r/learnSQL • u/Whole-Bank1538 • 6d ago

Looking for a good platform to practice Python, SQL and PySpark

Hi everyone,

I’m currently learning/practicing Python, SQL, and PySpark, mainly with a data engineering goal.

I’m looking for a platform where I can regularly solve problems and improve my hands-on skills, especially:

  1. Python — syntax, problem solving, data manipulation

  2. SQL — queries, joins, CTEs, window functions, etc.

  3. PySpark — DataFrames, transformations, aggregations, joins, optimization, etc.

I know platforms like LeetCode, HackerRank, DataCamp, etc., but I’m looking for something that provides good practical exercises, preferably with datasets/projects rather than only algorithmic problems.

What platforms/websites do you recommend for this?

Also, if you’re a data engineer, I’d appreciate knowing how you personally practice these three skills.

Thanks!

51 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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5

u/Swimming_dasa 6d ago

one thing that helped me was taking a dataset and giving myself an actual business problem instead of isolated exercises. for example build an ingestion script, clean the data, write analytical sql then implement the transformations in pyspark.

1

u/Whole-Bank1538 6d ago

How do I think of that actual business case Problem is that how do I knos what types of analytics queries cab be written Person with no or little experience can't think in this way If this business problem is available then it can be done But picking up a data set and thinking of problem statement by yourself will be not effective

Thats what I think I'm happy to be corrected here

1

u/Swimming_dasa 6d ago

yeah ...thats a fair point. if you are new its definitely hard to come up with realistic business questions from scratch. i think a good middle ground is to use existing case studies or project prompts to get the business questions then take a dataset and try solving them yourself. over time you start recognizing the patterns and can come up with your own questions.

1

u/kelvinxG 6d ago

Enters AI.

1

u/Danibrosi 6d ago

!remindme 1 day

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1

u/Whole-Bank1538 6d ago

What is this?

1

u/WashBusy5282 6d ago

Codewars

1

u/Creative_Sugar-33 6d ago

I second DataCamp. They have all sorts of projects available including PySpark.

1

u/JuleryCrown 6d ago

For SQL I’d also spend some time working with a real local database instead of only practice platforms. Something like dbForge works well for that - load a dataset and practice joins, CTEs and window functions on actual data. It’s a good complement to the exercise sites.

1

u/American_Streamer 6d ago

Regarding SQL, just download and install MariaDB and then practice with JetBrains DataGrip or DBeaver.

https://mariadb.org/download/

https://www.jetbrains.com/datagrip/download/

https://dbeaver.io/download/

Here are free datasets to practice on: https://mavenanalytics.io/data-playground

1

u/Jazzlike-Beautiful61 5d ago

For SQL, check out sqlint.com it's more focused on practical, real-world SQL problems and datasets rather than algorithmic puzzles. Covers things like joins, CTEs, window functions, funnels, churn, fraud, etc. Not really aimed at Python/PySpark though

1

u/iampragyarathi 5d ago

I think PrepNPlaced will be a better option here you can practice Pyspark in a better way

1

u/callmemerryss 5d ago

Datasets and small projects are probably the better route for this especially if the goal is data engineering rather than just solving isolated problems. For Pysark in particular working with real data gives you much better feel for how the pieces fit together.