Discover the Best SQL Classes Near Me
SQL, which is short for structured query language, is a domain-specific programming language that was created nearly five decades ago to access and manage the data contained in a relational database management system (DRBMS). SQL remains the most widely used database language across the globe and is relied on by nearly all organizations that store relational data. Major companies, such as Uber, Google, Facebook, and Amazon, all use SQL to help with data management. Because SQL was built on common English syntax, this language is considered relatively easy to learn.
Due to its flexibility and versatility, SQL has applications across industries and professions, such as software engineering, database administration, data analytics, and business analytics. SQL’s uses extend beyond programming tasks. This language helps those who work in marketing or sales perform queries on datasets to locate sales trends and evaluate the success of marketing campaigns. It also has applications for helping financial professionals search through vast volumes of financial information. SQL can provide data professionals with a more robust understanding of how data is structured within their organization. Those with advanced SQL training can perform complex queries that can retrieve a huge amount of useful information that helps solve pressing business problems.
Best SQL Classes & Schools
Learning SQL in the in-person training format provides students with the hands-on training needed to communicate with relational databases. If you’re interested in selecting an in-person SQL class most suited to your learning needs, the following section will explore some of the best options for classes with approaching start dates.
NYC Career Centers–SQL Bootcamp (In-Person in NYC and Live Online)
Those interested in learning how to work with Microsoft SQL Server can enroll in NYC Career Centers SQL Bootcamp. This hands-on course teaches students how to find and retrieve the information in databases using SQL to execute queries. Instruction is also offered on other SQL topics like aggregating data, joining tables, and filtering results. This bootcamp combines three NYC Career Centers Classes, SQL Level 1, 2, and 3, into one class. Participants complete lessons using Microsoft SQL Server and the SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) application, which is free, for exploring and querying databases. The information taught in this class can be applied to different SQL flavors, such as MySQL and Postgre SQL.
This course consists of either three or six sessions, depending on whether the participant wishes to study full-time or part-time. All students have the option of a free retake of this class for up to one year. A class recording of each session is available in the learner’s student portal following the session’s conclusion; these recordings can be accessed for a month following course completion. Learners who successfully finish this bootcamp are provided with a certificate of completion. This course is open to learners of all skill levels who are at least 18 years old.
Noble Desktop—SQL Level 1 (In-Person in NYC or Live Online)
Noble Desktop’s SQL Level 1 is available to those who are looking to learn about relational databases and how to communicate with them using SQL. Instruction is provided on a range of foundational database skills, such as writing SQL queries and analyzing data. This beginner-level class offers instruction on using IN, AND/OR, NOT, and WHERE for filtering. Students work with inner JOINs to combine the data contained in multiple tables. Over the course of this class, participants become familiar with how to write basic SQL queries that can be used with Microsoft SQL Server. The concepts learned in this class can be applied to MySQL, Microsoft Access, PostgreSQL, and other flavors of SQL with only minor syntax differences.
Learning Tree International–Introduction to SQL Course (In-Person in )
Enrolling in Learning Tree’s Introduction to SQL gives learners an overview of the SQL programming language. This beginner-friendly class covers SQL basics, such as how to query databases, create tables, and manipulate data. This program is designed for those who are new to working with database management and SQL, in addition to professionals looking to revisit core SQL concepts. Participants in this hands-on class receive instruction on how to write SQL code that is based on Wrap in ANSI/SO standards, which can be used to create database structures. By course completion, learners will be able to update the content of databases using transaction handling and SQL, use filter conditions to retrieve data, process data using aggregate and row functions, and extract the data contained on multiple tables with the help of JOINs.
This instructor-led course takes place in and spans three full-day sessions. In addition to instruction during the duration of the class, those enrolled also have access to continued support following course completion and can take advantage of one-on-one instructor coaching.
Noble Desktop–SQL Level 2 (In-Person in NYC and Live Online)
Noble Destop’s SQL Level 2 is available for those interested in building on their foundational SQL skills. Participants in this intermediate-level class work with outer JOINs, filter groups with HAVING, study dates and times, find null data and use aggregate functions to group data. Those enrolled also receive instruction on changing the data type as necessary using CAST. This hands-on course covers a range of SQL techniques that help students easily find and analyze the specific information they need from a database so that these data can be translated into actionable insights.
Those interested in taking this one-day course should have basic SQL proficiency, such as fundamental filtering, inner JOINs, and introductory-level querying. Tuition includes setup assistance and the option of a free course retake for up to one year.
Learning Tree International–Advanced SQL Course (In-Person in )
Advanced SQL Course is available for those interested in maximizing the potential of SQL. Students in this hands-on class work with SELECT statements to create robust queries, test queries, and learn how to avoid common pitfalls and errors. Learners receive instruction on how to find alternative solutions to database problems so they can select the best, most efficient solution in all situations. During this course, students learn how to use inner and outer JOINs and self-JOINs to query multiple tables. They also create common, recursive table expressions. They work with aggregation and grouping to summarize data and analytic functions to determine risk.
This class spans three full-day sessions. Because this is an advanced class, students are expected to be familiar with SQL basics, such as that which is offered in a Level 1 SQL course, as a prerequisite.
NYC Career Centers–SQL Level 2 (In-Person in NYC and Live Online)
SQL Level 2 is available from NYC Career Centers for those interested in learning intermediate-level SQL techniques. Participants in this hands-on class learn about filtering, grouping, and analyzing the data found in a database. They also receive instruction on using aggregate functions to perform common statistical calculations. Instruction is provided on formatting date and time information, various types of joins, like union and self-join, as well as using CAST to change the data type.
Class is available in one full-day session, as well as in two, three-hour sessions. It is suggested that those who wish to enroll in this class have basic SQL knowledge, such as familiarity with basic querying, working with inner and outer JOINs, and performing filtering using LIKE, WHERE, and wildcards. Students receive setup assistance as part of tuition and can retake this class for free for up to one year. All learners who graduate from this course receive a digital certificate of completion. A recording of each session is available in the student portal for every learner within a business day of the end of the session. Students can access these for up to a month following course completion.
NYC Career Centers–SQL Level 3 (In-Person in NYC and Live Online)
Advanced SQL training is available from NYC Career Centers in its SQL Level 3 course. Those who take this hands-on course receive expert instruction on a range of advanced SQL skills. Participants learn how to incorporate If-Else logic to their queries by using CASE statements, as well as how to apply string functions to isolate only the part of the text that is needed. Students work with subqueries to gather data from anywhere in a database. Those enrolled learn how to use Views instead of tables for queries. By course completion, participants will be familiar with how stored procedures, functions, and variables can be used to make SQL code more flexible, repeatable, and reusable. Course content is designed to prepare students to pursue a career in data science, data analysis, or any professional role in which SQL is used to work with the data contained in a database.
Students can complete this class in-person in NYC or in the live online environment. Two learning options are available: students can select one full day of study or elect to take this class in two, three-hour sessions. All learners can receive setup assistance as needed and have the option of retaking this class for free for up to one year. As a prerequisite, learners are expected to have intermediate SQL skills, such as training with JOINs, GROUP BY, HAVING, JOINs, CAST, and date/time.
Computer Training Sources, Inc—MySQL Introduction (Live Online)
Computer Training Sources MySQL Introduction is a great starting point for learners who want to start working with SQL and MySQL. Those who enroll in this introductory-level online course receive instruction on core database skills and concepts. Students learn how to create a basic design for a database and apply normalization techniques. Instruction is offered on various relational database management systems. Participants work with views, indexes, and SQL commands to modify the data contained in a database. By course completion, those enrolled will be familiar with database basics, such as how to identify relationships and entities and make entity-relationship diagrams. They also learn how to create and join tables, as well as how to work with subqueries.
This class takes place in two full-day sessions in the virtual learning environment using Zoom. Sessions occur in central time. There are no prerequisites for enrollment.
Industries That Use SQL
SQL remains the most popular language for querying databases. This makes it a widely used language across industries around the world. The following sections will briefly explore how SQL helps professionals in fields like finance, marketing, healthcare, data science, and cybersecurity perform everyday tasks.
Finance
Financial organizations store data in highly secure databases that are easy to query. Financial professionals rely on SQL queries to extract data from databases so it can be used to help their organization make more informed financial decisions. Finance teams often work with SQL to spot historic patterns or trends in revenue and sales. In addition, SQL has applications for understanding financial KPIs, such as expenses and net revenue.
SQL has a range of applications for financial professionals beyond allowing them to communicate with databases. It helps Financial Analysts create reports based on vast datasets that reflect their organization’s financial performance. They also use it to locate data pertaining to liabilities, assets, and market trends to provide an accurate assessment of a portfolio’s risk. Those who work in risk management use SQL to evaluate the risk in financial portfolios. Regulatory compliance professionals rely on SQL to ensure financial reporting reflects regulatory compliance. Financial institutions can then use this information to make sure their reports are compliant with regulatory requirements and are error-free.
Marketing
SQL has many uses in the field of marketing. It helps professionals study customer behavior and segmentation based on factors such as purchase behavior, demographics, or website activity. Marketers can then use this information to target customers using marketing messages more effectively. SQL can also be a valuable tool for determining how effective a specific marketing campaign is, as well as tracking KPIs like conversion rates and click-through rates. This language can perform A/B testing on these campaigns as well. Marketers who have SQL training can use it to divide their audience into two groups so they can test various campaign iterations to see which will perform the best.
SQL allows Marketing Analysts to analyze marketing channels. They also work with this language to provide a more robust understanding of user information so important metrics can be established, such as cost per acquisition and customer lifetime value. SQL lets these professionals secure detailed user data directly from their company’s databases. Sales Analysts use SQL to review data pertaining to sales so they can spot patterns and trends. This information is valuable because it helps them improve sales strategies to reach a larger customer base.
Healthcare
SQL plays an integral role across the healthcare industry and has many applications for better patient care, clinical research, administration tasks, and analytics. The patient data stored in clinical systems are often modified and analyzed with SQL. This language helps healthcare professionals design dashboards that convey health-related data and make patient reports that reflect the insights offered by medical experts. One of the benefits of working with SQL is that it can easily store vast amounts of medical data. This provides healthcare professionals with easy access to the available data so it can be fully optimized. This makes it easier to care for patients’ needs and ensure their satisfaction.
Healthcare providers with a background in SQL use it to manage electronic health records. It allows them to locate and update patient data, as well as to create reports that describe the course of treatment provided to a patient. This language has applications for tracking patient data, which allows healthcare professionals to spot patterns that may be indicative of larger issues that require attention. Even those who conduct clinical research work with SQL to manage data and extract information from clinical trials and electronic health records to find insights. Healthcare Administrators, too, use SQL to organize and locate healthcare administration data, such as financial information, employee records, and other administrative documentation.
Data Science
Those who work in the field of data science regularly work with SQL to pull data from large databases, analyze this information, and uncover insights. The business data they retrieve from a relational database using SQL allows them to make predictive models. Data Scientists also rely on SQL to query specific data points. This language is useful for data cleaning and preprocessing purposes as well since it can remove any null values, duplicates, or inconsistent data. When working with large datasets, SQL allows data professionals to aggregate tasks like averaging, counting, or summing numbers. Additionally, SQL has data visualization capabilities and can create graphs and charts based on the data retrieved from a database query. Data Scientists also work with SQL to transform data into the proper format so machine learning algorithms can be applied to the information.
Cybersecurity
SQL is considered to be one of the most effective database languages for cybersecurity. Without using SQL, it would be virtually impossible to safeguard from a database attack. Cybersecurity professionals, therefore, usually have training in SQL. Both hackers and ethical hackers use SQL Injections, such as SQLdict, to locate users’ login information that’s contained in a database. This language is also used to determine which data should be exported from a database.
Another useful application of SQL for cybersecurity professionals is threat detection. This language helps them study network traffic to locate possible threats. They can query log data to find any potentially problematic activity patterns. SQL helps with investigating security incidents with regard to the scope of the threat, as well as its source. Vulnerabilities in data can also be monitored with SQL so remediation efforts can be established and prioritized. SQL also has applications for monitoring compliance to regulations and security policies, as well as to study the behavior of malware.
SQL Jobs & Salaries
SQL is one of the most popular programming languages around the globe. Those with the skills to use SQL to communicate with relational databases have a range of employment opportunities in various fields. SQL is used by those who work at major companies like Netflix, Apple, Google, Amazon, and Shopify, as well as thousands of others. The following sections will briefly explore some professions that use SQL, as well as the average salaries depending on location.
Software Engineering
One of the professions in which SQL skills are used most is software engineering. Software Engineers create applications and compute programs that can be used to perform various tasks on computing devices like smartphones or laptops. SQL is considered a fundamental skill for creating data-driven applications. This language helps Software Engineers quickly connect to relational databases so they can retrieve data. Although in some large organizations, Database Administrators retrieve relational database information, Software Engineers sometimes write SQL queries to include in their application code to avoid having to waste time going back and forth with Database Administrators.
Software Engineers with SQL training are often paid higher than those who lack this skill set. Pay rates vary depending on location but are typically high throughout the US. The average pay rate for US-based Software Engineers is nearly $110,000. Software Engineers in Phoenix make approximately $110,000. In Cleveland, the average yearly salary for a Software Engineer is $115,000. Those working in Seattle earn significantly more and make about $145,000 annually.
Journalism
Journalists gather information, perform investigations, write stories, and distribute their pieces to the general public. Although SQL isn’t a requirement for all Journalists, those who know this programming language are currently in-demand because they can perform faster and more accurate data organization, filtering, and analysis. Some of the largest journalistic organizations worldwide, like the National Union of Journalists, use SQL to explore databases and often host events on leveraging SQL. Because of how popular SQL is becoming in the field of journalism, this language was named one of the “nine essential tools” in data journalism by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
The average pay rate for a Journalist in the US is $70,000. Journalists working in Phoenix make closer to $80,000 a year. Those who are employed in Cleveland earn $70,000 annually. Seattle-based Journalists make a yearly salary of $85,000.
Database Administration
Database Administrators are involved with managing database software. These professionals must ensure that data can be successfully stored, organized, and accessed as needed. They often work with a team of SQL Developers and rely on a range of SQL skills to successfully perform their job. Database Administrators evaluate their organization’s data management and security requirements. They then devise processes intended to improve information security and access to the information contained in SQL Server databases. SQL Server Database Administrators use SQL queries to monitor system backups, data replication, and audits so that SQL databases continue to be stable, easy to access, and secure.
Database Administrators are typically paid competitive salaries across the US. The average pay rate is $85,000 a year. Database Administrators who live and work in the Phoenix metropolitan area earn close to $90,000 annually. In Cleveland, these professionals make about $85,000 a year. The salary for a Database Administrator in Seattle is substantially higher at nearly $105,000.
Data Science
Data Scientists manage massive datasets and work with these data to locate important trends or patterns. These individuals are experts at data analysis and apply their skills in a range of industries, such as technology, business, or social science. In addition to skills like machine learning, Data Scientists use a range of programming languages, such as R, Python, and Excel, to work with data. SQL allows Data Scientists to handle structured data that are stored in relational databases. Without SQL, Data Scientists couldn’t query these databases to retrieve the information they need for analysis.
Data Scientists are paid well across the US. The average salary for these professionals is more than $125,000. Those who are employed in data science in Phoenix make a yearly salary of $125,000, which is in line with this average. Cleveland-based Data Scientists also earn about $125,000 a year. Data Scientists in the Seattle area earn a significantly higher pay rate of $145,000.
Business Analysis
Business Analysts are professionals who perform data analytics on business information. Their findings help them direct their business toward better services, software, products, or processes. By performing a gap analysis, Business Analysts can determine the best approach to help their organization transform from its current state into a better future position. SQL can then be used to locate any gaps in the important data that are uncovered in the gap analysis, such as number sequences or dates. Because of the essential role gap analysis plays in the field of business analytics, SQL knowledge is of significant value for these professionals.
In the US, the current average pay rate for a Business Analyst is $80,000. Business Analysts who work in Phoenix make approximately the national average of $80,000 a year. Cleveland-based Business Analysts earn close to $85,000 annually. Those who are employed in Seattle make about $95,000 a year.
What Will I Need to Learn SQL?
Before you get started learning SQL, it’s important to have basic computer and mathematical skills. In addition, familiarity with databases is useful since most relational databases use SQL to query data. If you’re interested in learning SQL, you may also wish to study how to work with database servers, which are programs that enable database management.
If you’re ready to start working with SQL, you will likely want to download database software like SQL Server or MySQL. This will allow you to complete studies on your own and practice communicating with databases. If you take an in-person SQL class, the necessary database software will likely be provided.
Is it Difficult to Learn SQL?
SQL is generally thought of as a relatively easy-to-learn programming language. Because the formulas, queries, and syntax in SQL have name-dependent functions, they are easier for most learners to learn and recall than other programming languages. If you already have a background working with coding languages, you may be able to learn SQL basics in just a few weeks. Those who are new to computer programming may take longer to acquire SQL skills.
Like any skill, the more you practice SQL, the easier it will be to master this language. This is why enrolling in an in-person or live online course can help expedite the SQL learning process. Coursework typically provides hands-on training with real-world data, which can help you learn basics much faster than would be possible through self-study. Ultimately, while it may take time to master SQL’s advanced features and capabilities, those who are devoted to the learning process will be able to acquire the SQL skills needed to help them professionally.
