basics of syntax to unlock a whole new realm of knowledge, shedding light on how relational database management systems process SQL queries and its direct impact on coding practices.
In this course, learners gain the tools to avoid common pitfalls and overcome processing limitations. It also covers advanced JOIN techniques that will elevate query proficiency to new heights, and teaches how to handle missing data effectively, ensuring the integrity of your team’s analysis.
But that's not all. We'll unravel the subtleties of ternary logic, delve into SELECT expression evaluation, and demystify grouping logic. Plus, it will equip your team with the know-how to implement efficient paging and ordering, making it easier to navigate large datasets.
Programming and design courses:
Advanced SQL for Application Development
By Dan Sullivan
In application development, a well-designed relational database is a prerequisite for success. However, a poorly crafted data architecture and inadequately written SQL code can lead to lackluster performance, unreliable services, and scalability challenges.
With a focus on practicality, this course offers a hands-on learning experience, complete with real-world examples and invaluable lessons. Your team can learn to master the art of building scalable and resilient databases that can seamlessly support any application.
Throughout the course, learners dive into the art of writing optimized SQL for transaction processing, a crucial skill for ensuring efficient data handling. They will:
Discover how to leverage the power of indexes to minimize read latency and maximize performance.
Explore the concept of data partitioning and learn how it can revolutionize your application's scalability.
Gain insights into object-relational mapping (ORM) and learn how to respond to common database errors like query timeouts and refused connections, ensuring the reliability and resilience of applications.
Designing Highly Scalable and Highly Available SQL Databases
By Dan Sullivan
This course takes a holistic approach to help developers and data modelers grasp the essential concepts and design patterns necessary for building databases that can effectively scale to meet the evolving demands of their business.
Dan begins by covering key requirements that pertain to specific functions and nonfunctional aspects like availability. By understanding these critical considerations, teams will be equipped to create robust data architectures and well-structured data models that align with your organization’s unique needs.
The course then explores the intricacies of handling data ingestion at scale, diving into the challenges associated with processing vast amounts of information. Discover design patterns and strategies that support a variety of ingestion patterns, empowering your team to efficiently handle data influx and maintain optimal performance, as well as scalable querying and query optimization.
Advanced SQL: High Performance Relational Divisions
By Ami Levin
Even if you're unfamiliar with the term, chances are you've encountered relational division in your work with SQL. In this course, Ami provides an overview and definition of relational division, then covers techniques to tackle its unique challenges.
This course features real-world scenarios and prompts learners to write their own queries, allowing them to put newfound knowledge into practice. As the course progresses, Ami walks learners through his methodology, ensuring that they grasp the most effective strategies for solving relational division challenges.
By the end of the course, your team wi'll not only have a solid understanding of how SQL operates but also the ability to identify relational division challenges and implement optimal solutions.
