SQL is a consistently high demand skill, especially if you're doing any type of data analysis or want to become a data analyst or data scientist.

But let's be honest, we all have limited time so how do we learn as efficiently and quickly as possible?

Well kudos to you, you're definitely on the right track because learning by actually building projects and actually using SQL with real-world examples is the best way.

But rather than bombard you with 10, 15, or 20 random projects, we’ve put together the only 7 SQL projects that we think you should work on if you want to improve your SQL skills, build your confidence, and have a kick-ass SQL project portfolio for potential employers.

And better still? We asked our resident SQL Expert for his choice for the top 3 projects on this list that you can’t miss, if you want to be ahead of the curve and get the best returns for your efforts.

So let’s dive in…

⭐ Project #1️: Forecast customer numbers

The first of our ‘can’t miss’ projects.

Why?

Well, the simple fact is that e-commerce is a very big part of our day-to-day lives, and understanding data in this industry is crucial. Almost every business does e-commerce or inventory management in some form.

In this project, you can download the dataset from an imaginary Walmart store and work on forecasting for the following year.

Forecasting is incredibly important part of making business decisions at many companies so being able to forecast correctly can have a massive impact on revenue and profit. That makes this is a key skill to have as a data analyst.

In this project you’ll be helping to predict the RMSE (Root Mean Square Error) values for the 4 datasets:

Macro Economic Dataset
Events and Holidays Dataset
Weather Data Set
Train Data (Sales and the Year/Month)

You can check out the project here.

⭐ Project #2️: Data Modelling with Postgres

The 2nd of our ‘can’t miss projects’ to complete.

This particular project is part of Udacity's nano degree program, but you can get access to the GitHub code here.

In this project, you’ll create a database to model song and log datasets (originally stored in JSON format) with a star schema optimized for queries on song play analysis.

Once you have the database in place, you’ll be able to access and query specific information such as “what are the most popular songs listened to?”, and “when is the top time of day for song streaming”, etc.

The reason we recommend this project is because it’s useful to have to think about how to create the data model shape and extract load and transform data to fit that mold and upload it to the database.

You can grab the project code here.

⭐ Project #3️: Find the data breach at Keiko Corp!

The 3rd and final of our ‘can’t miss’ projects, and it’s a beast!

This is actually the main project inside of our own Complete SQL + Databases Bootcamp course.

The project actually runs through the entire 26-hour course and is used as a method to get you started and teach you basic, intermediate, and advanced SQL while running through a unique scenario and feeling like you're actually on the job.

As you learn new methods, you’ll apply that to your problem-solving inside the project.

The scenario is this:

You’ve just been hired as a Data Analyst at Keiko Corp, a fictional software company. However, it's your first day and you just found out that there’s been a data breach (😱) and as the recently employed data expert, it's up to you to find out what happened.

Even more exciting, your boss thinks that this was an inside job!

So where would you start?

During the project you’ll uncover clues and find out who stole the information by analyzing company business, employee, and travel information, using SQL.

It's actually a ton of fun. You can check out the course and project here.

Editor's note: So those are the top 3 projects that we recommend, to help you get a broad understanding and practice with SQL.

If you work on just those projects alone, you should have some impressive portfolio work that you can share with prospective employers. However, if you want to go a little deeper and get even more practice, here are a few extra projects that you can try.

Project #4️: Instagram user analysis

In this project, you’ll take the role of a social media consultant looking at a customer's Instagram account and giving advice.

You’ll be able to find:

Which days work best when sending messages
Which days provide the highest registrations
When you should encourage users back before they churn and more

You can check out the project here.

Project #5️: Behind the scenes with New York’s squirrels

So this ‘project’ is less business and more fun.

Did you know that there is an official census of facts, sightings, and information for squirrels in Central Park, New York?

Well, there is, and you can download the relevant squinfo dataset here!

Now, there’s no official GitHub project or anything like that to this project, but, that’s not to say that you can’t analyze this data and find out some interesting things to put in a portfolio and make an interviewer smile right!?

You could look at:

Common sightings
Feeding times
Percentage of squirrels who will hand feed AND where to find them, on the off chance you can pet one…

This is important information! 😀

Project #6️: Carbon emission calculator

Thinking of going green? In this project, you can calculate your own carbon footprint per year, and then figure out what you need to do to help offset it.

Whether that’s planting trees, moving away from fossil fuels, or changing your meal plans- it all has an effect, but you won’t know how much you can improve things until you know your current impact.

Check out the source code here, and then put those stats to good use and convince your partner you need a Tesla 😜

Project #7️: Voice-based transport assistance

Full-Stack project: REACT JS + Node JS + MySQL + Express JS

This project is for the advanced folks out there that want to combine a variety of skills. You’re going to use SQL alongside other languages and frameworks to create a voice-based transport enquiry system.

This project will definitely make your resume and portfolio stand out.

You can check out the source code here.

What are you waiting for? Start practicing and building these SQL projects now!

So there you have it. Our top 7 beginner to advanced SQL projects for you to work on to sharpen your SQL skills.

Remember though, if you’re stuck for time or want to focus on getting hired ASAP, then we recommend you work on the Top 3 first as these can have some of the biggest benefits for your SQL development, while also covering a lot of what you need to know and practice.

And if you want a detailed guide on how to get started with SQL and become a data analysis expert, then check out our SQL + Databases Bootcamp here.