There’s plenty of free Video Training on SQL Server, but it can be of variable quality. Things can vary widely in terms of production quality and content. I find that the massive selection on YouTube can make it bewildering working out what to watch and who to listen to. You can easily use up all of your allotted training time just looking for the right video.

The following Websites provide high quality SQL Server Training, some paid and some free. I’ve used all of them in the past and found them to be really worthwhile.

In my opinion, it’s worth investing a small amount of money in video training to get higher quality, consistency (same presenter, familiar setting) and knowing that the videos will be updated in the event of things changing. Technology tends to update.

 

Pluralsight covers almost any Technical training that you might be interested in. The SQL Server offerings are excellent, mainly produced by SQLSkills.com (see the Blog Resources page). As well as Technical training, soft skills are also covered – something often lacking in technical people. A lot of the SQL Server content is provided by Paul Randall and co from SQLSkill.com.

Worth noting that you can get a 3 month free pass through Microsoft Video Studio Dev Essentials. Visual Studio Dev Essentials is a completely free from Microsoft, making this an excellent way to check out Pluralsight.

https://www.visualstudio.com/dev-essentials/

There’s some excellent content on here too, including the four day “Senior DBA Class of 2017”. Well worth investigating.

Note that Brent Ozar stopped selling training to customers in Europe from Jan 2018. Check the following link for more details:

https://www.brentozar.com/archive/2017/12/gdpr-stopped-selling-stuff-europe/

SQLWorkbooks specialises in video training on specific technical features or issues. It’s a bit different from the others, and not just because of Kendra’s unique visual style. Training is provided using thorough explanations of problems and how you would solve them – think of it more as Mentoring rather than the Video equivalent of reading a text book.

Kendra’s a great teacher – in fact, a lot of the Brent Ozar Training courses feature Kendra as she was one of the founding members before Brent “went it alone”.

SQLWorkbooks is well worth checking out, not only for the training courses but also for the regular Quizletter – a weekly e-mail containing quiz questions on SQL Server related topics. Very useful for determining just how much you know about a topic – either as a prompt to improve your skills or just as a confidence booster!

Update 16/01/2021

Kendra has kindly released content from SQLWorkbooks on www.littlekendra.com . It’s a free site, with encouragement to donate to a range of excellent charities if you find it useful. There’s also a link to a Redgate Training course with an excellent Introduction to SQL.

https://littlekendra.com/courses-overview/

GroupBy

GroupBy is a free online Conference, set up and run by Brent Ozar. Speakers submit sessions for feedback, sessions are voted for by viewers and the top-voted sessions are invited on to be presented live and recorded for future viewing.

There’s a great wealth of information available in the Recorded Sessions, also available as Podcasts for listening “on the go”.

     Professional Association of SQL Server (on YouTube)

If you’re not a member of the Professional Association of SQL Server, then you should consider joining. A free organisation, PASS facilitate huge amounts of training through their SQLSaturday events, and also recorded video on PASSTV.