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🪟 SQL Server

T-SQL as its own dialect, clustered indexes and what they cost, statistics and plan cache, stored procedures and error handling, and columnstore for the analytical half.

No lessons published yet — this is the roadmap, so you can see exactly what the course will cover before it lands.

Before you start: Learn SQL — Series 1 and Series 2. You need to be able to write the query already. This track is about T-SQL's own spellings, and about why the server chose the plan it chose.

Short on time? The 16 episodes marked core are the shortest path to being productive at work. Start there and pick up the rest whenever a job asks for them.

Series 1 · T-SQL Essentials

the dialect, the types, and the settings that change results

  1. 01

    T-SQL and the Client — GO Is Not SQL, and Other Things Nobody Tells You

    coreintermediatecoming soon
  2. 02

    Types and Collation — NVARCHAR Conversions That Silently Defeat an Index

    coreintermediatecoming soon
  3. 03

    MERGE, OUTPUT and SCOPE_IDENTITY — Writes and Getting the Key Back

    coreintermediatecoming soon
  4. 04

    SET Options and Isolation — Why It Is Fast in SSMS and Slow in the Application

    coreintermediatecoming soon
  5. 05

    sys Views and DMVs — Reading a Database You Did Not Build

    intermediatecoming soon
  6. 06

    BACKUP DATABASE — Full, Differential, Log, and the Recovery Model That Decides

    coreintermediatecoming soon
  7. 07

    Project — Answer a Question From an Unfamiliar SQL Server Database

    coreintermediate#projectcoming soon

Series 2 · Indexes and Plans

the clustered index, statistics, and the plan cache

  1. 01

    The Clustered Index Is the Table — and Its Key Is in Every Other Index

    coreadvancedcoming soon
  2. 02

    Execution Plans — Seeks, Scans, Key Lookups and Estimated Against Actual

    coreadvancedcoming soon
  3. 03

    Parameter Sniffing — Why the Same Query Is Fast for One Customer and Not Another

    coreadvancedcoming soon
  4. 04

    Statistics and Query Store — Finding the Regression and Proving It

    coreadvancedcoming soon
  5. 05

    Index Design — Key Order, INCLUDE, and Why the Missing-Index DMV Lies to You

    advancedcoming soon
  6. 06

    Indexed Views — Pre-Aggregate Once, and Let the Optimizer Find It

    advancedcoming soon
  7. 07

    Columnstore Indexes — Analytics Without Leaving SQL Server

    advancedcoming soon
  8. 08

    Project — Diagnose and Fix a Slow Query With Query Store as Evidence

    coreadvanced#projectcoming soon

Series 3 · Programming SQL Server

procedures, errors and set-based thinking

  1. 01

    Stored Procedures and TVPs — The Scalar Function That Ruins a Plan

    coreadvancedcoming soon
  2. 02

    TRY/CATCH and XACT_ABORT — Errors That Do Not Leave Half a Load Committed

    coreadvancedcoming soon
  3. 03

    Temp Tables and Table Variables — The Statistics One of Them Does Not Have

    coreadvancedcoming soon
  4. 04

    Replacing Cursors — The Set-Based Rewrite for Each Loop You Will Inherit

    coreadvancedcoming soon
  5. 05

    Project — Rewrite an Inherited Cursor Procedure and Prove It Matches

    coreadvanced#projectcoming soon

Not here, on purpose

  • SQL itself — covered in Learn SQL
  • Administration — Always On, security configuration, agent jobs — not covered; this track is for the person writing queries and procedures. In this course, Series 1 · 22 teaches BACKUP DATABASE and the recovery model, because the recovery model is a design decision rather than an operational one
  • SSIS, SSRS and SSAS — not covered. ETL & Data Pipelines owns the load patterns and BI & Data Visualization owns reporting; the products themselves are out of scope