Portfolio-ready problems with real data.
Each project is a self-contained scenario — finish in an afternoon, push it to your Github, talk about it in an interview.
Multi-step SQL investigations against realistic datasets.
SQL Alien Invasion Challenge: Defend Earth
Crisis-response analytics: defend Earth with multi-table joins, aggregation, and CTEs.
An intermediate SQL challenge framed as a crisis-response analysis: filter threats, join across six related tables, and aggregate casualties, resources, and defenses with GROUP BY and CTEs.
Filtering with WHEREMulti-table joinsAggregation (SUM)GROUP BYintermediate · open →SQL Mystery Challenge: The Case of the Vanishing Artifacts
Investigative SQL: follow the evidence across museum audit logs to unmask a thief.
A multi-step SQL investigation: follow the evidence across an inventory, transaction log, and personnel dataset to find the missing items.
Filtering with WHEREMulti-table joinsTime-window joins (datetime / strftime)Aggregation, GROUP BY & HAVINGadvanced · open →SQL Survival Challenge: Last City on Earth
Emergency operations analytics: triage supplies, power, and threats to keep the Last City alive.
Operations-flavored SQL project: triage limited supply against demand with priority scoring, conditional aggregation, and ranked outputs.
Filtering with WHEREMulti-table joins (composite keys)Aggregation, GROUP BY & HAVINGRatios & ROUNDadvanced · open →SQL Exercise: The Volcano Eruption Emergency
Real-time emergency-operations analytics: triage a volcanic evacuation with multi-table SQL.
Emergency-response themed SQL exercise: identify affected populations, prioritize evacuations, and aggregate resources against a multi-table dataset.
Filtering with WHEREAggregation (SUM, AVG)JoinsSubqueries & derived tablesintermediate · open →
Design exercises — turn a brief into a normalized schema.
Data Modeling: The Great Dimension Quest
Dimensional-modeling exercise: build a star schema from a relational source
Hands-on data modeling exercise: take a normalized OLTP-style source and design a star schema with conformed dimensions and a fact table.
intermediate · open →Data Modeling: Pizza Planet Party
Restaurant-ops data modeling: orders, inventory, and shifts
beginner · open →Ocean Adventure: Deep Sea Data Modeling
Marine-research database design with sensor and survey data
beginner · open →Data Forge: The Lost Metrics
Metric-layer recovery and analytics debugging project (dbt + BigQuery)
A capstone-style portfolio project: recover and rebuild a broken metric layer in a dbt project against BigQuery — diagnose, model, test, and document.
intermediate · open →Data Forge: The Lost Metrics - Premium
Extended dbt + BigQuery capstone with CI, docs, and exposures
advanced · open →
Ingest, transform, and load patterns you'd ship in production.
Cross-discipline projects that don't fit one bucket.
Zombie Virus - Part 1: Stopping the Release
Security-forensics SQL: trace lab breaches, shifts, and shipments to stop a bioweapon release.
Filtering with WHEREAggregation, GROUP BY & HAVINGMulti-table joinsTime-window joins (shift overlaps)intermediate · open →Zombie Virus - Part 2: Aftermath of the Virus Release
Outbreak analytics: track infection spread, lockdown compliance, and at-risk leadership with window functions.
Aggregation, GROUP BY & HAVINGMulti-table joinsCASE expressionsWindow functions (LEAD / LAG / rolling SUM)advanced · open →Zombie Virus - Phase 3: The Cure
Cohort & effectiveness analytics: measure a vaccine's impact on infections, survivors, and city resilience.
Multi-table joinsAggregation, GROUP BY & HAVINGWindow functions (ROW_NUMBER / RANK)Date arithmetic (julianday / date offsets)advanced · open →Skyland Dragon Riders
Event and roster data modeling for a multi-entity sports-style domain
intermediate · open →Champion Fantasy League
Event and performance analytics modeling project
A beginner data-modeling exercise: build a simple star schema — player and team dimensions plus a performances fact — and give every column the right data type.
beginner · open →Sports Equipment Pro Shop
E-commerce orders, inventory, and revenue modeling project
End-to-end e-commerce modeling project: orders, line items, products, customers, and inventory — built into a star schema with revenue and inventory marts.
intermediate · open →Cosmic Observatory Database
Scientific-records database design with hierarchical entities
intermediate · open →Monster Hunter’s Guild: Bestiary Database Design
Catalog and classification database design with many-to-many relations
intermediate · open →Archaeological Expedition Database: Ancient Discoveries
Field-research database design with provenance tracking
intermediate · open →Global Pandemic Response Center: Emergency Database Design
Public-health operations database with case-tracking and resource allocation
intermediate · open →EcoSphere: Sustainable Smart City Data Lab
Sensor-data analytics and modeling for an IoT-style smart-city dataset
intermediate · open →