Skip to main content
Institute of Advanced Technological and Commercial Studies

Skills

Querying a database with SQL

SQL is the common language of business data. One well-written query replaces a week of manual extracts and settles everyone on the same figure. It is the highest-return skill to acquire first in any data role.

The question you put to the data

An organisation that decides quickly is one where somebody knows how to put the right question to the database. SQL makes that act explicit and repeatable: the query is written, reviewed, versioned, and the figure it produces recomputes identically the following month. Teaching runs from schema modelling to heavy joins and index optimisation, because the difference between a three-second query and a three-minute one decides whether anyone actually uses it.

  • Model a coherent relational schema from a business need
  • Write a multi-table aggregation query and verify its result
  • Speed up a slow query with indexes, rewriting or a materialised view
  • Document a dataset so a third party can pick it up without you

Its place in the programmes

This table shows where the skill lives in the catalogue. It lets you check, before applying, that the volume matches your ambition.

Teaching blockProgrammeTaught hoursYear
Databases and queryingBusiness Intelligence and Steering240 hYear 1
DatabasesComputer Science programme — Bac+3 level160 hYear 1
Data engineeringData Science programme — Bac+5 level240 hYear 1
Analytical modellingBusiness Intelligence and Steering160 hYear 1

What you command on completion

You build and optimise, on your own, the queries feeding an executive dashboard, and you stand behind the figures they produce. The statement below is a commitment: it is what the training makes you able to carry out.

teaching blocks
4

Catalogue rule: one credit is twenty-five hours of work, ten of them taught.

of taught instruction
800 h
credits in total
80
professional qualifications concerned
4

The programmes that award it

Each programme leads to an award, stated on its page, together with its assessment arrangements.

ProgrammeLevelDurationFees
Business Intelligence and SteeringBachelor's degree2 years5 000 000 GNF per year
Computer Science programme — Bac+3 levelBachelor's degree3 years5 400 000 GNF per year
Data Science programme — Bac+5 levelMaster's degree2 years7 200 000 GNF per year

Where it gains its worth

The same act is valued differently depending on the level of responsibility: the table makes that visible.

Professional qualificationTarget occupationLevelTaught volume
Data Analystdata analyst6 · Manager and professional750 h
Data and Applied AI Techniciandata technician, AI solutions integrator5 · Senior technician and supervisor700 h
Data and Annotation Operatordata operator, annotator, dataset preparer4 · Skilled employee and operative600 h
Application Developerexperienced developer5 · Senior technician and supervisor800 h

What applicants ask

Can SQL be learned without a computing background?

Yes. It is a declarative language: you describe the result you want and the engine chooses the route. Many management controllers and operations managers acquire it first.

Which database is used for teaching?

Work is done on a mainstream relational engine, and the grammar taught is the shared standard. Switching engines means a few syntax adjustments, never relearning the language.

Is SQL enough to become a data analyst?

It is the pillar of the role. The data analyst qualification adds preparation, applied statistics and reporting, brought together in a 750-hour taught framework.

Explore next

See all 56 pages
Explore professional qualifications
Querying a database with SQL — Skills | IHETC — IHETC