Where To Learn SQL

My favourite SQL blogs, influencers and more

Photo by Paige Cody on Unsplash

SQL and I are SELECT * crossed lovers, but there was a time that I knew no SQL at all, a dark time, a time where my tables were held in Excel and I could type into the cells and drag them on command. One day, I was shown the true beauty that is SQL. With it’s static outputs that you can’t type into or move and that just sit there doing nothing. It was love at first SELECT.

The first few weeks and months learn SQL, the knowledge came at me thick and fast. I was learning so much SQL, I thought I’d have it down in no time.

Then one day, I reached a hard limit. I just wasn’t improving as fast as before. Suddenly, I was not the SQL genius I thought. Things that were too hard, WAY too hard. I had reached the point of knowing I had plateaued, but not how to get off the plateau.

Then one day, a friend at work mentioned SQL Server Central to me, a website I had previously never heard of. A place full of online SQL nerds who knew seemingly infinite SQL. This was the start of my journey into the world of SQL blogs, videos, conferences and more places you can learn online.

If You’re Brand New

• https://www.w3schools.com/sql/default.asp

  • A great place for basic SQL, I still come here to check on syntax I rarely use. Is it SELECT INTO or INSERT INTO?

• YouTube

  • Just type in SQL for beginners and there will be tons of content for you out there.

If You’re Already Skilled But Want To Be Skillederer

There are so many people who kindly give away SQL information for free and sometimes even more information for money i.e. paid courses.

This list is not exhaustive, just people I know of.

SQL People

• Brent Ozar

  • He has some free videos on his site, a YouTube channel answering SQL Performance questions, paid courses and a blog you can subscribe to.

• Erik Darling

  • Daily blog, YouTube videos, paid courses, tons of material going back years.

• Pinal Dave

  • Daily blog again, YouTube videos and courses too

• Kendra Little

  • Blog, training, YouTube and comics!

SQL Communities

• SQL Server Central

  • There is seriously so much content on here, there are the Stairways that teach you specific topics, there are blog posts recommended and shared 3 days a week or weekly. You can get by on this place alone most likely.

• SQL Bits

  • Considered the best SQL Conference and it’s held in merry old England, so the only one I’ve been to in-person. They also release all their videos on YouTube a few months after each conference.

• SQL Pass Summit

  • Never been due to it being in the US, but heard great things

• EightKB

  • A SQL Server Internals conference, I haven’t ever worked as a DBA or SRE, so this one is a bit too hardcore for me

There are so many more sources of SQL knowledge, but those are the ones that get most of my attention. If you have any more favourites, drop them in the comments below