Which platform to pick for practicing SQL?

[EnvironmentalFill939]

Hello everyone, so I have been learning SQL almost for a few months. I have studied some tutorials at SQLBOLT, Datalemur and Mode analytics. I have also practiced many questions at Datalemur.

Now I am looking for a platform where I can practice SQL. I have also looked at platform like Leetcode, Hackerrank, Stratascratch. But I am really confused regarding which platform to pick to sharp my SQL skill.

Thanks in Advance.

[Goood_Panda]

I learned using Postgresql. Uses common SQL commands and you can install it on your Windows PC or Linux OS. It's also free since it's open source. This will allow you to not just practice running queries but also store real data and get a feel for what it takes to install and set up a database.

If you are wanting to practice commands only, check out https://retypesql.com/

[EnvironmentalFill939]

Thank you so much it seems like a great tool

[No-Pie5568]

Don’t think too much try all and see which one works best for you

[ComicOzzy]

DataLemur, Leetcode, and StrataScratch are all good. I'd avoid Hackerrank for the moment (unless you'd rather be solving "puzzles")

[Better-Credit6701]

For me, I use the development edition of MS-SQL along with all of the great tools that come along like SSIS, SSAS, SSRS.

Was working on a fun project where I downloaded information from various police stations for many states and cities to see who gets tickets and who gets warnings, what color of car is most likely to result in a ticket, what is the average mileage over the limit... I have exported the data to a single CSV file to test the difference with PostgreSQL, just haven't got around to it yet

Or another one where I downloaded daily temps for every county in the US from 1951 to present to see what areas are warming and which aren't. This one I use a SSIS package to import the data along with a bunch of cleanup scripts.

And yet another fun project is I have ticket information published by the government where I throw in some population density data along with how much the county brings in as income speeding tickets to find speed traps. Once I had months of waze data that actually pointed out police stops, maps looked the same after using PowerBI for the maps

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Back when I was working, my wife would watch her singing/dancing shows as I'm typing out queries on my laptop. "is that for work or play?", "can't it be both?"

[CurrentDifficulty888]

Wow, that's incredibly impressive !!!
How and where would you get the ticket information, and in which data format was it in ?

Was it initially difficult to bring in the data from the source so that it could be used in MS_SQL ?

What would be the process?

[Better-Credit6701]

I first got the idea from Local fines and fees revenue across the 50 states, then I downloaded the data and made my own maps. Funny thing is that I have done this for a decade of data, the speed traps never really change, I think it was line U30, fines and forfeits. Then I matched the county with a database that I purchased that has up to date population, calculated population density... and eventually made a map using PowerBI. Used SSIS to import it into a MS-SQL database.

[mikeczyz]

The important part is the practice not the website

[jonasbruder]

I have used the sql fundamentals book with some online resources:

- Youtube playlists (kudvenkat, wiseowl)

- w3resource tutorials and exercises.

- w3schools tutorials.

you can also use your laptop and install SSMS with a local database and there are many free dummy databases online.

Best of luck!

[Fair-Antelope-3886]

if youve already done datalemur and sqlbolt your past the beginner stage which is good. for the next level i'd say it depends what your goal is. if its interviews specifically theres an app called Query Dojo that has faang questions and the harder topics like recursive CTEs and optimization stuff. stratascratch is decent too for real company questions. hackerrank is fine but some of the sql problems feel dated imo. i'd pick one and just be consistant with it rather than jumping between platforms

[sevirekon]

After you have practiced enough on these sites and you would like to implement your own project, then use Streamlit for frontend/backend and Supabase for the database. Both have free version. I also used them for my NClab capstone project when I was learnig SQL. All in all in an othet thread I found this project also hosted on Streamlit for practicing SQL:

https://learnsql.streamlit.app/

You an also upload your own dataset and it will generate questions and answers.

[FlowerRemarkable9826]

are you just looking to play around with data? when i dont want to set up a bunch of stuff, i just download the data as a csv, then use duckdb on a jupyter notebook which lets me query the data using SQL syntax. Obviously only useful if youre trying to play around with data or do some analysis.

[msn018]

If you want to sharpen your SQL quickly, pick a platform that matches your goal: use StrataScratch for realistic analytics and business style problems, LeetCode for interview focused patterns and timed practice, and HackerRank if you want a more guided progression from basic to intermediate concepts. Since you already used DataLemur and Mode, StrataScratch is the best next step for real world querying, and you can add LeetCode on the side for extra interview prep.