SQL qualifications

[icannotremember]

Wasn't sure where to put this, sorry!

Can anyone recommend SQL qualifications/ courses, ideally online? Or have any warnings of courses/ providers to avoid? I'm computer literate and use the basics (MS Word, Excel, Office, Powerpoint, etc) without an issue, but the work I'd like to move into really does require SQL- and I have no idea what is considered worthwhile in terms of qualifications.

What sort of SQL?
Databases? Queries?
What will you do with the data?

See, those questions tell me I need to do more research before I even find a course!

I've been looking at Public Health Intelligence and Social Intelligence roles, all of which seem to require knowledge of SQL. Data processing and analysis are key phrases.

I don't have any suggestions but would also like to know this. I use SQL in my job but only in a very specific way and I would like to ensure the skills I have gained are recognised and transferrable in case I ever want to move on.

I construct ad-hoc queries on the fly to answer specific complicated questions people have about the data, and I maintain and tweak existing stored-procedure queries to improve them when needed, but I am aware there is a huge amount of stuff in SQL that I know nothing about.

There are loads of free courses you can do (I have a list somewhere...) After I did a load of those, I moved to using MS-Access which has it's own interpreter and is the best one I've found for really being able to experiment on your own.

I am starting a job soon which involves some SQL. I can't comment on paper qualifications. Too expensive for me. I've got a plan to try to do something ambitious in next week or so, to be better prepared for a job & get something at work done.

You can read up on the logic of relationship databases in meantime (I had many lectures on RDBS at Uni).

What's your actual job history like, cantremember? Have you done data analysis roles before?

SQL itself is fairly simple to use - my business (which builds process based websites) sues it daily - however pretty much the only bits we use are:

SELECT command (pulls data out of a database table)
INSERT command (puts data into a database table)
DELETE command (deletes one or more records in a database table)
UPDATE command (updates one or more records in a database table

in addition, within the command there is the use of JOIN to link tables, so if you have one table of staff in a business, and one table of their telephone numbers - to get an output of both combined, you have to JOIN the table (JOIN / LEFT JOIN / RIGHT JOIN / etc.)

To be honest, that is pretty much all we ever use... and we build hugely complex systems based on that...

So, I would say it is far more important to learn and understand good database design (again, also relatively simple) - things like how you split data (1:1 / 1:M / M:M / etc.)

A database table is basically just like an Excel spreadsheet, but good design will make quite a bit of difference - esp. to the speed of a website / system using the database...

There are two primary forms of SQL in use - MSSQL from microsoft (tends to be more corporate systems) / MySQL (also MariaDB / etc.) which is open source and tends to be used more in websites and powers quite a lot of the world's online systems... commands are similar but different...

need for qualifications will totally depend on the work you do - in my business, I have no interest in my staff having specific qualifications - instead I want to understand how they problem solve / how they work / how they think / etc. - and for us, a core understanding of how our clients' businesses work is in fact far more important...

If you can give a bit more info about what you are thinking about, we might be able to help a little bit more...

If you looknig for SQL specific it's worth getting a Microsoft cert, the free ones are not really worth the paper especially if you have experience.

As a PP said, it depends on if you are to become a DBA or just write SQL queries/stored procs etc.

Codecademy are good, and a lot of their intro stuff is free (I've never paid for the pro level). Take a look here to play around with it:

www.codecademy.com/catalog/language/sql

Don't use MS Access - it is being deprecated in 2020 and will lose support - any business using it needs to get off it rapidly - and we are migrating clients from Access to MySQL...

If you are serious about playing you can down load local LAMP installs for a PC (Linux / Apache / MySQL / PHP) and get access to all those languages etc. but if you are looking specifically at Public Health Intelligence etc. - key question is to find out exactly what software they use... it may well be that they have report writers or other layers on top of the data...

a few years ago, i was in the same position as yourself. Had left my job and every job i looked at seemed to require SQLServer. I signed up for a course through computeach with I did via distance learning whilst temping. Was almost finished the course when i got offered another job. yep youve guessed it - It didnt use SQLServer. 14 years on Im still in the same job and have never really used the qualification.

I can use MS Access for free (at work, call the tinkering CPD) & it always functions reliably. Everything I've tried to get other SQL to run on my laptop or a home desktop goes wrong & makes my BP soar trying to battle with getting it to work. Same with Azure; total nightmare. I find the stackexchange community super unfriendly, but I guess that's the place to go to ask tech questions if you can handle them grading quality of your every sentence.

There are like a dozen versions of SQL out there, and you don't know which version your future job wants. They mostly vary in minor syntax ways. I decided to brush up as best I could with what versions were easily available to me. The free online tutorials don't do very clever stuff, not like macros I can set up & run using my own dataset in Access, anyway.

I can highly recommend working through the W3schools tutorials - they are great for establishing a broad general understanding of query writing. www.w3schools.com/sql/

I write a lot of SQL for my job and the best way to learn is to practise and write as many queries as you can to solve different problems.

I wouldnt worry too much about using SQL for any specific platform, as they are generally pretty similar across different ones (Oracle, MSSQL), and just focus on becoming familiar with writing queries.

Also - google is a great resource to help find answers on different forums when you can't work out how to do something or why a query isn't working as you expect. Coding is one of the biggest areas covered with Qs and As from different people online :)

Following with interest.

What's your actual job history like, cantremember?

I'm a mental health social worker atm. I've mostly worked in related fields (IAG, housing, that sort of thing). I've been a safeguarding lead for a large site which required a lot of audit and governance work. I still produce reports on safeguarding activity, patterns, etc, but I only use Excel basics in doing it. I previously had a role where I was mostly focussed on gathering information about a major government agenda, turning that into intelligence that would support the SMT and delivery leads in making decisions, measuring the impact of the government programme on our service users, developing training for our staff at all levels, and constantly analysing the impact of my role on both colleagues and service users.

I have the soft skills the jobs I'm looking at need. I'm really good at taking a complex case with loads of different pieces of information of various types and bringing it all together in a nice tight summary that is easily accessible to others, with recommendations for action or at least a set of "if we do 'a', then 'x' is the likely outcome; if we do 'b', then 'y'" conclusions. I'm a strong communicator. I like finding out answers and responding to queries, and I like working out how to find out answers.

Thank you so much for all these replies, I will read them all properly when I am on a break later :)

Also - google is a great resource to help find answers on different forums when you can't work out how to do something or why a query isn't working as you expect. Coding is one of the biggest areas covered with Qs and As from different people online

Absolutely right - we have hundreds of years of coding experience in the office here, but are always on google checking how to do something...

W3schools as recommended is good - but the site we use most for problem solving is stackoverflow.com/ which has basically the answer to almost every problem!

Absolutely right - we have hundreds of years of coding experience in the office here, but are always on google checking how to do something...

And most decent employers expect this, I still google complex queries and I deal with petabytes of data in Oracle and SQL

As others have said just start with looking online and trying out sql on

www.sqlfiddle.com/ if you don't/can't have a personal sql db.

It all depends on how much SQL is required for the job, it could be anything from basic select/using a wysiwyg whilst having a basic grasp of the syntax to complex weighting on full text indexes and complex conditional joins.

So when you go to interview you need to hype up your lateral thinking & problem solving (algorithm finding) skills. I had to write many paragraphs the other day in a policy area (I know almost zilch about). But I did it. Not saying it was genius insights, but I could produce something that passed muster, weaving complex ideas together.

Any programming skills could support the job application; you'll end up showing potential rather than referring to long-established skills. Do you have a link to the sort of job you want to apply for?

I used this to get a start and still use it as a reference tool.

www.w3schools.com/sql/

Look at Tableau. Add your report skills, some sql and Tableau (data visualisation) into the mix and you could be highly marketable.

I second Tableau or PowerBI

Also you can use Tableau public to create a portfolio that you can then attach to your LinkedIn account.
Pm me if you like.

If you want a nice overview of relational databases that sticks to standard SQL that you can run on any database and gives you some broader context - this is a good book: www.amazon.co.uk/Manga-Guide-Databases-Mana-Takahashi/dp/1593271905?tag=mumsnetforum-21

It might look a bit silly but learning the concepts in a "real-world" context via a story actually really helps you to understand it. I'd suggest it's a good place to start with and then use other sources to dig deeper into learning more SQL.

There is a data base call the national database of accredited qualifications - test a few

Some online courses give certificates - these are usually rubbish

Look for accredited qualifications

Thank you! You are all brilliant. I have loads and loads to look at now and will start with Tableau :) I also will almost certainly come back with loads more questions...