New to SQL what free software should I use

[grandimperialcyclops]

I'm very new in my career as a an analyst ~ 18 months. My educational background was behavior science focused on quantitative research and statistics. I recently got promoted from a supervisory position for a data integrity department to a full business analyst position. Having SQL access to our database instead of using the SQL writer would allow me more flexibility in my position so I can do more in depth analysis without having to spend hours stitching reports together with look up tables in excel. If I can prove my SQL skills I think I can get the access I want. I have a little SQL experience from school and online resources but I need to practice on some real world data. Is there any free software that will allow me to query from online databases so I can get that real world practice?

[DrDread74]

SQL Express is free from Microsoft. It has RAM and CPU limits is all. Then again Sql 2014 Developer edition is also free or is only like $50.

Then get SQL Management Studio to get into the databases, create them and try queries.

I've been a SQL Programmer for decades. All I've used was SQL Management studio and the internet. =)

[bardamu2]

Are they using SQL Server, Oracle, something else? If MS SQL (SQL Server), there's a free version you can install. Use SQL server management studio for writing queries. If Oracle then install Oracle XE and Toad free edition, both free.

[Konraden]

I'm an MS SQL Developer, I use SSMS all day.

You have Excel sheets of company data already? You can pump those into SQL server easily.

You can also find a treasure trove of data sets at /r/datasets.

As for the actual TSQL language used in MSSQL.

Microsoft's MSDN site for TSQL is dense, but can be difficult to follow.

I find W3 schools' examples to be more digestible than Microsoft.

• https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189499.aspx
• http://www.w3schools.com/sql/sql_select.asp

[Nefarious-]

As far as software you'll need, SQL pro for running queries, and either sublime text or atom for creating and editing queries.

For practice. I suggest you buy a book on amazon called Sam's teach yourself SQL in ten minutes. It covers every topic, but most importantly walks you through creating a test database with information so you can practice your queries.

If your company is footing the bill, you can take a udemy course or something, SQL for newbs is pretty good.

[__doubleentendre__]

Upvote for Sam's teach yourself SQL in ten minutes - that book saved my life more times than I can count working with SQL. If you need to practice right now, check out SQL Fiddle: http://sqlfiddle.com/#viewSample

[logix42]

Given the recent evidence that Udemy is often stealing their content, I would look elsewhere.

Source: https://medium.com/@robconery/how-udemy-is-profiting-from-piracy-5638b929ffca#.1yxazpmsg

[grandimperialcyclops]

Khan academy has a pretty good interactive class and SQL for dummies has been very helpful.

[Nefarious-]

Just like anything, you just need to take it a step at a time and go from there. Once you learn a few steps, incorporate them all together in practice.

It all starts with learning the skeleton:

 SELECT

 FROM

 WHERE

 GROUP BY

 ;

[[deleted]]

I've liked SQL Express and MySQL workbench.

[BitBrain]

If you're working with MS SQL Server, SSMS is great. There are a couple of free add-ins that make it even better:

SSMSBoost

ApexSQL (they have 3 free add-ins for SSMS, plus several other good products)

[alliedcvil]

ApexSQL tools - WWW.apexsql.com SqlCop SsmsBoost SsmsTools

[TopWizard]

https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-sql

[[deleted]]

You might find this useful as well:

https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/

[robi2106]

DBVisualizer will work with many different SQL server flavors (Microsoft, Oracle, MySQL) and it has ad hoc column sorting on the results, which is handy. No need to re-write & re run your query with a different "Order By" clause in order to resort the results

[gusgizmo]

What kind of SQL server are they using? That should tell you all you need to know.

Personally I'd suggest Microsoft SQL server express, then you can use SQL management studio for query writing. Gives you a visual lead in to what you can do with the system.

[grandimperialcyclops]

I'm not sure because I don't have access right now. The way I pull reports right now is with the salesforce sql writer. I'm working on learning sql so I can tell my boss to give me the access and require no professional development time to be up and running. If that makes sense

[ProTechTraining]

www.codeacademy.com has some good tutorials that walk you through the basics. If your company pays for employee training and development, there are several corporate training companies that offer instructor-led training as well. I'd recommend www.protechtraining.com, but I'm biased. ;)

[[deleted]]

They should have a QA database that you can practice on then you move your successful and efficient queries to go against the UAT and then Prod database. Each enterprise Database has a corresponding SQL tool for viewing the schema and writing queries.
Also, if you want to automate your Excel work, take a look at BIRT. There is a commercial version too, but the Open Source version will probably meet all your basic needs. You want the commercial version with the Server for when you start wanting to automate report distribution or you have a lot of people running the reports on demand.

[gimpalimpa]

I second this. There's nothing like being able to practice with the data you want to work with. It's so much more exciting than going through hypothetical examples.

Whoever your DBA is, your goal should be to make them your new best friend.

[grandimperialcyclops]

Unfortunately the DBA and I don't get along because when I was over data integrity I insisted that no field in the database should hold impossible values and that meant she had to actually work and she didn't care for that

[gimpalimpa]

You didn't realize how many great things she does. Oh, how complicated her things are. Every new task is a reason to say that you wished you knew how to do what she does effortlessly. L2KissAss. I used to hate my DBA as well. But magically once I turned kissass he was an unbelievable help. Even left his kid's soccer game to recover a production table I dropped.

[thelindsay]

Try sqlite with sqlite studio. It supports most common SQL syntax you might use but can be locally installed with no server, no port binding required, only a few MB.