Best SQL Courses for Business Owners

Do you have a business? Can you use the data you collect every day? You would probably do anything for it to succeed. Learn SQL and achieve your goals. Here are the best online SQL courses for business owners.

SQL is a great tool that allows you to work with databases. Are you looking to acquire a skill or two to help your business grow? SQL is the answer!

Relax, we don't want to make you a computer geek or an IT worker. We know you probably hire specialists for this. Why should you care about learning SQL, then?

Why You Should Learn SQL

There are times when you should stop relying on others, roll up your sleeves, and analyze the data yourself. You may be in one of the following scenarios:

You Are the Owner or the CEO of a Large Corporation

You get reports from your advisors in the form of simple statements and beautiful charts. However, once in a while, it's good for you to look deeper into how your business works. Why? So that you do not have to rely on your employees all the time, and so that you can start going directly to the data.

Review your company’s revenue trends or profits from the most recent quarter. Find out which department works most effectively. Even with basic SQL skills, you can easily do it yourself.

You Own an Online Store

Every day, you struggle with hundreds of tables in Excel. You have orders, deliveries, customer data, supplier addresses, and promotion plans in spreadsheets. Admit it – it's hard to tame!

What if I told you that, instead of hundreds of files, you could have one database from which you get all the data and reports without wasting your time searching? With a few lines of SQL?

Think how much it could improve the processes in your company, how much money it could save, and how many problems you could avoid in the day-to-day operation of your store. SQL is the answer.

You Are an Entrepreneur

You provide services for which you receive remuneration under contracts. Your business is you, you are a one-person company, possibly a freelancer. Learning SQL can help you get a handle on your customer base, deadlines, revenues, and costs.

Don't think SQL is useless for smaller datasets. Here's how to analyze data, get insights even with small datasets.

You May Not Be Any of These, but You Run a Business

You don't even need to be a business owner to use SQL. Are you a manager? See who on your team should get a raise. Maybe you are a marketing director, and you want to estimate the results of the last promotional campaign yourself? This is also where SQL comes in handy.

The possibilities are endless. If you are still looking for good reasons, see How to Boost Your Company With SQL Courses. This should convince you that learning SQL is worth it.

The Best SQL Courses for Your Business

Let's get to the point. Now that you know you want to learn SQL, let me tell you which SQL courses you should consider.

For this, I will assume that it will be your first encounter with SQL queries and that you've never had anything to do with databases. Don't worry – you don't need to have any IT background to master basic or even advanced SQL topics. You just need a good source of knowledge, practice, and a little motivation.

Remember the goal – you want to be able to work with data, because it is pure profit, and because you can become fully independent.

In making the list below, I tried to be objective. Yes, you will find LearnSQL.com courses here, but I have also selected courses from other platforms for you. I want to show you the full spectrum of options.

Without further ado, here are the best SQL courses to help your business grow:

1.   SQL Basics

Everyone has to start somewhere. I have seen many SQL courses but this one is the best to start with.

SQL Basics is the flagship course of LearnSQL.com. It is not without reason that thousands of people have decided to learn SQL with it.

The course includes 129 interactive exercises that shouldn't take you more than 10-12 hours to complete. Of course, don't even try to do them all at once. Spread your learning over time. Approach it calmly and methodically. You can also read this article for tips on how to learn faster and more effectively.

You don't need to have any IT experience to start this course and learn SQL. It is designed to help even the biggest noob write SQL queries. A true zero-to-hero experience!

You'll start with simple SELECT queries with one table. Later, you'll learn to work with multiple tables using SQL JOIN and its variations. You will also learn about GROUP BY statements for creating simple reports, about complex WHERE conditions, about SQL subqueries, and a lot more! Finally, you can test your knowledge by taking a quiz.

It is not a difficult course. But it can be demanding at times, so there is no place for boredom. The tasks are interactive; you learn a given task and practice it right away. You write real SQL queries in an online console and see the results. You can't learn SQL any better.

I really recommend this course for beginners who want to learn the basics of SQL and gain some practice.

Price: $29 as a single course, $4.37 as a part of ALL Forever SQL Plan

My review: 10/10!

2.   Basic SQL Practice: A Store

This course is fantastic! There are very few interactive SQL courses that are this close to what happens in the real world. In this course, you will learn practical applications of SQL. You will be able to use most of the queries you write here in your own projects and reports.

The course consists of 169 interactive exercises. You play the role of a store owner who has to manage orders and other business metrics. Does that sound familiar? The creators wanted to meet the needs of the users who had already learned the basics but had a hard time finding good places to practice their skills.

Each part of the course begins with a short overview of the SQL syntax needed to solve the exercises. It gives the user a real hands-on experience. It is structured so that you can easily strengthen your SQL skills.

The course is part of a larger SQL Practice track that includes a total of 5 interactive SQL courses:

• SQL JOINs
• SQL Practice Set
• Basic SQL Practice: A Store
• Basic SQL Practice: Run Track Through Queries!
• 2020 Monthly SQL Practice Sets

Remember, practice makes perfect!

Price: $29 as a single course, $4.37 as a part of Forever Plan

My review: 10/10!

3.   SQL: Business Intelligence with SQL: 2-in-1

This is a pretty good SQL course to help you improve your business analytics skills and make your reporting easier. However, it is not for complete beginners. If you want to take full advantage of this course, you should have a solid foundation beforehand.

The course consists of two parts. In the first part, SQL Fundamentals for Business Intelligence, you will learn to write business queries. You will see how to import data into a database and how to process it later. You learn not only SQL but also how to use BI tools such as Excel and Power BI. Pretty useful!

The second course is called Advanced Applied SQL for Business Intelligence and Analytics. Along with SQL, Tableau is the star of this course. You'll also see some simple Python code in action. It has everything to bring you as close as possible to the real-life business analysis experience and gives you examples of how SQL is used in your day-to-day work.

When you complete this training program, you will have developed your SQL skills and learned to answer business questions with a dataset.

4.   Introduction to Data Analytics for Managers

EdX and LearnSQL.com are my favorite e-learning platforms. I did a whole lot of courses in various fields here. I can say this one is really good.

The course is a combination of knowledge from many areas. You will learn to work with databases, statistics, business tools, and even data visualization. Everything is quite acceptable in the form of lectures, articles, and videos.

It will take you 6 weeks to complete this data science program, and you will have to spend at least 2-3 hours each time you study.

The course authors are professors at the University of Michigan. You can see their academic approach from time to time, but generally there is nothing to complain about. Each manager will gain a lot from learning from people like them.

What exactly will you learn? Data science is a very broad concept that has recently become even overused. The scope of this course reflects this breadth.

You will simply learn how to harness the power of data, how to use appropriate tools, etc. It is an injection of useful knowledge for the modern manager all in one place. Elsewhere, you would have to look separately in many courses.

5.   Custom Courses From LearnSQL

This is one of the best options on the market – customized SQL courses to suit your needs.

You and your employees can learn SQL in your company's ecosystem. You practice SQL by writing SQL queries against your own databases. This means you can start creating real reports and analyzing your business metrics immediately after completing the course.

Many companies have already trusted us. Do you want to see what it looks like in practice? Read the case study of one of our clients, the global giant Uber. See how we helped Uber employees get the most out of their data.

Our custom SQL courses can help you with the new employee onboarding process. Instead of reserving conference rooms and trying to align everyone's calendar, choose the easier solution. It will be faster, cheaper, and more effective.

You will have peace of mind about maintaining training consistency and standards. You can centrally manage the progress of your employees regardless of where they work, be it on company premises or remotely from the other side of the world. Do you want to know more? Check this out: How Will a SQL Course Improve the New Employee Onboarding Process?

Interested in custom SQL courses? Book a free tour on our platform or write to us!

You Should Learn SQL!

Now you know what sources to use for learning SQL while you run or manage a business. Any course on my list is recommended; you can be sure taking one will give you a huge dose of knowledge and practice.

Remember, learning SQL can make you a better boss!

If you are just starting your adventure with SQL, choose SQL Basics. If you want to see what my own beginnings with this SQL course looked like, read this article. I know it can be difficult sometimes, but remember, think about your goal!

Stay focused and motivated, and you will achieve whatever you plan.

See you in class!