Course Description
Losing time on slow queries? Hesitant to share your queries with more seasoned coworkers? In this course, you will learn how to structure your PostgreSQL to run in a fraction of the time. Exploring intertwined data relating Olympic participation, country climate, and gross domestic product, you will experience firsthand how changes in filtering method and using subqueries impact query performance. You will learn the properties of a row oriented database while also seeing how Hawaii's volcanos impact air quality. Restructuring your queries with the query planner and the SQL order of operations, you will soon be dazzling your coworkers with your effortless efficiency.
Bringing Together the Data
FreeBundle up as you dive into the Winter Olympics! You will learn how to join, subquery, and create temporary tables while finding which Olympic athletes brave sub-freezing temperatures to train. You will also learn about the query planner and how its functionality can guide your SQL structure to faster queries.
Minimizing Results and Decreasing the Load
Dig up those past algebra memories while learning the SQL order of operations. Find which countries "should" have the most athletes by looking at population and gross domestic product (GDP) while learning the best way to filter. You will also learn when your query aggregates (sums, counts, etc.) and how you can structure your query to optimize this process.
Using Database Designed Properties
Zero in on the properties that improve database performance. Discover when your table is not a table but a view. Learn how your database's storage structure (row or column oriented) impacts your query structure. You will explore volcanic smog while using partitions and indexes to speed your queries.
Assessing Query Performance
Learn the lingo of the Query Lifecycle and dive into the query planner. Explore how the query planner creates and optimizes the query plan. Find your next vacation locale by looking for countries with recent population growth while also seeing how a join impacts the query steps. Fine tune your optimization techniques by seeing how different filters speed your query times.

Amy McCarty
Data Analyst
Amy is a data analyst, policy wonk, and all around data nerd. She has a master's degree in policy analytics from Carnegie Mellon and has worked as an analyst in both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. She loves to learn and shares that passion as an adjunct analytics professor. When not at the computer, Amy stays busy broadening her multicultural culinary prowess and learning to hear all of those silent consonants in the French language.
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