Learn SQL & SQL Server Database Design - Zero to Hero 2026

Explore the visual architecture of SQL queries, learning the core structure: select, from, where, group by, having, and order by, with practical examples and aggregations.

Learn to install SQL Server Express and SQL Server Management Studio, connect to the server, and restore the AdventureWorks 2022 backup into your SQL Server.

Learn to query SQL by selecting all rows from production.product, choose a few columns with aliases, and fetch top 30 or top 15 rows from person.

Learn to filter rows with the where clause using operators =, >, <, <>, >=, <=, and not in; handle strings versus numbers and practice top queries.

Master where filtering in SQL Server using and and or, pattern matching with like and wildcards, and practical examples including in, between, and a concluding challenge.

Master handling null values in the where clause by using or is null to include missing data, and understand why nulls aren’t equal to any value in SQL.

Learn to use distinct with select from where to return unique values and avoid duplicates, including card type, card number, and expiration year and month for unique rows.

Explore grouping data with group by and aggregate functions in SQL Server, using sum, count, min, max, and average to compute revenue per product, distinct territories, and inventory by location.

Explore how the having clause filters aggregated data after group by, unlike where which targets individual rows, with examples like total revenue per product.

Learn how to join two tables using left, right, inner, and full outer joins and union. See how employee and department tables yield department names or nulls in the result.

Master inner joins in SQL Server by joining sales order detail with product data, selecting specific fields, using aliases, and understanding how product ID links the tables.

Understand left joins return all rows from the main table with matching right data, and right joins return all rows from the right table with matching left data.

Master full outer joins, a union of left and right joins, returning all rows from two tables and filling unmatched cells with nulls, using examples of customers, orders, and products.

Explore union and union all in SQL Server, ensuring matching field counts and types, and combine diverse examples like territory customers, price history, and online versus store orders.

Explore common table expressions (CTEs) to create temporary result sets, simplify long SQL queries, and organize multi-step operations using with, as, and multiple CTEs.

Learn how views in SQL Server act as virtual tables to simplify complex queries, including creating, altering, renaming, and dropping views, and combining views with joins for cleaner data.

Explore database design theory by selecting data types, building tables for snowboard and ski e-commerce store (customers, orders, products, employees), and mapping one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many relationships with an erd.

Insert, update, and delete data in the departments and employees tables while enforcing foreign key constraints. Practice managing pay info, performing left joins, and verifying changes with SQL queries.

Plan a ski and snowboard shop database by outlining six tables and their one-to-many relationships in an ERD. Practice building the diagram in db diagram.io to prepare for table creation.

Create the snowboard and ski shop database with multiple schemas and tables, outlining primary keys and foreign key constraints, then prepare for data insertion.

Enter data into a SQL Server database and practice querying across multiple tables with joins, using a practical final project for a snowboard and ski shop dataset.