Intermediate SQL

Gain confidence using a wide range of advanced SQL techniques. This course will expand your SQL knowledge and provide skills for writing powerful queries that perform complicated searches and sorts of data.

6 Weeks / 24 Course Hrs

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College of Lake County

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Learning method

Self-Guided

$129

No instructor. Study on your own schedule

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Instructor-Moderated

$129

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Starting April 16 | May 14

Details + Objectives

Course code: ins

When it comes to query language for relational database management systems, SQL is the industry benchmark. This hands-on course will help you advance your knowledge and keep pace with today's SQL standards. You will practice designing, writing, and testing complex SQL queries to execute on a practice database using SQL Server Express.

What you will learn

Learn how to write complex SQL queries to execute on a SQL Server database
Design and write SQL queries to filter, group, and summarize complex data subsets to retrieve specific data
Design and write SQL sub-queries and queries using functions, joins, and unions
Explore the benefit of stored procedures as you practice writing SQL user-defined stored procedures and trigger queries

How you will benefit

Expand your knowledge of SQL, the standard database query language
Become more confident in your ability to understand and write SQL queries
Open the door to new career opportunities as a SQL developer

How the course is taught

Instructor-Moderated or Self-Guided online course
6 Weeks or 3 Months access
24 course hours

Outline

In this introductory lesson, you will review SQL and database terms and concepts. You will also install SQL Server Express and SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) to use throughout the course in the learn-by-doing practices. And, you will use SQL code scripts to create a practice database in SQL Server.

In this lesson, you will learn about join statements and how to join queries make it possible to retrieve data from more than one table. You'll also practice how to write well-designed join queries that retrieve result-sets that meet your requirements.

Databases can contain massive amounts of data. Learning how to filter the rows that will limit the result-set is extremely important. In this lesson, you will explore various ways to write SQL queries that retrieve a filtered result-set that meets defined criteria.

Because of the size of databases, it is important to design SQL queries that retrieve results-sets with data that is organized. In this lesson, you will practice designing queries that group similar data and summarize result-sets. You will explore aggregate functions and how they can be used in producing result-sets that can be used for data analysis.

Subqueries are SQL queries that are written inside another SQL query. Subqueries are used to perform intricate requirements on complex data subsets to retrieve specific data from the database. You will practice writing various subqueries using the practice database.

This lesson is about maintaining the database and data. You will practice using SQL code to modify and add table structures and add new data records. You will also learn about writing SQL queries to modify and delete tables structures and data. Understanding how to write queries to modify, add, and delete is important in order to maintain a database and data that are accurate and up to date.

Unions are used to retrieve data from more than one table. Instead of returning columns from different tables, a union SQL query combines rows for columns that are the same datatype. In this lesson, you will practice writing SQL queries that retrieve data from multiple tables with specific requirements.

SQL built-in functions are useful when applied in the right situations. In this lesson, you will work with string and date functions and write SQL queries to retrieve result-sets that manipulate and display data that may be easier to read and understand.

User-defined functions are called stored procedures. A stored procedure is a query that is written, saved, and ready to be reused whenever needed. In this lesson, you will practice defining, writing, saving, and executing stored procedures.

Indexes are important to database performance. Views are used to simplify access and to secure accessibility to the data. In this lesson, these concepts will be explored and examined as you practice defining and creating SQL queries.

A trigger is a user-defined stored procedure that is used for maintaining the database. Once a trigger has been defined and is implemented in the database, it is automatically executed when applicable. In this lesson, you will practice defining, writing, and saving triggers.

Understanding the database and its parts is a necessary component of learning SQL. It is difficult to develop and write efficient and well-designed queries without knowing the database and table structures. This last lesson presents SQL queries that retrieve database information. You will also explore the SSMS to make use of its functions as you continue your SQL journey.

Instructors & Support

Mava Wilson

Mava Wilson, Ph.D., is a professor with more than 28 years of teaching experience. While she specializes in Information Systems (IS), she has taught several computer science topics, including basic computer literacy, programming, database design, and SQL. She holds a Ph.D. and master's degree in computing technology from Nova Southeastern University, as well as a bachelor's in administrative systems from Radford University.

Instructor Interaction: The instructor looks forward to interacting with learners in the online moderated discussion area to share their expertise and answer any questions you may have on the course content.

Requirements

Prerequisites:

To be successful in this course, you should have a basic understanding of SQL and database systems prior to enrolling.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

This course must be taken on a PC. It is not suitable for Macs.

Software Requirements:

PC: Windows 8 or later.
Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox is preferred. Microsoft Edge is also compatible.
Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

SQL Server Express
SQL Server Management

FAQ

Instructor-Moderated: A new session of each course begins each month. Please refer to the session start dates for scheduling.

Self-Guided: Your course begins immediately after you enroll.

Instructor-Moderated: Once a course session starts, two lessons will be released each week for the 6 week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends. You will interact with the instructor through the online discussion area. There are no live sessions or online meetings with the instructor.

Self-Guided: You have 3 months of access to the course. After enrolling, you can learn and complete the course at your own pace, within the allotted access period. You will have the opportunity to interact with other students in the online discussion area.

Instructor-Moderated: The interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes two weeks after each lesson is released, so you're encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release. However, you will have access to all lessons from the time they are released until the course ends.

Self-Guided: There is no time limit to complete each lesson, other than completing all lessons within the allotted access period. Discussion areas for each lesson are open for the entire duration of the course.

Instructor-Moderated: Students enrolled in a six-week online class benefit from a one-time, 10-day extension for each course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.

Self-Guided: Because this course is self-guided, no extensions will be granted after the start of your enrollment.

Reviews

She is an EXCELLENT instructor. The course materials are interesting; engaging and fun to work through. I highly recommend this class and instructor!

I truly appreciated this course. I like the format and organization, and found the assignments helpful to learn and practice using SQL. I already recommended these courses to my colleagues and they too are now signing up :) Thanks again!

I really enjoyed the learn by doing approach in this class. What I learned here is definitely going to be a game changer for me at work!

"Great Course! I was a little skeptical about taking a course that was so inexpensive, figured 'how good could it really be?'. But I was pleasantly surprised. Because I have learned most of my SQL on my own - I knew I had large gaps in my knowledge and was unaware of many important areas and tools that could help me. This course filled in many of those gaps - or at least made me aware of the areas that I could explore further. Thank you!" - Jackie F.

“Thank you – Excellent Course. I just wanted to say 'Thank you' for administering this course. It was great. I learned a lot. I started with Intro and decided to go further to Intermediate. I was able to get transfer to a Finance position in my company, as a Senior Financial Analyst - SQL. I started my new job one week ago today. I wrote my first query today as a JOIN. If it wasn't for taking this course, I probably would not have gotten the job. I have the experience; I was missing SQL. SQL is necessary for Finance. I've written in other applications, even COBAL. Now I have a new skill.” - Theresa R.

"Thank you for the guidance and instruction that you provided in this course. In my current role I work a lot with data retrieval, and to some extent the analysis of it, so this has provided me with a sound basis for continued practice and learning in this area. Prior to this role, I was a full-time educator, so from that point of view, I have been very appreciative of the way in which you have structured and developed the course, and with your patience." - Lucille S.

"Overall a wonderful course! Admittedly, I preferred this instructor's teaching style to the one I had for the beginner's SQL course. It just made more sense to me and made things click better. Some of the lessons did get kind of lengthy, but overall I think it pays off. In some instances there really is no valid way to shorten the lesson, so I understand that. I appreciate it and have already been putting it to good use. Thanks!" - Jessica E.

Overall this course was a great refresher to some of the important concepts in SQL that I may not utilize on a daily basis. There were also many tips and tricks that I wasn't aware of, and can now use in the workplace to benefit myself and others. Austin M

These have been two great courses I am glad I took. There's so much to learn about SQL Language and data management system applications, that I feel the need to explore the other courses to continue on the journey with SQL as a structured programming language. Thank you so much.

She is an EXCELLENT instructor. The course materials are interesting; engaging and fun to work through. I highly recommend this class and instructor!

I really enjoyed the learn by doing approach in this class. What I learned here is definitely going to be a game changer for me at work!

Intermediate SQL

College of Lake County