Courses- best ones?

  • Firstly am in the UK ๐Ÿ™‚ if that has any bearing.

    Not sure where the best place to put this was, but can anyone recommend any good SSIS/SSRS/SSAS courses at all?

    QA is the place our work tends to do them, but there are a few more companies such as wise owl and jbinternational that come up.

    I am not bad at SSRS but could learn more (expressions are my downfall, plus would like to do dashboards) . SSIS I am a noob, SSAS did one tutorial.

    Am in a BI Team and was sold the job based on what I knew but I want to progress and I know a course is right for me.

    Cheers for any assistance!

  • Not sure what type of courses you are looking for - classroom training, books, videos, something else?

    If watching videos on your own device is your favorite method of learning, then I suggest checking out Pluralsight. They have a huge collection of courses on SQL Server (and even more on other subjects), many of them written, recorded and presented by some of the best-known SQL Server experts in the world.

    I personnaly don't know enough about SSIS, SSAS, or SSRS to comment on the quality of individual courses (in fact, I have not seen most of them), but I do recognize several names of presenters.

    I think you can sign up for a free trial and check it out for yourself to see if that is a learning style that fits you.


    Hugo Kornelis, SQL Server/Data Platform MVP (2006-2016)
    Visit my SQL Server blog: https://sqlserverfast.com/blog/
    SQL Server Execution Plan Reference: https://sqlserverfast.com/epr/

  • I second what Hugo said - I have a subscription to Plural sight and the SQL content ( especially those by SQLSKILLS) are worth the subscription itself.

  • Kazmerelda (1/11/2016)


    Firstly am in the UK ๐Ÿ™‚ if that has any bearing.

    Not sure where the best place to put this was, but can anyone recommend any good SSIS/SSRS/SSAS courses at all?

    QA is the place our work tends to do them, but there are a few more companies such as wise owl and jbinternational that come up.

    I am not bad at SSRS but could learn more (expressions are my downfall, plus would like to do dashboards) . SSIS I am a noob, SSAS did one tutorial.

    Am in a BI Team and was sold the job based on what I knew but I want to progress and I know a course is right for me.

    Cheers for any assistance!

    I've done some good courses with QA. I did a very useful SSIS course last year. I was a bit more than a noob but only just and I came back with plenty of ideas. They're not cheap but you may be able to negotiate discounts.


    On two occasions I have been asked, "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" ... I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.
    โ€”Charles Babbage, Passages from the Life of a Philosopher

    How to post a question to get the most help http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537

  • Hi All,

    Thank you really appreciated.

    I have access to Pluralsight for work and was planning to do more of the courses during my week at home babysitting a porch being built.

    BFWC they are pricey but that's what I wanted to verify if it was worth it. That's good to get an opinion on it, it looks like a very good course.

  • If your employer has paid for PluralSight, see if you can also interest them in paying for Safari Books Online https://www.safaribooksonline.com/.

    They have pretty much every SQL Server book you could ever want - as well as a huge range of other subjects too.

    Not cheap, but across a company it could be worth it.

  • Go to YouTube and search on Wise Owl Tutorials; they have a lot of great step-by-step video series for SSIS, SSRS, and SSAS and then even more subscription based material on their website.

    "Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho

  • Thanks again for the replies, I have definitely been watching videos and learning I guess I do this perhaps too sporadically to take it in and wondered if a course to focus might be better.

    Got some time off, so will use it well. It's a subject that excites me (sad I know) so I do want to learn.

  • Pluralsight ($30 USD a month is pretty cheap, not sure what that converts to your area) is best bet to get current self-paced training, anything by Stacia Misner Varga is a great start. I know some of her courses are on older versions but so far most of it is still relevant. They are slowly putting new courses I think.

    Another good choice is Pragmatic Works, they are a BI company based out of Florida (USA) that offer online training that you can get on a subscription basis. The higher subscription also offers virtual mentoring.

    You can also check out SQL PASS site for sessions from previous PASS Summits and then the Virtual Chapters (bunch of these are on YouTube channels now as well).

    Shawn Melton
    Twitter: @wsmelton
    Blog: wsmelton.github.com
    Github: wsmelton

  • As you are based in the UK, consider attending SQLbits:

    https://sqlbits.com/

    This year it runs from 4th - 7th May.

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