A 20-hour start with SQL.
A clear place to start, from SELECT and JOIN to window functions. Twenty hours won’t make you an expert; it can get you writing queries.
A lot of you have asked me where to start with SQL if you want to get into data analytics. There are plenty of resources. The harder part is often knowing what to learn first and when to stop watching and start writing.
That’s why I put together a short, roughly 20-hour plan. It starts with the basics and moves toward JOINs, window functions and questions you can answer with data.
What is the goal?
Not mastery in twenty hours. The goal is to make the path visible and get you comfortable enough to try a query, inspect the result and ask what went wrong.
Don’t treat the hours as a deadline. If JOINs take longer, that’s fine. Writing one yourself is more useful than checking off another video.
How I suggest using it
- Open the learning resource for the section you’re working on.
- Write the examples yourself, then change a condition or a column.
- Try the exercise before looking for an answer.
- Explain what one row in your result represents. This matters especially after a JOIN.
The file includes learning resources and a practice area at the end, so you can move between learning and trying things without setting up a separate environment.
Open the SQL plan and practice file
If you’re just starting out, the useful milestone is simple: take a small question and turn it into a query you can explain. That’s a good first step.