SQL Certification:10 BEST SQL Certifications In 2022 To Boost Your Career!

Structured Query Language, or SQL for short, is a computer language frequently used by experts who manage and analyze massive volumes of data.

Experts in the data science field often use SQL as a means of communicating with relational database management systems in order to organize, clean, extract, and process massive datasets. Data from Burning Glass Technologies in February 2020 shows that SQL was the top demanded expertise among tech employers, demonstrating SQL’s continued importance in the IT industry.

Most SQL certifications are tied to a particular vendor or platform. Determine which, if any, certifications you need by learning about the database technologies your desired career path emphasizes.

Is It Worth Doing The SQL Certification

Since there are many different platforms and companies that each have their own unique product or suite of products, such as Microsoft Azure, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle SQL, and others with open source platforms like MariaDB, MySQL, etc., there are a wide variety of SQL certifications to choose from, the vast majority of which are vendor or platform specific.

Having the right credentials on your profile will help you stand out from the crowd and, at the at least, get you an interview with the right firm and in the right role. There has been a recent trend in the hiring industry toward using a set of predetermined criteria, often including a candidate’s certifications and/or skillset, as a means of first resume screening.

In addition to your understanding of the field, certifications can help you get ahead professionally and provide you with greater leverage when negotiating your salary and other terms of employment.

Importance of SQL Certification

SQL is employed in some shape or form by virtually every company today. Whether you work on the backend or frontend, learning SQL is valuable since it helps you grasp the big picture in terms of product and data flow, basic queries, and database structure.

These credentials are required for anyone working in the field of data, but even the most generic software developer should know at least the basics of SQL.

Some of the advantages of having a SQL certification are:

• Helps you to stand out in the crowd for job openings where certification is desirable or preferred.
• Hints at a candidate’s willingness or proactiveness to learn new things and acquire appropriate skills.

Roles That Demand SQL Skills

The Structured Query Language (SQL) is a tool for managing and analyzing data in any form, from designing databases and data warehouses to formulating basic and complicated queries to extract the data you need in the most efficient way possible.

As one of the fundamental pillars of any data source, SQL is in increasingly high demand due to the rise of Machine Learning and Data Science (However these days a lot of NoSQL-based data sources exist, but the core concepts remain the same)

So, now let’s see some of the roles that demand SQL skills:

1. Business Analysts: Commonly known as BA are usually helping clients to leverage most of the data, scope out requirements around database optimization, data analytics, ETL queries, etc.
2. Data Scientists: Help organizations analyze data with the help of complex queries and determine useful information and trends from 100s to 1000s of GBs of data.
3. Database Administrator: Usually known as DBAs, manages databases and related software for storage, organization, and efficient access to data. Hence, good hands-on experience with advanced SQL skills is desired for this type of role.

List Of The Best SQL Certifications

Here are the most effective and recognized SQL Certifications:

1. Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Fundamentals
2. Oracle Database SQL Certified Associate Certification
3. EDB PostgreSQL 12 Associate Certification
4. Oracle Certified Professional, MySQL 5.7 Database Administrator Certification
5. Teradata Certification – Associate 2.3 Exam
6. Udemy – The Complete SQL Bootcamp
7. SQL from A to Z in MS SQL Server
8. Coursera – Managing Big Data with SQL
9. Codecademy – Learn SQL
10. LinkedIn Learning – Advanced SQL for Data Scientists

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1. Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Fundamentals

This Microsoft SQL certification is a great first step in developing cloud-based data management expertise. The Azure cloud platform provides a useful environment in which to practice fundamental data principles and a method to work with relational and non-relational data.

Features:

• Build foundational knowledge around cloud data in the Azure landscape.
• Understand and describe database concepts such as relational, non-relational, and related big data and analytics concepts.
• Understand roles and core responsibilities in data-oriented roles.

Course Details

Duration: The duration of the exam is 60 mins for about 40-50 questions.
Level: Beginner to Intermediate.
Pre-requisites: None
Mode of Learning: E-learning modules from external vendors are available.

Some of the best resources are:

1. Coursera
2. Microsoft Learning offers free, Instructor-led online courses.
3. Oreilly

Minimum Passing Score: Min passing score for this exam is 700/1000

Cost: The Cost is different per country. For the US, it is $99 while for India its Rs 3696.

2. Oracle Database SQL Certified Associate Certification

This certification in SQL demonstrates to potential employers that you have the foundational knowledge necessary to successfully complete any database project using an Oracle Database server.

As a primer for new or aspiring data professionals or general Software developers, this certification is highly regarded as one of the top SQL certifications for beginners.

Features:

The course content covers various areas like:

• Relational database concepts.
• Retrieving data – SQL SELECT, Concatenation, Joining across tables, etc.
• Sorting data and search filters.
• Conversion & Group functions.
• DDL, DML, and DCL statements.

Course Details

Duration: 120 mins
Total Questions: 78
Level: Beginner
Pre-Requisites: None
Mode of Learning: Online learning modules are available from multiple vendors.

This one from Oracle offers about 16+ hours of expert training.

Minimum Passing Score: 63%

Cost: Approximately $240

3. EDB PostgreSQL 12 Associate Certification

EnterpriseDB’s Postgres SQL certification is among the best in the industry. Candidates’ ability to manage a production PostgreSQL server and all of its associated applications is tested and certified.

Features:

• Some of the areas covered are:
  • PostgreSQL installation.
  • User permissions.
  • Database creation, settings, extensions, etc.
• Digital badges are provided after you clear or pass the certification examination.

Course Details

Duration: 60 mins
Level: Associate
Pre-Requisites: Foundations of PostgreSQL course
Mode of Learning: Online courses & Practice exam tests are available,

Total Questions: 68

Minimum Passing Score: 70%

Cost: $200

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4. Oracle Certified Professional, MySQL 5.7 Database Administrator Certification

This SQL certification is intended for more advanced database administrators, therefore students should have some familiarity with MySQL before enrolling.

Besides query optimization and efficiency, it also focuses on administration principles like installation, monitoring, and security.

Features:

Some of the areas covered as part of this certification are:

• Installing MySQL, understanding configurations.
• The architecture of MySQL.
• Monitoring MySQL – Understand plugins and configure user accounts and permissions.
• Other areas like Capacity planning, Troubleshooting, etc.
• Security and Backup.

Course Details

Duration: 120 mins
Level: Professional
Total Questions: 75
Pre-Requisites: None
Mode of Learning: Online-recorded sessions as well as Instructor-Led classes.

Oracle Technology Learning Subscription – available at a price of $4995 /year

Minimum Passing Score: 58%

Cost: $245

5. Teradata Certification – Associate 2.3 Exam

There is a wide variety of certification tiers available in Teradata’s Vantage Track, including Associate, Administrator, Developer, and Advanced.

Features: 

The exam covers the broad features of Vantage 2.3. Some of the areas covered are:

• Characteristics of relational models and concepts.
• The architecture of data warehouses, scalability options, data flow, etc.
• Benefits of Advanced SQL engine, workload management, space classifications.
• Use cases of Primary, Secondary, and join indexes, the impact of indexes on data distribution, etc.
• Security and privacy mechanisms are available within the Advanced SQL Engine.

Course Details

Duration: 75 minutes
Level: Associate
Pre-Requisites: None
Mode of Learning: Online

Minimum Passing Score: Pass rates are based on Psychometric analysis.

The exam results are available within a period of 3 to 21 days after completing the test.

Cost: $149

6. Udemy-The Complete SQL Bootcamp

This Udemy Bootcamp will teach you all you need to know to get started with SQL, with a focus on PostgreSQL. However, the skills you learn will be transferable to any database that uses the SQL standard.

While the certification itself isn’t particularly valuable, it can be used to learn the fundamentals of SQL, including database types, SQL syntax, create, read, update, and delete (CRUD) queries, and data analysis using SQL.

Features:

The course covers almost all the concepts around in-demand skills like PostgreSQL.

• Basics of SQL syntax.
• Data analysis using aggregate functions.
• Advanced querying along with String operations and logical operators.
• Learn to use SQL JOINS.
• Learn the basics of tables and database constraints.

Course Details

Duration: 9 hours of recorded video content.
Level: Beginner
Pre-Requisites: No pre-requisites or technical experience is required.
Mode of Learning: Online – Recorded course.

Minimum Passing Score: Not applicable – Offers certification on completion.

Cost: $45

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7.SQL from A to Z in MS SQL Server

This is a comprehensive video course/tutorial that assumes no prior knowledge and covers both the fundamentals and more advanced topics. It’s designed for novices who are eager to expand their knowledge of IT and coding.

Features:

• Offers a defined learning path with around 83 hours of learning content split into 7 interactive courses.
• Offers certificate on completion.
• Learning objectives include creating simple to advanced queries.
• Understand SQL joins and aggregations.
• Covers common table expressions, recursive SQL queries, and complex reporting using GROUP BY clauses.

Course Details

Duration: Total of 7 interactive courses. Estimated content around 83 hours
Level: Beginner
Pre-Requisites: None
Mode of Learning: Online – Video on demand (Course is available with lifetime access to the material)

Minimum Passing Score: Not Applicable – Offer Certificate on completion

Cost: $203 for lifetime access (video-on-demand content)

8. Coursera – Managing Big Data with SQL

The analytical methods covered in this course are just one of the many that make up the Excel to MySQL Series. This course is meant to be an introduction to the RDBMS system and its applications in business analysis, with a focus on Big Data.

Features:

• Learn how to use Entity Relationship diagrams for displaying data structure and various relationships between tables/fields.
• How to execute and implement Big Data collection.
• Use sample data and collections and get an understanding by actual coding exercises on simulated data to get a thorough understanding.

Course Details

Duration: 32 hours
Level: Intermediate
Pre-Requisites: None
Mode of Learning: The video-on-demand course along with exercises.

Minimum Passing Score: Not applicable – Earn a certificate on course completion.

Cost: Approx $96 to enroll for 3 months with Coursera, which is around 9 hours/week for the course duration.

9. Codecademy – Learn SQL

If you’re completely new to SQL and want to obtain a practical knowledge of the fundamentals, a beginner’s course covering simple topics like building databases and tables, and querying tables, is a good place to start.

Features:

• Covers basic content like Data CRUD operations.
• Learn to Aggregate functions and apply them in SELECT queries.
• Query data from multiple tables and introductory understanding of JOINS.

Course Details

Duration: 9 hours
Level: Beginner
Pre-Requisites: None
Mode of Learning: Online – Video on demand.

Minimum Passing Score: Not applicable – Earn a completion certificate if you are a paid member.

Cost: $66 for annual enrolment to Codecademy or $12 for monthly enrolment.

10. LinkedIn Learning – Advanced SQL for Data Scientists

This is an advanced SQL course designed for professionals in data science and related subjects. This document covers topics such as performance data models, query optimization, JSON support, etc.

Features:

• Data modeling – covering Normalisation and Denormalisation.
• Indexes like B-tree, Bitmap, and Hash.
• SQL Query functions, and Python functions.
• Semi-structured and hierarchical data.

Course Details

Duration: 9 hours
Level: Beginner
Pre-Requisites: None
Mode of Learning: Online – Video on demand.

Minimum Passing Score: Not applicable – Earn a completion certificate if you are a paid member.

Cost: $66 for annual enrolment to Codecademy or $12 for monthly enrolment.

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Conclusion

SQL is one of the most prevalent languages utilized across the industry. In today’s highly digitized world, data is the equivalent of hard currency. Accessing data and conducting various processes, taking meaningful choices against diverse forms of data is one of the main problems that data analytics and Machine learning are aiming to solve.

Hence, the basics of data analysis, as well as executing or having a strong comprehension of standard database programming languages like SQL is a good ability to obtain and surely sets you apart from the crowd.

We have covered the several SQL certifications available on many different servers. The reader would do well to familiarise themselves with the distinctions and select the credential that is most relevant to their professional goals and the tools they want to use in their future positions.

Some of the greatest SQL certifications that are frequently popular amongst developers around the world are Oracle Certified Professional MySQL 5.7 and Microsoft Azure basics.

On-demand video course sites like Coursera and Udemy also provide useful courses in this area, but they carry less weight with prospective employers than professional credentials from Oracle and Microsoft.