Udacity SQL Nanodegree Review- Latest 2024-[Is It worth It to Enroll?]

Do you want to specialize in SQL and plan to enroll in Udacity SQL Nanodegree?… If yes, first read my Udacity SQL Nanodegree Review and then decide whether to enroll in this Nanodegree program or not.

Udacity SQL Nanodegree Review

In this review, I will share what I have learned throughout the Nanodegree Program. The reason I enrolled in this Nanodegree Program was its content and the projects covered.

Before discussing the content and projects of the Udacity SQL Nanodegree Program, first, let’s have a look at a brief summary of Udacity SQL Nanodegree Review–

Review Summary: Udacity SQL Nanodegree Program

Review Factors	Positives	Negatives
Course Content	The course content was comprehensive, covering a wide range of SQL concepts and skills. Real-world examples and case studies helped me understand the practical applications of SQL.	Some topics could have been explained in greater depth, and additional practice exercises would have been beneficial for reinforcing learning.
Instruction	The instructors were knowledgeable and experienced. They had an effective teaching style, providing clear explanations that made complex concepts easier to understand.	However, the availability of instructors for individual guidance and support varied, and some concepts were explained at a faster pace than I was comfortable with.
Projects	The projects in the program were practical and relevant, allowing me to apply my SQL skills to real-world scenarios. These hands-on experiences greatly enhanced my learning.	On the downside, I found that project guidelines and requirements could have been clearer, and some projects lacked complexity and scope.
Support	The availability of mentorship and community forums provided valuable support throughout my learning journey.	However, response times for queries or feedback varied, and I felt that some learners, including myself, could have benefited from more personalized support.
Value for Money	The Udacity SQL Nanodegree Program offered a good return on investment. The skills I learned were highly applicable and valuable in the industry, opening up new opportunities for me.	Nonetheless, the pricing could be a deterrent for some individuals.
Should You Enroll?	You should enroll in this program if you are interested in mastering SQL and its practical applications.	Keep in mind that prior programming experience or familiarity with basic database concepts can be beneficial for optimal learning experiences.

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Now, let’s discuss the content and projects of the Udacity SQL Nanodegree Program.

Content and Projects of Udacity SQL Nanodegree

This Nanodegree program is not a very long and time-consuming program. There were 2 courses and 2 projects in this Program.

Each course had one project. This feature makes this Nanodegre Program special. Because only theoretical knowledge is not enough to understand the concepts. And SQL requires implementation and practice.

These were the 2 courses-

1. Introduction to SQL
2. Management of Relational & Non-Relational Databases

Now, let’s see what I have learned in these two courses-

Course 1- Introduction to SQL

There were 7 lessons in the first course.

In the first course, Derek Steer was the instructor. First, he explained about the course, I mean for whom the course was designed. And what students will learn from this course.

After that, he explained The Parch & Posey Database. Parch & Posey is a company that sells paper. This is not a real company. Udacity fabricated this company just for this course to use the data.

Throughout this lesson, he explained SQL basics such as What is ERD(Entity Relationship Diagram), Why SQL is important, Different types of databases, SQL statements, Arithmetic Operators, etc.

The next lesson was SQL Joins. This lesson had more quizzes and exercises to practice. This lesson had fewer video tutorials and more quizzes and text-based tutorials.

Primary and Foreign Keys concepts are also covered by the instructor.

The next lesson was SQL Aggregations. In this lesson, I learned the following concepts-> NULLs and Aggregation, SUM, MIN & MAX, GROUP BY, DISTINCT, HAVING, DATE Functions, and CASE Statements. The format of this lesson was one quiz followed by one video tutorial on the concept.

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That means, first the instructor explained the topic, and then there was a quiz related to the topic explained. I found this pattern of teaching very helpful.

The next lesson of this course was on SQL Subqueries & Temporary Tables. Subqueries are also known as inner queries or nested queries. This is an advanced concept of SQL. I learned how to write subqueries and there was a quiz associated with this topic. In this quiz, I had to find the average number of events for each day for each channel.

The instructor also explained Subquery Formatting and WITH statements. This lesson had a lot of quizzes and exercises.

Data Cleaning using SQL was the next lesson. In this lesson, I learned various techniques to clean and re-structure messy data. The instructor taught CONCAT, CAST, and COALESCE.

This was the workspace for running SQL queries.

The second last lesson was SQL Window Functions. This lesson covered advanced topics such as ROW_NUMBER & RANK, Aggregates in Window Functions, Aliases for Multiple Window Functions, Comparing a Row to Previous Row, and Percentiles.

And the last lesson of this course was SQL Advanced JOINS & Performance Tuning. In this last lesson, I learned FULL OUTER JOIN,  JOINs with Comparison Operators, Self JOINs, UNION, Performance Tuning, and JOINing Subqueries.

Various reading documents were provided by the instructors in this lesson. The best thing, I found was the solution offered for each quiz. If you find it difficult to solve the quiz, there is a solution available that you can see for your reference.

So, this was all about course 1. This course covered a lot of essential topics related to SQL. After learning these concepts, there was one project, which I had to complete.

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Project 1- Deforestation Exploration

This project was to test the understanding of students. I liked the objective of this project because it will help our environment.

For this project, I had to perform an analysis and find out the forests from different countries and check whether they are disappearing or not.

In the first part, We had to look Global situation and check the total forest area in 1990 and in 2016. And then check the percent change between 1990 and 2016.

In the next part, we had to look at the Region base situation. And check which region has the highest and lowest percent of the forest.

And the last part was to find 5 countries that faced a huge amount decrease in forest area from 1990 to 2016.

Throughout this project, Udacity provided a Technical Mentor Support feature. Which was very helpful. After completing the project, we had to submit it for review. The reviewer checked the project personally and gave feedback.

After this project, there was the last course of this Nanodegree Program.

Course 2- Management of Relational & NonRelational Databases

This course had 6 lessons. And this course was all about relational databases. The instructor of this course was Ziad Saab. He explained the concepts in an easy-to-understand manner.

First, I learned about Normalizing Data. This is the process to reduce data redundancy. The instructor also taught me Data Definition Language (DDL), and Data Manipulation Language (DML).

CONSTRAINT, UNIQUE, PRIMARY KEY, and CHECK are also explained by the instructor in this course.

I learned about Relational databases in my college. This was the most commonly used database. But in this course, I learned about NonRelational Databases. The Instructor explained what is NonRelational Databases and where they can be used.

After this course, there was the last project of this Nanodegree Program.

Project 2- Uddidit, A Social News Aggregator

For this project, I had to work for Uddidit. Uddidit is a Social News Aggregator site. For me, this was not an easy project. Because it requires various steps. The first step was to check the existing schema and select the three specific things that could be improved in the existing schema.

In the next step, I had to create the DDL for my new schema. I had to make sure that in the new schema, there should not be pointed issues presented.

And after creating the new schema, I had to migrate the provided data to my own schema.

This project is not easy as it sounds. If you complete both courses with full focus, then you can easily complete this project. Otherwise, it is hard to complete this project in one shot.

So, this was all about the Udacity SQL Nanodegree Program Courses and Projects. If you ask me to rate Udacity SQL Nanodegree on the basis of Course content and Projects, I would say it is worth it and I will give it 4.5/5.

Now, I would like to mention the features of Udacity, which I liked and which I didn’t like-

Features of Udacity that I Liked/Pros of Udacity SQL Nanodegree

1. Extra Quizzes

There are various Quizzes included, which you have to complete before going to the next step. As you can see in one of the Quiz of this Nanodegree program in this image-

Their projects and exercises are good and challenging. Which I think is positive for a learner. Their mentors are always available to clear your doubts about projects.

2. Teaching Materials

There are text-based and Video-based tutorials included in the course.

Along with the Quizzes and Text-based tutorials, this Nanodegree program had video-based tutorials too-

3. Technical Mentor Support

After enrolling in Udacity SQL Nanodegree, Udacity provided a Technical Mentor Support feature. This feature was unique and helped me to clear my doubt during projects.

4. Udacity gave Support in Career Services

Udacity provides a separate section for career services. Where they help students to make their LinkedIn and GitHub profiles better.

5. Community for Help

Udacity also has a separate community for help. In this community, you can ask your doubt and other learners will help you. This is a Stackoverflow-style Q&A forum for people who are stuck with assignments.

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Features of Udacity that I didn’t like/Cons of Udacity SQL Nanodegree

1. No Lifetime Access to the Course Material

After completing the Nanodegree program, you will not have lifetime access to the course material. I don’t like this feature because sometimes you forget the topics and in that case, you can’t access the Nanodegree content after completing this program.

I would suggest you make a note of the important topics when you are learning. So that you can refer to these notes in the future.

But, I found one option in Udacity, that is you can download all the videos in a zip file. I would suggest you download these videos for future reference.

When you go to the lecture section, in the bottom left corner, you can see the “Resources” section. Click on this section to expand it. And then, you will see an option to download the videos of the course.

2. Udacity Doesn’t have IOS or Android App

You have to learn from your laptop. Because Udacity doesn’t have any mobile application for learning. Sometimes it is a bit difficult to carry your laptop all the time. I felt irritated sometimes learning from my laptop all the time.

So, these are the feature which I liked and didn’t like. Now, let’s see how much time and money you need to give to Udacity SQL Nanodegee Program.

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How Much Time and Money are needed for Udacity SQL Nanodegree?

According to Udacity, the Udacity SQL Nanodegree Program will take 2 months to complete if you spend 10 hours per week. And for 2 months they cost around approx $500. But Udacity offers two options- One is either pay the complete amount upfront or you can pay monthly installments of $300.

Udacity

Now, I would like to mention how I got the Udacity SQL Nanodegree in less amount.

How I Got the Udacity SQL Nanodegree at a Low Cost?

I waited for the Udacity sale period. Because most of the time, Udacity are running offers where they gave huge discounts on Nanodegree Programs.

When I enrolled, Udacity was running a “Personalized Discount” offer.

The procedure to get this discount was very simple. I need to answer two questions such as employment status and total personal income. And based on these two answers, Udacity gave me a discount of 75%.

You can check the current Discount of Udacity SQL Nanodegree here.

Now, let’s see who should enroll in this Udacity SQL Nanodegree Program.

Who Should Enroll in Udacity SQL Nanodegree Program?/Prerequisites

You can enroll in the Udacity SQL Nanodegree Program if you have basic computer skills and a basic understanding of data types. This Nanodegree program doesn’t require previous SQL Knowledge. Only you should know basic data types such as string, integer, etc.

Now the next thing you need to know about Udacity SQL Nanodegree is the Instructors.

Are Udacity SQL Nanodegree Instructors Experienced?

Yes, I learned from them and I can say all instructors are experienced and their method of teaching was perfect. Derek Steer was the instructor of the first course. He had enough knowledge of SQL and he explained the SQL basics very easily. He is the Co-Founder and CEO of Mode Analytics.

Ziad Saab is the Software Developer and Co-Founder at DecodeMTL and Malavica Sridhar is the Project Manager at WAYMO. Both are the instructors of course 2. They explained Database concepts visually. I love their teaching style.

As you saw, all instructors of Udacity SQL Nanodegree are experienced and knowledgeable. And learning from such instructors is helpful. That is the reason I love Udacity.

Now, it’s time to answer-

Is Udacity SQL Nanodegree Worth It?

Yes, Udacity SQL Nanodegree is worth it for you if you are planning to change your career to Data Analytics and SQL. The content of this Nanodegree program was updated and well-structured. The whole Nanodegree program is combined with various Real-World projects that will make your understanding and resume powerful. Udacity also provides One-to-One Mentorship to clear your doubts while working on projects.

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My Suggestion

This Nanodegree requires your attention and study plan. Without giving proper attention, you can’t complete these Quizzes. In this case, the Udacity SQL Nanodegree will not be worth it for you.

You should try to rewrite the queries that are provided in the quizzes without watching the solution. And after starting this Nanodegree, plan your timing, and how much time you can give to the course daily, and then try to follow the same time plan throughout the course. 

So, these are some of my tips and suggestions, you should know before enrolling in Udacity SQL Nanodegree.

Now it’s time to wrap up this Udacity SQL Nanodegree Review.

Review Summary

Number of Projects	2
Number of Courses	2
Time to Complete	2 months
Prerequisites	Basic Computer Skills
Best For	Beginners
My Rating	4.5/5
Price-	For 2 months they cost around approx $500
Key Features-	1. Well-Structured and in-depth Content 2. Real-world Projects 3. Technical Mentor Support 4. Community for Help 5. Experienced Instructors 6. Quizzes and Exercises
Drawbacks-	1. Expensive 2. Doesn’t have a mobile application.

Conclusion

I hope this Udacity SQL Nanodegree Review helped you to decide whether to enroll in this program or not.

If you found this Udacity SQL Nanodegree Review helpful, you can share it with others. And if you have any doubts or questions, feel free to ask me in the comment section.

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All the Best!

Thank YOU!

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