Chevron Left
Back to SQL for Data Science

Learner Reviews & Feedback for SQL for Data Science by University of California, Davis

4.6
stars
15,984 ratings

About the Course

As data collection has increased exponentially, so has the need for people skilled at using and interacting with data; to be able to think critically, and provide insights to make better decisions and optimize their businesses. This is a data scientist, “part mathematician, part computer scientist, and part trend spotter” (SAS Institute, Inc.). According to Glassdoor, being a data scientist is the best job in America; with a median base salary of $110,000 and thousands of job openings at a time. The skills necessary to be a good data scientist include being able to retrieve and work with data, and to do that you need to be well versed in SQL, the standard language for communicating with database systems. This course is designed to give you a primer in the fundamentals of SQL and working with data so that you can begin analyzing it for data science purposes. You will begin to ask the right questions and come up with good answers to deliver valuable insights for your organization. This course starts with the basics and assumes you do not have any knowledge or skills in SQL. It will build on that foundation and gradually have you write both simple and complex queries to help you select data from tables. You'll start to work with different types of data like strings and numbers and discuss methods to filter and pare down your results. You will create new tables and be able to move data into them. You will learn common operators and how to combine the data. You will use case statements and concepts like data governance and profiling. You will discuss topics on data, and practice using real-world programming assignments. You will interpret the structure, meaning, and relationships in source data and use SQL as a professional to shape your data for targeted analysis purposes. Although we do not have any specific prerequisites or software requirements to take this course, a simple text editor is recommended for the final project. So what are you waiting for? This is your first step in landing a job in the best occupation in the US and soon the world!...

Top reviews

JP

Apr 5, 2020

This course has really helped with optimizing queries that I work with everyday, enhancing my understanding of RDBMS, joins, analyzing and structuring exactly what you need and yielding those results.

JG

Aug 22, 2021

I thought this course was great! Great introduction to Relational Databases and SQLite. Highly reccomend for anyone new to SQL, Databases, or someone looking to get started with a data science career.

Filter by:

2951 - 2975 of 4,169 Reviews for SQL for Data Science

By Thanh N

Jul 28, 2018

This course was my first exposure to SQL. Much of the topics covered were easy to follow. I would have liked to delve deeper into some of the course topics. Some of the lectures were a little vague with only the static PowerPoint background. It would be helpful if the lecture was overlaid with motion pictures to help demonstrate how some of the code works in practice. The option to practice SQL on a computer using SQL Server or SQLite for applicable practice would also have been appreciated. Typing SQL code into the website isn't the same as using the actual programs one would use for work. Also, upon course completion, the Coursera website indicates this is 1 of 3 courses. However, it is unclear what course 2 and 3 are. I would like to learn more as I am hoping to utilize my economics and mathematics background in the work force as a data analyst. Overall, I enjoyed this course and recommend it to other folks if a traditional college course is not a viable option. If the option is available, I strongly suggest enrolling in an accredited, recognized university program.

By Roopmathi G J

Nov 24, 2022

I thoroughly appreciated learning a ton of SQL CONCEPTS and having the opportunity to practice writing queries and applying the key concepts in the Peer review assignment at the end of the course.

The 4 stars are because the presentation style of the educator was too boring for me so at times it was hard to concentrate on the video. It felt like the presenter was standing and reading off a script in a monotonous voice which certainly tested my patience to keep going through longer videos.

I am a supply chain professional with over 3 years of Supply chain experience in manufacturing and the Oil and gas industry and I am transitioning into a career in Data Analytics. This course is like a flame that brings into a dark room. I realised now how many concepts i need to learn in depth to truly get a mastery on SQL, which is the #1 skill i see repeated over and over on job boards. So this course just serves you the appetizer makig you hungry for more. I highly recommend completing practice quizzes and coding assignments to other new learners.

By Gabriel W

Jul 12, 2020

Overall this course provided a great curriculum to begin learning SQL basics as well as thinking about data in a scientific way. My only real feedback would be that I frequently had to look elsewhere on the internet for examples to understand the syntax and rules of each operator or function that was introduced. The core video lessons sometimes provide only one or sometimes zero examples of how to use the operator or function being discussed. More specific examples would be helpful. I am a native English speaker and still had occasional difficulty understanding what the instructor was trying to communicate during some of the video lessons. Many of the sessions could have been edited for clarity, especially when many students of the course are non-native speakers. Overall I learned a great deal and understand the basics of SQL such that I feel confident moving onto the next course and expanding my skillset. Thank you!

By Adrian R

Sep 4, 2019

I must say the final could use some improvements some things I wasn't really prepared well for was searching for any nulls that took a huge query and the last question on the final project was kind of vague. I took this course to learn by doing, wish there was some extra help when I ask sometimes nobody responded, so it was supposed to be a three week course, but took me 4 months. I gained alot of weight during taking this course, when studying this it takes me hours on hours sometimes I can't schedule other things in the day in fear of overlapping and forgetting. The instructor was good I had to research more on my own on the different times to use subqueries vs joins. Overall it is good experience I feel this is not like riding a bike and to remember it you have to keep doing it consistently. The readings on Data science are really really long as well the readings actually take a huge amount of time.

By Karolina F

Jul 5, 2020

Good introductory course for SQL beginners. Adequate content with plenty of reading to expand interest and find further references. Also an adequate pace that allows to combine learning with busy life. It allows to quickly build understanding of the concepts and their basic application to solve basic business questions as well as confidence. Sanbox practice w/o need to buy into any program is very usefull. The course delivers what it says it will deliver. Looking at others' reviews, expectation far exceeds what this course is designed to deliver in the given timeframe.

The polling questions are excellent during the lecture videos, as they keep the participant engaged and check understanding of subject. Only suggestiion for further improvement would be to split the video tutorials with some sandbox practice, instead leaving it out to the end of the section for a practice quizzes.

By Devan A

Nov 23, 2020

Overall good course with a helpful breakdown of concepts and skills needed to get started with SQL. Good structure and flow of information, which slowly builds up your skill and confidence throughout the four weeks.

It could definitely benefit from more code examples, especially in regards to concepts like date and time formats in SQL, and how to manipulate data in relation to these. Also would have been great to get more hands on coding practice before the end of the modules, as it can happen that you think you understand everything throughout the week, only to face up to a barrage of your weaknesses at the very end. Some self-study is also required, but I believe that ends up being a strength, as the course gives you the direction and often lets you figure it out.

Really enjoyed it, and recommend it to anyone starting off in this field.

By Anu

Aug 10, 2019

Hi! I'm still on WEEK 3 of the course and I'm yet to finish the course. The course content for Week 1 and Week 2 was amazing! The explanation, enthusiasm of the instructor in teaching, the examples and the description as well as clear cut definition of each term made it so easy to learn the concepts. Thank you for putting up such a great course material.

That being said, in Week 3, the concepts get tougher so the explanation should be more detailed and there should be more number of examples. However, that's not to be seen in the videos. There are hardly any examples.

The tables and what output we get after submitting the query is not shown. Without looking at the table contents and the kind of output each type of join query gives, it's very difficult to understand the concept. :/ I hope Coursera will do something about this. Thank you. :)

By Brian

Dec 6, 2022

The basic elements are covered well - the structure of relational databases, fundamentals of queries, different types of Joins and how to do them, and aggregate functions. In particular, I found the explanation of Group By and aggregate functions was very clear. The course also introduces some basic text and date formatting and gives you practice with all of this. One shortcoming was that the final assignment (Yelp data analysis) had a data set that was a small sample, not consistently chosen. So when you tried to do joins, you had queries that were full of nulls. And I thought the conceptual sections (beyond the how-to-code sections) were a bit over-simplified. Still, you will get up to speed very quickly with this course, get a lot of practice and quick feedback, and be ready to jump in to using SQL after completing the course.

By Jeff S

Jun 21, 2021

It is very hard to follow along and understand the material in the manner in which it is presented. Prior experience is A MUST! The instructor stumbles on her words a lot and the course consists of static slides showing code / queries but does not show the output. You are essentially listening to someone try to describe code without actually doing it yourself or see the results. The quizzes are your one and only chance to get any hands on practice. I changed my review from 3 to 4 stars because of the final project. It was very time consuming, and quite challenging, but it was exactly what was needed. I had to go back and review all of the videos, download notes, and really try to understand the materials presented in order to complete the final project. It was very rewarding, and I enjoyed reviewing my peer's assignments.

By Vinayak K

Jul 24, 2021

The course covers the essential basics of SQL and gives you more than enough knowledge and skills to apply for related jobs, projects, internships etc. If you wish to continue learning, I think you have sufficient skills to search up syntax on your own for more advanced topics and you probably don't need to take another proper course.

Unfortunately, there were also certain drawbacks including very basic videos where the instructor only read a script and went over basic presentation slides. This makes the lectures really boring for me and I usually skimmed through them...Also, you can't really practice the lectures on your own besides the quizzes. For this, I recommend practicing on W3Schools along with the video.

All in all, I recommend the course if you're willing to put in extra work on your own.

Good luck!

By Jonathan G

Jan 11, 2022

This was a great introduction to SQL for a complete beginner and the only thing keeping it from a 5-star review is attention to detail. Some of the questions throughout the module are confusingly worded, at least to me, and I couldn't help but notice the times the lecture didn't match the text on the slides. Last, I don't believe peer-reviewed grading is a viable system. After grading other submissions I realized I had not done as well as I would have hoped on my own assignment, and was looking forward to reading the feedback. Unfortunately whoever graded my assignment did so rather quickly and left little helfpful advice.

Overall though, great introduction. Sadie's ability to boil SQL down to the basics was helpful and I look forward to learning more in the weeks and months to come.

By Subbiah v

Jul 11, 2019

Really tough assignments. Tests your knowledge of you have learned. A good notes is necessary to attempt the final peer review assignment. Good links to outside sites for reference reading and clarity. Overall enjoyed the course. Learned a lot and understood how important data is in our life and how vital a knowledge to work with it is in today's world.

Small Advice: After each concept videos please make learners attempt questions on the solitary concept alone instead of brain storming the whole weeks total concepts in one coding assignment. It helps the learners to grasp the concept more and to remember it with enthusiasm.

Wonderful course with lot of tricky assignments. Have fun guys. I heard a specialzation is on its way for this. So its worth taking it and following a path.

By Dickson A O

Feb 20, 2023

I would have given this course a 5 star but why I am giving a 4 star is because it doesn't show how to get or install SQL. It just delves into the program but with programming, the best way to learn is to practice along side the instructor and then pick up challenges on your own.

I had to google online and watch YouTube videos on how to install MySQL and after downloading it and actually using it and having a fill of what the actual database workbench looks like that was when I noticed my skills increased by lips and bounds!

Overall, this course is amazing and has great content! You might also want to check out other sources to learn how the syntax works for different queries you're writing among the different RDBMS out there like PostSQL, MySQL, DB2, Oracle etc.

By Camilla S

May 23, 2021

Overall, I think this was a good course. However it could have been great with a few tweaks - I think it would have benefitted from more practise exercises during a module instead of it all being done at the end, and it would have been really helpful to see the actual code that should have been written for the answers for the quizzes as sometimes, even though I got to the right answer, I wasn't sure if I could have done it in a better way. On some of the specific pieces of content, the module that talked about date/time strings I found quite confusing, and the profiling section also didn't include enough specific examples. I did enjoy the course though, and the structure of it meant that I completed it, and found it easy to pace myself over the few weeks.

By Alex R

Mar 11, 2019

It's a good intro course to SQL for data science. The videos are helpful but the lack of practice questions or active presentations (showing the presenter using SQL and not just showing code on the screen) made it difficult for me to engage with the course. I had to go find additional practice question resources outside of the course and frequently used outside sources to help understand what I was doing. SQLite is also terrible and frequently times out because your query took more than 3 seconds. This was very frustrating as it leaves you unsure if your code is causing problems, the website/server was busy or SQLite just didnt process in time. I'd like a more robust SQL option similar to the way Hackerrank works.

By Rich M

Aug 27, 2020

The overall course is good enough and the quizzes are a good indication of what is to come. There are a handful of typos and errors in the PPT decks that do make the lessons harder because there are enough gaps that I had to search online for the correct way.

I know this isn't a surprise, but the cheating on the peer review project is rampant. I did 6 peer reviews and all but one was a copy and paste - they all had the same typo in a table. One even had generic statements such as FROM [insert table name].

Also, you need to include a 0 option for the peer project grading. Two of the ones that I graded skipped the last several questions and I had to still give them points.

By Rachel M

Nov 8, 2020

The course videos were a good introduction to the major tools of SQL. The exercises were targeted at a more beginner level than I expected. It might have been helpful to have more bonus or stretch exercises included in the quizzes, and for there to be more than 1 quiz per week to gain familiarity with a specific tool like subqueries or a specific type of join before moving on.

I would recommend that the course add information on what the different columns in the yelp dataset tables mean, in addition to the database schema, for the final project. Through peer review, it became apparent that this information is missing and would have been helpful.

By Fauzi M

Jun 14, 2020

This class is a good start to learn SQL. It provides the fundamentals and introduction to the world of SQL. However, I am speaking as someone who has learn to code before, so some of the practices are already familiar. Those with no prior coding experience, such as having SQL as their first code language, might have a bit of hard time.

Sadie's explanation is clear.

Some of the example used on the slides and what is being explained by the instructor are different. Maybe one is updated while the other isn't.

Some of the coding syntax are not explained verbally, however if you study the written examples on the slides, there should be no problem.

By Aron T

Jul 19, 2018

Nice course that covers the fundamental aspects of SQL and paves the way for a more in-depth dive into SQL and RDBMS. I really liked the integration of the chinook and yelp datasets in this course, as they give you a glimpse of what it is like in the real world. Quizzes and assignments were not too challenging which is fine considering this is more like an intro course. I also liked Sadie's teaching style, however I do favour a more organic teaching approach in the videos. I understand that, a lot of logistics goes into preparing these videos and I appreciate that. However, the teaching videos were a bit lifeless, if that makes sense.

By Samuel P A A

May 3, 2018

I loved the course. I think it is at the right pace with the right amount of information. Normally, I get bore when the instructor explain many things and after I got it, she/he continues explaining.

I loved that the instructor goes right to the point and does not waste time repeating the same thing again and again.

The only piece I was not happy about was the final assignment. It has things not explained in the course that were not easy to solve. Of course, after figuring out the answer, it seems easy, but it is not while the person does not get it.

But overall, I loved it. I would have given 4.5, instead of 4, but I was not able.

By Anna V

Apr 12, 2021

It was interesting and challengin, I would say that exercises were pretty extensive and somewhat difficult. It definitely took me a bit more time then expected. Also as in my work I am not particularly a data analyst, rather using the database to extract pretty primitive queries, not all the information was really useful for my specifics. The last project did not seem to be structured in a way that for peers it would be easy to check it - the analysis of your choice is very hard to check and time consuming.Overall I gained new knowledge and got more deep understanding of what I am doing and why when writing sql queries.

By Maximilian S

Feb 20, 2024

Good value for money. The practical sections with the use of SQLite were really useful and the periodic tests were also good. The language used to describe what is actually happening in a query could be improved. The teacher gives a positive impression but while reading from the teleprompter she often swallows or skips words or gets the intonation wrong, and then doesn't correct herself. I got the impression that they should have recorded some of the sections a second time in order to ensure clarity and ease of understanding; people taking the course for whom english is their second language might struggle at times.

By Sasha F

Apr 4, 2022

It was a great introductory course.

I certainy learned a lot and in areas I felt I didnt fully grasp, I searched the internet for more information. This course guided me to ask the right quesitons and will make my search keywords better for when I am looking to answer specific questions.

I wish that something like 'office hours' was available where students could ask questions and get answered promptly. I felt that if I had a question, it would go unanswered by the forum where there seems to not be many replies from mentors. There are a lot of quesitons for sure! so i think office hours would help.

By Megan R

Sep 24, 2019

Great exercises and quizzes to really test SQL knowledge. I feel confident in my ability to work with basic SQL commands to modify a data set for analysis. I found the videos helpful to introduce topics, but felt like I gained most of my understanding from the exercises.

Instructor was very knowledgeable but explained some of the concepts awkwardly. I appreciated her comparisons and metaphors when included.

Overall, really good course for someone who is brand new to SQL like myself. I look forward to applying these skills in practice and integrating them with other data analysis tools.

By David E

Jan 3, 2018

Most of the course is satisfactory. However, the final project has some major problems. First, it will take you longer than the stated 2 hours. Also, documentation on the provided data is lacking. Moreover, a large part of the final project is data analysis that you would never conduct in SQL - what would take a few lines of code in Python becomes cumbersome and frustrating and incomplete in SQL. If you're interested in obtaining the course certificate, just be aware that you won't encounter the most frustrating part of the course until you've completed every other course requirement.