Relational Databases Courses
Take free online relational databases courses to build your skills and advance your career. Learn relational databases and other in-demand subjects with courses from top universities and institutions around the world on edX.
learn relational databases
What is a Relational Database?
A relational database uses tables to organize data. Data is located in tables with columns and rows and each row has a unique identifier that allows data in the row to be quickly accessed and modified. Data from different tables can be associated via a second unique identifier such as a customer or account number. The relational database type was created in 1970 by Edgar Codd at IBM’s San Jose Research Lab and it is the most popular type of database in use today. The programming language used in conjunction with relational databases is called Structured Query Language (SQL) and the database management system is called a relational database management system (RDBMS).
Online Courses in Database Development
Learning about relational databases is essential for jobs in data analytics, data management, big data, web application development and much more. Beyond simply introducing yourself to the SQL language and understanding basic database concepts, it’s important to learn about efficient relational database design, the concept of data independence, data normalization and the role of the RDBMS in the application stack.
Find courses on edX that take you through the fundamentals of relational database application development including the analysis of requirements, design and implementation. Learn how to design and evaluate schema structures for optimal database operation. Microsoft offers numerous courses to introduce you to SQL. Developing SQL Databases is a 4-week, self-paced, free online course that teaches you how to design and build a SQL database. You will learn how to design an efficient and normalized relational database schema, create indexes, implement views and more.
Jobs in Database Development and Management
The convergence of big data and the Internet of Things (IoT) has led to an exponential increase in the amount of data being managed. The information boom is stronger than ever and sits squarely on top of the relational database management system. Some projections show 10-year job growth for database administrators as high as 30%. At the time of this writing, Indeed.com listed almost 2,000 open positions for database administrators and over 1,200 for database developers. Other top jobs include database managers, database analysts, data engineers and database architects. In addition, database design and development skills including SQL, SQL Server and MySQL language skills are desired on thousands of job postings for application developers, data scientists, business analysts and statisticians. Learning the ins and outs of relational databases will open doors to a wide range of job opportunities.
Explore a Career as a Database Developer
Learn about database design and development with free online courses from Microsoft and other top organizations and institutions on edX and see if a career is this exciting, in-demand field is right for you. Many courses are self-paced so you can get started today.