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SQL for NEWBS

Weekender Crash Course

A Course You'll Actually Finish, David Kim, and Peter Sefton

Buff up your resume/CV and become interview-ready by learning real-world SQL in this course.

This SQL course has been taken by fine marketing and product folks at Google, Facebook, Amazon, Lyft, and Udemy.

Your Story:

Read more

Buff up your resume/CV and become interview-ready by learning real-world SQL in this course.

This SQL course has been taken by fine marketing and product folks at Google, Facebook, Amazon, Lyft, and Udemy.

Your Story:

Bill was looking to move into a more analytical role and saw SQL as a requirement in the job listings he saw.  He wanted to add "SQL" as a skill to his resume/CV with a clean conscience and back it up if any questions arose in the interview.  But getting there would take forever. Better to just "fake it til' you make it"... right?

                  Joe was working in a marketing position at a small company. He had a bunch of creative ideas but sometimes felt like he was shooting in the dark and guessing at what customers were doing.  If only he had some insights about user behavior so he could be a more data-driven marketer. But data analysis is only for technical folks… right?

  Our Story: 

                  David and Pete joined Udemy with little to no technical experience.  But after a lot of trial and error, headaches, and help from their friends, they got good enough to uncover unique insights for themselves, their team, and their company using SQL. They were able to discover interesting things about user behavior, create dashboards to track and measure progress on team goals, pull data for the exec team to use in investor pitch decks, and get data driven about decisions they made. They've since helped many team members buff up their data analysis skills and helped students land jobs.

  What You'll Learn: 

                  If you have no technical background, don't be afraid.  We've distilled our knowledge and experience using SQL into a short course so that by the end, you'll have the raw skills to do some real data analysis for your company using SQL - a language virtually EVERY company uses. Note: this courses teaches you real-world SQL - not just the theory in abstract, but real skills you can use to get more data-driven in your current job. 

  How This Course is Structured: 

  • In this course we'll be pretending we're a real business (i.e. Blockbuster) so the stuff you learn will be easy to apply to your own situation/company.  No abstract/theoretical mumbo jumbo.

  • We'll go through queries a real business would run while also teaching you the raw skills undergirding those queries so you can adapt those skills to create custom queries for your own specific purposes

  • To reinforce learning, we have exercises and quizzes scattered throughout the course so you can learn by doing

  • We'll have a bonus section where new lectures will be added occasionally (including student-requested lectures, more advanced topics, strategies for getting unstuck, etc.)

  • We'll be actively involved in the discussion board answering any questions you might have. Don't be afraid to ask.

  A Note About Pedagogy: 

                  We know what it's like to buy a book, feel good about yourself, never finish it and have nothing to show for it.  We don't want that to happen with this course.  We want this to be a course you'll actually finish. We believe half of learning is motivation and engagement, so we've tried extra hard to make this course fun, relevant, entertaining, and punchy - no frills, no dragging things out, just the good stuff. Heck, you might even find yourself skipping a party to spend time with your new best friends (i.e. us).  

  FAQs: 

  1. Do I need to purchase any software to take this course?    Nope. Everything we use to do data analysis with MySQL is completely free.  We'll walk you through the installation and set-up of any software we'll be using.

  2. Can I take this course with Linux? The set-up and installation lectures we've created are for Windows and Mac, and we don't currently have specific installation lectures for Linux.

  3. Is this about MySQL? Yes - we'll be using MySQL, but what you learn can be applied to pretty much all the variants of SQL (PostgreSQL, SQL Server, etc)

Enroll now

What's inside

Learning objectives

  • Analyze user behavior
  • Find actionable customer/business insights
  • Make data-driven decisions
  • Measure and track marketing efforts
  • Discover sexy marketing stats (e.g. 1 in 4 people love toast!)

Syllabus

Welcome!

If you're watching this in September 2022, you can win one of two $50 Amazon gift cards we're giving away. To be eligible to win: 
1. Share your learning plan to finish this course in the Q&A section of this lecture
2. Finish the course within the next 3 weeks

We'll DM winners by the end of October.

Read more

In this lecture we will take the first step to getting started!

We will be downloading an AWESOME (and free) text editor called Sublime Text.

http://www.sublimetext.com/

Grand Tour of Your SQL Editor + How to Preview Data
POP QUIZ
Intro to MySQL
What the heck is a relational database?

This is just a short quiz to reinforce a couple of the points that we made in the last lecture.

In this lecture we go over the basic outline of a SQL query.

A SQL query is made up of three main sections and phrases. They are SELECT, FROM, WHERE

BRAINBUSTER:

  • Write a query to find all customer names (first and last) and email addresses for customers of store number 2

We will be showing you the query and answer for that brainbuster in the next lecture. Good luck!

Here are a couple questions about the structure of a SQL query.

[Brainbuster] Build Your First Query!
Basic Queries

So in the last lecture we showed you a way to cheat and see the number of results that you were getting from a query. For example we wanted to know how many actors/actresses we had in our database so we ran a query and looked at the number of rows the result had. However, there is a faster, better and cleaner way to do that. That is to use the COUNT() function.

The count function will simply tell you how many items meet the requirements that you set forth in the query.

COUNT() and GROUP BY are very commonly used in conjunction in queries. This will allow you to break the COUNT up by another dimension. For example if we wanted to see the number of movies in each store, we would GROUP BY store_id and then COUNT(film_id).

Now let's have you practice!

BRAINBUSTER

  • Which rating do we have the most films in? Write a query that will tell us the number of films that we have in each film rating.
  • ADVANCED (NOTE: We've changed the Advanced Brainbuster question from the one in the video so as not to introduce a new concept you would have to use to figure out the one we present in the video): Which rating is most prevalent in each price (use only 1 query)?
Brainbuster TWEAK

This quiz will check your answers from the brainbusters and information from the previous lectures.

NOTE: You may have noticed that we changed the "Advanced Brainbuster" question to ask about ratings per price instead of ratings per store. The reason for this is because to get ratings per store, you'll need to learn a new concept (one we cover in a future lecture). To not overwhelm you, we changed it to ratings per price which you should be able to do with the knowledge you've attained thus far!

Buuuut, for those of you who worked hard to figure out the original question, the query would have been as follows for "ratings per store":

SELECT

i.store_id, f.rating, count(f.film_id)

FROM

film f, inventory i

WHERE

f.film_id = i.film_id

GROUP BY 1,2

;

BRAINBUSTER:

  • Film, Category Name, and Language Name (connect 3 tables)
  • ADVANCED: (combining 3 tables, group by, and count)
    • How many times has each movie been rented out?
    • [Figure out for every film, how many actors in each in film, and how many of that movie we have in inventory]

Make sure to take this quiz before you try solving the brainbuster!

[Brainbuster] Connect Tables
[Brainbuster] Finding your best selling products (Rental Count by Movie)
Having trouble understanding "connecting tables"?

BRAINBUSTER

  • Run an analysis to see what store has historically brought in the most revenue.
[Brainbuster] Finding Your Top-Performing Store

BRAINBUSTER

  • Give me every customer’s last rental date
  • Give us revenue by each month
[Brainbuster] Finding Your Active Users - Last Rental Time by Customer
[Brainbuster] Finding Month over Month Revenue Growth

BRAINBUSTER

  • Find the number of distinct films that are rented each month. It is important for your business to know what percent of their movie library is actually getting rented and earning money for the company.
[Brainbuster] Find Distinct Films Rented Each Month
IN()

BRAINBUSTER

  • Okay, your micromanaging boss is back at it again. He now wants to know how much revenue that store 1 has made from movies that are rented R or PG-13 between
[Brainbuster] Breaking Down Revenue by Store and Rating
Nested Queries
PSA: Temporary Tables on SQLSnack
Nested Queries vs. Temporary Tables
Learn about JOINs and a core set of queries a business should know

We learned how to connect tables, this lecture goes into more advanced ways to do that.

[Brainbuster] JOINs

See the link below from Kissmetrics for further reading on Cohort Analyses.

Cohort Analysis Query: Setting the Stage
Cohort Analysis Query: SQL Fanciness
Cohort Analysis Query: Finishing Touches
Add your new skills to LinkedIn!

Good to know

Know what's good
, what to watch for
, and possible dealbreakers
Provides hands-on exercises and quizzes for practical application and reinforcement of learning
Incorporates real-world industry examples and case studies
Focuses on essential SQL skills for data analysis in various industries such as marketing and product management
Teaches SQL using a practical approach rather than solely theoretical concepts
Suitable for beginners with little to no technical background
Applicable to various SQL variants such as PostgreSQL and SQL Server

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Reviews summary

Beginner sql in short time

Learners say that this beginner-friendly course is effective at teaching the fundamentals of SQL in a short span of time. According to students, its biggest strengths are its clarity, conciseness, and usefulness for those seeking a quick introduction to SQL.
Teaches critical concepts quickly.
"in a short time."
"teaches the basics...without any wasted fluff..."
Excellent for those with no SQL experience.
"Does exactly what it says it will do."
"It teaches the basics without any wasted fluff..."
"I highly recommend it as a great start..."

Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in SQL for NEWBS: Weekender Crash Course with these activities:
Follow SQL tutorials for beginners
Get a hands-on introduction to SQL concepts and commands through guided tutorials.
Browse courses on SQL
Show steps
  • Find beginner-friendly SQL tutorials on platforms like Udemy, Coursera, or YouTube
  • Follow along with the tutorials, practicing SQL commands and understanding concepts
Review SQL technical skills
Recall SQL syntax, database structure, and data manipulation techniques to prepare for the course.
Browse courses on SQL
Show steps
  • Review basic SQL syntax for data retrieval, insertion, and updates
  • Experiment with SQL commands using an online SQL editor or local database
Join a beginner-friendly SQL study group
Connect with fellow learners, discuss concepts, and collaborate on SQL projects to enhance your understanding.
Browse courses on SQL
Show steps
  • Find a study group or create one with classmates or online
  • Attend regular study sessions, participate in discussions, and ask questions
Four other activities
Expand to see all activities and additional details
Show all seven activities
Solve SQL practice problems
Test your understanding of SQL by solving practice problems that challenge your knowledge.
Browse courses on SQL
Show steps
  • Find SQL practice problems online or in textbooks
  • Attempt to solve the problems independently
  • Review solutions and identify areas for improvement
Mentor junior learners in SQL
Share your knowledge and skills by mentoring junior learners, reinforcing your own understanding while helping others.
Browse courses on SQL
Show steps
  • Identify opportunities to mentor others, such as through online forums or volunteering
  • Provide guidance and support to junior learners, answering questions, and offering encouragement
Build a personal SQL project
Apply your SQL skills to a practical project, such as analyzing data or creating a database for a specific purpose.
Browse courses on SQL
Show steps
  • Identify a project idea that aligns with your interests or learning goals
  • Gather and prepare the necessary data
  • Design and implement a SQL database and queries
  • Analyze the results and draw insights from the data
Participate in SQL competitions or hackathons
Test your SQL skills against others in competitive settings, pushing your limits and learning from the best.
Browse courses on SQL
Show steps
  • Identify relevant SQL competitions or hackathons
  • Prepare thoroughly by practicing and honing your skills
  • Participate in the competition and give your best effort

Career center

Learners who complete SQL for NEWBS: Weekender Crash Course will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:
Data Analyst
Data analysts play a critical role in many businesses today. They are responsible for collecting, cleaning, and analyzing data to help businesses make better decisions. This course can help you develop the skills you need to become a successful data analyst. You will learn how to query databases, analyze data, and communicate your findings to others. This course is a great way to get started in the field of data analysis or to advance your career.
Business Analyst
Business analysts work with businesses to identify and solve problems. They use data to analyze business processes and make recommendations for improvement. This course can help you develop the skills you need to become a successful business analyst. You will learn how to gather and analyze data, develop solutions, and communicate your findings to others. This course is a great way to get started in the field of business analysis or to advance your career.
Marketing Analyst
Marketing analysts help businesses understand their customers and develop marketing campaigns. They use data to track customer behavior and measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. This course can help you develop the skills you need to become a successful marketing analyst. You will learn how to collect and analyze customer data, develop marketing campaigns, and track their effectiveness. This course is a great way to get started in the field of marketing analysis or to advance your career.
Product Manager
Product managers are responsible for the development and launch of new products. They work with engineers, designers, and marketers to bring new products to market. This course can help you develop the skills you need to become a successful product manager. You will learn how to define product requirements, develop product roadmaps, and launch new products. This course is a great way to get started in the field of product management or to advance your career.
Consultant
Consultants help businesses solve problems and improve their performance. They use their expertise to identify and solve problems, and to develop and implement solutions. This course can help you develop the skills you need to become a successful consultant. You will learn how to gather and analyze data, develop solutions, and communicate your findings to others. This course is a great way to get started in the field of consulting or to advance your career.
Data Scientist
Data scientists use data to solve complex problems. They develop and implement machine learning models to identify patterns and trends in data. This course can help you develop the skills you need to become a successful data scientist. You will learn how to collect and analyze data, develop machine learning models, and communicate your findings to others. This course is a great way to get started in the field of data science or to advance your career.
Statistician
Statisticians collect, analyze, and interpret data. They use statistical methods to draw conclusions about the world around us. This course can help you develop the skills you need to become a successful statistician. You will learn how to collect and analyze data, develop statistical models, and communicate your findings to others. This course is a great way to get started in the field of statistics or to advance your career.
Financial Analyst
Financial analysts use data to make investment decisions. They analyze financial statements and other data to identify investment opportunities. This course can help you develop the skills you need to become a successful financial analyst. You will learn how to analyze financial data, develop investment models, and communicate your findings to others. This course is a great way to get started in the field of financial analysis or to advance your career.
Risk Analyst
Risk analysts identify and assess risks to businesses. They develop and implement risk management plans to mitigate these risks. This course can help you develop the skills you need to become a successful risk analyst. You will learn how to identify and assess risks, develop risk management plans, and communicate your findings to others. This course is a great way to get started in the field of risk analysis or to advance your career.
Actuary
Actuaries use mathematics and statistics to assess risk and uncertainty. They work with insurance companies, pension funds, and other financial institutions to develop and implement financial plans. This course can help you develop the skills you need to become a successful actuary. You will learn how to use mathematics and statistics to assess risk and uncertainty, and to develop and implement financial plans. This course is a great way to get started in the field of actuarial science or to advance your career.
Software Engineer
Software engineers design, develop, and test software applications. They work with businesses to develop software solutions to meet their needs. This course can help you develop the skills you need to become a successful software engineer. You will learn how to design, develop, and test software applications. This course is a great way to get started in the field of software engineering or to advance your career.
Web Developer
Web developers design and develop websites. They work with businesses to create websites that meet their needs. This course can help you develop the skills you need to become a successful web developer. You will learn how to design and develop websites. This course is a great way to get started in the field of web development or to advance your career.
Database Administrator
Database administrators manage and maintain databases. They work with businesses to ensure that their databases are running smoothly and are secure. This course can help you develop the skills you need to become a successful database administrator. You will learn how to manage and maintain databases. This course is a great way to get started in the field of database administration or to advance your career.
Systems Analyst
Systems analysts analyze and design business systems. They work with businesses to identify and solve problems, and to develop and implement new systems. This course can help you develop the skills you need to become a successful systems analyst. You will learn how to analyze and design business systems. This course is a great way to get started in the field of systems analysis or to advance your career.
Technical Writer
Technical writers create and edit technical documentation. They work with companies to create documentation that is clear and easy to understand. This course can help you develop the skills you need to become a successful technical writer. You will learn how to create and edit technical documentation. This course is a great way to get started in the field of technical writing or to advance your career.

Reading list

We've selected 14 books that we think will supplement your learning. Use these to develop background knowledge, enrich your coursework, and gain a deeper understanding of the topics covered in SQL for NEWBS: Weekender Crash Course.
Great resource for SQL developers who want to learn how to improve the performance of their SQL queries.
Great introduction to SQL for beginners. It covers the basics of SQL in a clear and concise way, and it includes many examples and exercises to help you learn.
Great resource for developers who want to learn about machine learning with Python.

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