7-Day Accelerated Upskilling Plan: Mastering Basic SQL for Data Analysis (Beginner)

Skill: Mastering Basic SQL for Data Analysis

Current Experience Level: Beginner

This plan is designed for busy professionals to build foundational SQL skills in one focused week. Allocate 30-60 minutes daily.

Day 1: Introduction & Core Concepts

Objective: Understand what SQL is, its purpose, and basic database structure concepts (tables, columns, rows). Learn SELECT statements.

Resources:

Article: "What is SQL?" (e.g., from Codecademy blog)

Tutorial: Khan Academy's "Intro to SQL" (first few videos)

Tool: Online SQL editor (e.g., SQL Fiddle, W3Schools SQL TryIt Editor)

Exercise: Practice writing simple SELECT FROM table_name; queries on a sample database provided by an online editor.

Day 2: Filtering Data

Objective: Learn how to filter data using the WHERE clause and common operators (=, !=, >, <, >=, <=).

Resources:

Course Module: Codecademy's "Learn SQL" (Filtering section)

Tutorial: W3Schools SQL WHERE Clause tutorial

Exercise: Filter data based on numerical and text criteria (e.g., SELECT FROM orders WHERE amount > 100;, SELECT FROM customers WHERE city = 'New York';).

Day 3: Sorting and Limiting Results

Objective: Understand how to sort data using ORDER BY and limit results using LIMIT (or equivalent like TOP in SQL Server).

Resources:

Course Module: DataCamp's "Introduction to SQL" (Sorting/Limiting section)

Tutorial: SQLZoo (Select with ORDER BY)

Exercise: Sort results by different columns (ascending/descending), limit the number of rows returned.

Day 4: Aggregation Functions

Objective: Learn common aggregate functions (COUNT, SUM, AVG, MIN, MAX) to summarize data.

Resources:

Tutorial: W3Schools SQL Aggregate Functions

Article: "Understanding SQL Aggregate Functions"

Exercise: Calculate the total number of records, the sum/average of a numerical column, find the minimum/maximum value.

Day 5: Grouping Data

Objective: Combine aggregate functions with the GROUP BY clause to perform calculations on sets of rows.

Resources:

Course Module: Khan Academy's "SQL GROUP BY"

Tutorial: SQLBolt (Lesson 6: GROUP BY)

Exercise: Group data by a category and calculate aggregates (e.g., SELECT city, COUNT() FROM customers GROUP BY city;).

Day 6: Introduction to JOINs

Objective: Understand the concept of relational databases and perform basic INNER JOINs to combine data from two tables.

Resources:

Tutorial: W3Schools SQL INNER JOIN

Article: "A Visual Explanation of SQL Joins"

Exercise: Join two simple tables (e.g., orders and customers) and select data from both.

Day 7: Practice & Review

Objective: Consolidate knowledge by working through more complex problems involving all learned concepts.

Resources:

Platform: HackerRank SQL Practice Problems (Easy/Medium)

Platform: LeetCode Database Problems (Easy)

Cheatsheet: Basic SQL Syntax Cheatsheet

Exercise: Attempt 3-5 practice problems that require filtering, sorting, grouping, and basic joining. Review syntax and concepts learned throughout the week.