There are many ways for a database administrator to learn how to use a database programming language, including a book or tutorial, such as the one you are reading now. Some people prefer that method and everyone learns differently. If you are the type of student that learns more in a classroom type of environment – and you want to learn MySQL as part of your database administrator or database developer training – we suggest you consider our list of the top online MySQL courses, as detailed in the sections below.
Best MySQL Courses Online for Beginners
The courses we list below are targeted at beginning database admins or programmers who are new to creating database-centric or database-driven software and applications. Additionally, if you have experience in another database language or technology, such as MS SQL or Microsoft Access, the courses listed in the paragraphs below will help you add another language to your resume – namely, MySQL.
Some of the courses listed in our “beginner” section also cover intermediate to advanced MySQL topics, but that is okay, because they teach you the foundations of good MySQL and database management first.
SQL for Beginners: Learn SQL using MySQL and Database Design from Udemy
Udemy has a course called SQL for Beginners: Learn SQL using MySQL and Database Design that makes our list of top MySQL courses for beginners for a few good reasons. To begin, this is not just a course about MySQL and SQL fundamentals. Instead, it is a class designed to teach students about solid database design and data analysis principles. This is key, in our books, because while knowing MySQL is great, it will be of little practical use to a db admin that does not understand how to design a database.
This beginner MySQL course is nearly 8 hours long and is broken down into 14 sections and 122 lectures. At the end of the course, students will earn a “Certificate of Completion”, which is always a nice addition to a resume. Some of the topics covered include:
- Installing and setting up MySQL
- How to work with data types
- Differences between primary and foreign keys
- Manipulating tables with commands like SELECT, ALTER, and DELETE
- Basic MySQL commands
- How to work with aggregate functions
- Database selects
- Database design principles
You can sign up for this MySQL database course by visiting: SQL for Beginners: Learn SQL using MySQL and Database Design.
MySQL and SQL for Beginners from TechRepublic Academy
Despite the simplicity of its name, the MySQL and SQL for Beginners from TechRepublic Academy is a pretty solid course to learn the basics of MySQL and SQL. It focuses primarily on developers and programmers who want to create database-driven applications and dynamic websites that are powered by a database on the backend.
Course takers will learn about database programming with 18 hours of material, including 136 lectures. Topics covered in this MySQL class include:
- How to create, update, and query databases
- What are transactions and how to use them
- What is database isolation?
- How to use triggers, views, and stored procedures
- How to work with database users and privileges
- Database security techniques
You can sign-up for this MySQL course by visiting: MySQL and SQL for Beginners.
SQL for Data Analysis: Beginner MySQL Business Intelligence from Udemy
The SQL for Data Analysis: Beginner MySQL Business Intelligence is offered by Udemy and we included it on our list of top MySQL courses because, again, it does not just focus on MySQL commands, but, rather, on using MySQL for data analysis and business intelligence. After all, what good is knowing a database programming language if you do not have a set path in mind?
This course is relatively short compared to some of the other classes on our list, which makes it great for those that want to dip their toes in or add another possible career path to their resumes. It covers the following topics:
- How to work with MySQL Workbench
- How to write SQL queries for database analysis
- How to use the MySQL JOIN statement
- Use SQL to extract, sort, filter, and group data
You can sign-up for this Udemy course by visiting: SQL for Data Analysis: Beginner MySQL Business Intelligence.
Best Online MySQL Courses for Intermediate and Advanced Developers
Once you finish the above courses, you should have a good foundation for working with MySQL and SQL relational databases. Using that knowledge, you can proceed to taking some of the intermediate and advanced level MySQL database programming courses we list in the sections below. These MySQL classes are also appropriate for anyone who has a beginner’s knowledge of database administration or that have dabbled with structured query languages in the past.
The Complete MySQL Bootcamp from TechRepublic Academy
The The Complete MySQL Bootcamp from TechRepublic Academy touts itself as more of a MySQL bootcamp than a course. It is structured around the concept of helping anyone – whether they are a database administrator, database programmer, or even a sales person with access to a relational database management system (RDBMS) – solve data problems using SQL and MySQL. As such, it does technically teach the basics of MySQL as well, which is good if you need a refresher.
The MySQL bootcamp contains 159 lectures and 8 hours of training videos. By the end of the bootcamp, students will learn how to:
- Use SQL and MySQL commands and statements
- MySQL syntax
- Join two or more tables
- Build and design a database
- Create web applications with MySQL and PHP
- Build a data structure for a social networking platform like Facebook or Twitter
You can sign-up for this MySQL class by visiting: The Complete MySQL Bootcamp.
The Complete PHP & MySQL Web Development Bundle from Tech Republic
As firm believers of learning with a purpose, we had to add the The Complete PHP & MySQL Web Development Bundle course from TechRepublic Academy to our list. It not only covers MySQL and database programming, but goes a step further to include PHP and web development as well. This means that students will come out of the course with a clear career path and use cases, versus simply learning some MySQL and SQL syntax.
The course is pretty meaty, with over 44 hours of material. Subjects taught in the bundle include:
- Basic PHP
- MySQL fundamentals
- How to create a web application with CakePHP
- How to use the Yii PHP Framework to develop a web app
- Using PHP and MySQL together for web development
- How to use the Laravel PHP Framework
- Advanced Laravel PHP Framework principles
You can sign up for this MySQL and PHP course by visiting: The Complete PHP & MySQL Web Development Bundle.