Course Description

Welcome to SQL for Beginners: Setup & T-SQL First Steps (Free).

This course uses SQL Server 2025. If you are working in a corporate or existing environment with SQL Server 2022, please use the 2022 edition of this course.

It is Part 1 of a 5-course beginner series and provides the foundation for the courses that follow.

This free course is a focused starting point for working with SQL Server. In under two hours, you will install, configure, and validate a fully functioning local SQL Server development environment, and run simple T-SQL statements to confirm everything is working correctly.

By the end of this course, you will have SQL Server installed and running locally, understand how it operates as a service on your machine, and be able to verify that your environment is ready for further learning and practical use.

What You Will Do

In under two hours, you will:

• Download, install, and configure SQL Server Express

• Install SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) and optionally connect using Visual Studio Code

• Configure and verify your local SQL Server instance and services

• Create a simple database, insert sample data, and execute basic T-SQL statements to validate your SQL Server environment

Why This Course Exists

This course serves two purposes:

A structured starting point for absolute beginners
A practical setup guide for learners taking SQL or T-SQL courses

No prior SQL or programming experience is required.

Outcome

By the end of this course, you will have a fully functioning local SQL Server installation and a validated development workflow that you can confidently build on in future lessons and practical exercises.

About the Series

This series is designed as a structured, practical introduction to SQL.

Delivered as a 5-course free taster series
Courses are intentionally small and focused
Covers setup, SQL fundamentals, database development, relational database projects and SQL querying
Designed for clarity and practical understanding
Not a complete or exhaustive coverage of SQL

Courses in the Series (All Courses Are Free)

The series consists of five focused courses. Courses are released progressively.

SQL for Beginners: Setup & T-SQL First Steps (Free)
SQL for Beginners: Introduction to SQL & T-SQL (Free)
SQL for Beginners: First Simple Database & Queries (Free)
SQL for Beginners: First Relational Database Project (Free)
SQL for Beginners: Querying Relational Data (Coming soon)