Go from SELECT to window functions and write queries that answer real business questions.
Data & AnalyticsPDF · 14 pages· v1.0
4.3A no-fluff SQL course written for people who need to pull and analyze data, not pass a computer science exam. It covers exactly the SQL that analysts use every day: filtering, aggregation, joins, subqueries, CTEs, and window functions, in the order you actually learn them. This is for marketing analysts, product analysts, operations staff, and anyone who has been handed read access to a database or warehouse and told to "figure out the numbers." If you can open a query editor, you can follow this guide. Every section uses a small, realistic dataset of orders and customers so the examples make sense without setup. You will learn why GROUP BY breaks the way it does, how to avoid the classic INNER vs LEFT join data-loss trap, and how to use ROW_NUMBER and SUM OVER to rank and run totals without exporting to a spreadsheet. The outcome: by the end you can independently answer questions like "what was revenue by month, by channel, with a running total" and "who are our top 10 customers by lifetime value" using a single query. The syntax shown is standard ANSI SQL with notes on the small dialect differences between PostgreSQL, MySQL, BigQuery, and SQL Server.
No. The examples are written to be read and understood on their own. If you want to run them, any free database (PostgreSQL, SQLite, or a BigQuery sandbox) works, and the schema is included so you can recreate the sample tables in a few minutes.
Standard ANSI SQL for everything that is portable. Where dialects differ (date functions, LIMIT vs TOP, string concatenation), the guide calls out the difference for PostgreSQL, MySQL, BigQuery, and SQL Server.
Yes, it assumes zero prior SQL. It does assume you understand the idea of rows and columns in a table, which is all you need from a spreadsheet background.
Yes. Window functions (ROW_NUMBER, RANK, SUM OVER, running totals) are the final section and are the main reason analysts outgrow basic SQL, so they get a full treatment with examples.
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