Top 5 Online Courses to Learn MySQL

MySQL has become an important part of most software stacks these days. Almost every website or app is built on MySQL. It has a vast user community and support base. Often web developers as well as database administrators wonder where they can learn MySQL online. In this article, we will tell you the best 5 online courses to learn MySQL.

Benefits of Learning MySQL

There are several reasons why you need to start learning MySQL today.

1. Web Development – MySQL is the backbone of most websites and apps these days. All the important data about website/app users and their activity is stored in a MySQL backend. If you are a backend programmer, you need to know how to store data that receive from front end, into MySQL database. Similarly, you should also know how to fetch data from MySQL database and send it to the front end.

On the other hand, is you are a front end developer, you need to understand how the data that you send to back end will be stored in MySQL, and also how to use the data fetched from backend MySQL database should be used on web pages.
2. Data Analysis/Reporting – Most websites/apps store their data in MySQL database. Often business users need to be able to analyze this data, generate charts & reports to discover patterns in data. But the data required by end users may be different from the way it is stored by your website/app. So you need to be familiar with writing MySQL queries to be able to extract & transform data as per the requirement of end user.
3. Database Administration – Database administrators need to be able to understand how to manage their databases effectively, how to scale the database as usage increases. They also need to know to control user access in a multi user environment. They need to be familiar with database replication to properly backup the data. Lastly, they need to know about database partitioning/sharding to scale database effectively.

What to Look for in MySQL Resources

Depending on your present role and future aim, there are different things you need to look for in a MySQL course.

If you are a database developers or want to become one, then you need to learn more about writing SQL queries, different clauses such as WHERE, GROUP BY, ORDER BY, etc. You also need to learn about complex topics such as nested queries, stored procedures, SQL views, indexing. You need not learn much about MySQL administration.

On the other hand, if you are a database administrator or want to be one, then you need to learn about user management and access control. You also need to learn about database replication, sharding, clustering as well as database migration. You just need to know the basic of writing SQL queries, nothing complicated.

There is no point in trying to be a master of both these domains. They are fundamentally different roles requiring different skills. So, depending on your requirements, pick the right course for you.

Best 5 Online Courses to Learn MySQL

Here are some of the top online resources to Learn MySQL

1. W3Schools

If you are beginner, then W3Schools is perhaps the best way to learn MySQL online. It is a free online resource that contains a nice sequence of simple MySQL tutorials. Each tutorial is of one page, which explains the concept quickly, along with 1-2 easy to understand examples. Most of the tutorials also have a ‘try it yourself’ option allowing users to construct and run SQL queries on their own.

Whether you are a student, researcher or employed, you must go through W3Schools at least once. Its MySQL tutorials can be completed within a week’s time. Highly recommended for database developers.

2. MySQLTutorial.org

MySQLTutorial.org is another free online resource that is super useful. It contains tutorials for all kinds of MySQL users – database developers, software programmer as well as database administrators. It also contains in-depth tutorials about complex concepts such as nested queries, window functions.

If you are a software programmer, it helps you understand how to connect to MySQL database from your program whether you use Python, NodeJS, PHP, etc. Lastly, it also contains information about MySQL functions to perform complex tasks quickly.

3. Khan Academy

Khan Academy is a free online academy that offers learning resources on a wide range of topics. It provides a comprehensive web development tutorial that covers every aspect of web development such as JavaScript, Webpage development and more. Among them, it also covers an ‘Intro to SQL’ tutorial series that provides tutorials about SQL basics, building relational queries, and modifying databases in MySQL.

4. Udemy/Coursera

Many employers value a certification from Udemy/Coursera. If you are looking for a job as database developers or database administrator and have never worked in this field before, then it helps to get recognized certificates for MySQL and relational databases. Udemy and Coursera are two such marketplaces that offer useful certification courses for MySQL.

You will need to pay for them but you can include the certificates on your Linkedin Profile as well as your resume. This may increase the prospects of landing a job in this field.

5. MySQL Interview Questions

If you are looking to become a database developer or administrator, then it is important to brush up on MySQL interview questions. They tend to be a little different, use case-driven as compared to MySQL tutorials. MySQL tutorials contain a lot of theoretical knowledge with examples, but interview questions help you apply your knowledge in real-world scenarios, and also understand which topics are favored by software companies. Here are some of the popular resources for MySQL Interview questions.

DataCamp

GeeksforGeeks

Additional Resources

You can also use the following resources in addition to the above mentioned resources.

1. YouTube

If you find it boring to read through MySQL tutorials, then you can visually learn MySQL from YouTube. Just search for ‘MySQL tutorial’ or ‘learn MySQL’ in YouTube. You will come across many playlists which contain a proper sequence of MySQL tutorials.

2. DBFiddle

DBFiddle is a free online SQL editor and compiler that allows you to easily create databases online and run MySQL queries on them. It is a great way to practice building and executing SQL queries.

Conclusion

In today’s world, it is important to learn MySQL, whether you are a back end developer, front end coder, business analyst or database administrator. In this article, we learnt about the benefits of learning MySQL. We have learnt about what to look for in a MySQL online course. Lastly, we have listed online courses to learn MySQL, for basic as well as advanced users. There are plenty of free, high-quality, online resources about MySQL. Don’t go for a paid course unless you absolutely have too. Depending on your requirement, pick the online resource of your choice.

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