r/learnSQL • u/Maximum-Page3433 • 1d ago

How should I start learning SQL?

I honestly don't know anything about SQL right now. I want to start learning it properly, so can you guys suggest how I should begin and what resources I should use? My plan is to learn SQL for data first and then move towards AI and ML. I don't even know if SQL is different depending on whether you are working in data, AI, or ML, so I'm a little confused about that too. If you could suggest some good resources, a proper way to learn it, and what I should focus on if I want to become really good at SQL, I would really appreciate it. Thankkk youuuu

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u/mlhigg1973 19h ago edited 19h ago

Many, many years ago I was on team that used MS Access (I think it’s being phased out by MS though). Being proficient in that made transitioning to SQL server very, very easy, as it visually teaches you foundational database concepts like joins, primary keys, where clauses, if then, importing files, linking to external data sources, etc. you can create a query in Access, and also look at the actual code behind it. While some of the syntax is different, the language used is very similar. As I said, this was years ago, so it may be an outdated approach.

Also keep in mind, the language also differs slightly between platforms. Syntax would vary slightly depending on if I was pulling from SQL server tables or using teradata SQL to pull from BofAs massive data warehouse.