Datavidhya
3-Week Python & SQL
LEARNING PLAN
for Data Engineering
A guided, day-by-day path built entirely from Datavidhya lessons — take SQL
and Python in parallel, from zero to interview-ready.
21
days
2parallel tracks 2–3
per day
hrs Daily
hands-on practice
[Link]/learn Python & SQL · Data Engineering
Datavidhya HOW TO USE THIS PLAN
READ FIRST
Two tracks, every day. SQL in the morning, Python in the evening.
Each day pairs a short SQL block with a Python block so both skills grow together — the way you actually use
them on the job. Spend ~60–90 min per track. Don't just read: type every query and run every snippet. End
each day on the practice prompt before moving on.
SQL track Python track Every lesson links straight to [Link]/learn
What you'll be able to do Ground rules
Write production-grade SQL: joins, window Code along — never read passively
functions, CTEs, optimization One practice problem per day, no skipping
Solve the SQL patterns that show up in DE Weekends are review + catch-up, not new
interviews material
Write clean Python with Pandas/NumPy for data Stuck? Use Ask AI on any lesson page
work
Build a real API-to-cloud ETL pipeline end to end
The arc
Week 1 — Foundations: SQL querying basics + Week 3 — Pro & interview-ready: Advanced SQL
Python language fundamentals + DE-grade Python and a full ETL project
Week 2 — Core skills: Joins, aggregations,
window functions + Pandas/NumPy & functions
Datavidhya WEEK 1 OF 3
WEEK 1
Foundations
Get comfortable querying a database and writing basic Python. By Friday you can filter, sort, and join data in
SQL, and read/write Python with strings, collections, and loops.
Day 1 Why SQL & Python · environment setup ~2 hrs
SQL PYTHON
What is SQL & why every DE needs it Introduction to Python for Data Engineers
SQL for Data Engineers — walkthrough Python install & Jupyter setup
How databases work — tables, rows, schemas
Practice: Install Python + a SQL playground, then run your first SELECT and your first print(). Confirm both
environments work before Day 2.
Day 2 First queries · Python text & numbers ~2.5 hrs
SQL PYTHON
Setting up your SQL environment Strings — indexing, slicing, formatting
SQL & data types Numbers & variables — arithmetic
Your first query — SELECT & FROM
Practice: Select all columns from a sample table, then build a formatted f-string greeting in Python using a few
variables.
Day 3 Filtering & sorting · Python collections ~2.5 hrs
SQL PYTHON
Filtering — WHERE, AND, OR, IN, BETWEEN Lists, tuples & sets
Sorting & limiting — ORDER BY, LIMIT Dictionaries — key-value, nesting
Practice: Write a query that filters and sorts the top 10 rows by a numeric column. In Python, store the same
records as a list of dicts.
Day 4 Keys & schema · Python control flow ~2.5 hrs
SQL PYTHON
ALTER TABLE — add, modify, drop columns Conditionals & loops — if/else, for, while
Primary keys, foreign keys & key types
Practice: Sketch a two-table schema with a PK/FK relationship. In Python, loop over a list and bucket items with
if/else.
Day 5 Modifying data · Joins intro ~2.5 hrs
SQL PYTHON
INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE — DML List comprehensions, lambda & packages
JOINs deep dive — INNER, LEFT, RIGHT, FULL
Practice: Join two tables and return matched rows. Rewrite a for-loop as a list comprehension in Python.
Days 6–7 Review & consolidate ~1.5 hrs
Weekend: Re-run every query from the week without looking. Solve the practice problem Inactive Free Users
and review ACID properties + Normalization (1NF–3NF) as conceptual reading. Rest if you're ahead.
Datavidhya WEEK 2 OF 3
WEEK 2
Core Working Skills
The everyday toolkit. Aggregations, subqueries, CTEs and your first window functions in SQL; functions, OOP,
NumPy and Pandas in Python — the libraries you'll live in as a data engineer.
Day 8 Aggregations · Python functions ~2.5 hrs
SQL PYTHON
GROUP BY & aggregations — COUNT, SUM, AVG Functions — def, arguments, return values
CASE statements & conditional logic
Practice: Aggregate revenue per category with a CASE bucket. In Python, write a reusable function that takes a
list and returns summary stats.
Day 9 Subqueries & sets · OOP ~2.5 hrs
SQL PYTHON
Subqueries & correlated subqueries OOP — classes, objects & methods
UNION, INTERSECT, EXCEPT
Practice: Write a correlated subquery to find above-average rows. In Python, model a simple Pipeline class
with methods.
Day 10 NULLs & CTEs · errors & files ~2.5 hrs
SQL PYTHON
NULL handling — COALESCE, NULLIF Exception handling & file I/O
Common Table Expressions (CTEs)
Practice: Refactor a nested subquery into a readable CTE. In Python, read a CSV with try/except around the file
open.
Day 11 Window functions I · NumPy ~3 hrs
SQL PYTHON
Window — ROW_NUMBER, RANK, DENSE_RANK NumPy basics — arrays, shapes, random
Window — LAG, LEAD, FIRST/LAST_VALUE
Practice: Rank rows within each group using ROW_NUMBER. In Python, create and reshape a NumPy array.
Day 12 Window functions II · Pandas ~3 hrs
SQL PYTHON
Window — running totals & moving averages Pandas fundamentals — Series & DataFrames
Date & time functions for DEs
Practice: Build a running total over a date column. In Pandas, load a DataFrame and explore it with .head(),
.info(), .describe().
Days 13–14 Review & consolidate ~2 hrs
Weekend: Solve Rising Temperature (self-join) and Cumulative Revenue by Category. In Python, redo the
Pandas explore on a dataset of your choice. Catch up on anything skipped.
Datavidhya WEEK 3 OF 3
WEEK 3
Pro & Interview-Ready
Level up to what teams actually ship and what interviews actually ask. Advanced SQL plus interview patterns,
DE-grade Python (APIs, generators, decorators), and a full real-world ETL project to tie it together.
Day 15 Pandas wrangling · advanced SQL ~3 hrs
SQL PYTHON
Recursive CTEs — hierarchies & sequences Pandas — columns, GroupBy, pivot, merge
GROUPING SETS, CUBE, ROLLUP
Practice: Walk an org hierarchy with a recursive CTE. In Pandas, merge two DataFrames and group-aggregate
the result.
Day 16 Optimization · datetime & files in Python ~3 hrs
SQL PYTHON
Query optimization — reading EXPLAIN plans Working with DateTime in Pandas
Indexing strategies — B-Tree, hash, covering File formats — JSON, CSV, Excel, Avro
Practice: Read an EXPLAIN plan and add an index that changes it. In Python, parse a date column and write the
result to Parquet/JSON.
Day 17 SQL interview patterns · DE file I/O & APIs ~3 hrs
SQL PYTHON (DE)
Deduplication File I/O for DEs — CSV, JSON, Parquet, Avro
Running totals & cumulative metrics Working with APIs — pagination, retries
YoY / MoM growth
Practice: Solve Delete Duplicate Emails. In Python, pull paginated data from a public API into a list.
Day 18 More SQL patterns · pipeline-grade Python ~3 hrs
SQL PYTHON (DE)
Top-N per group Error handling patterns for pipelines
Gaps and islands Generators & iterators — big data in memory
Funnel analysis
Practice: Return the top 3 rows per group. In Python, rewrite a list-building function as a generator that streams
records.
Day 19 Production patterns · decorators & context managers ~3 hrs
SQL PYTHON (DE)
SQL anti-patterns to avoid Decorators — logging, timing, retry
Sessionization Context managers — safe resources
Practice: Sessionize event data by a time gap. In Python, write a @retry decorator and wrap a flaky API call.
Day 20 Capstone — build a real ETL pipeline ~3.5 hrs
PROJECT — PART 1 & 2 SQL — PICK A PATTERN
Spotify ETL — architecture & API setup Retention cohort analysis
Spotify ETL — extract & transform Self-joins for comparison
Practice: Stand up the Spotify pipeline locally — authenticate to the API, extract, and transform into clean
tables. Everything you learned, applied.
Day 21 Ship it & interview drill ~3 hrs
PROJECT — PART 3 & 4 SQL — FINAL DRILL
Deploy to AWS Lambda & S3 Snowflake vs BigQuery vs Redshift
Glue Crawler, Data Catalog & Athena Re-solve 3 interview patterns from memory, timed
Practice: Deploy the pipeline to the cloud and query it with Athena. Then do a timed mock: 3 SQL problems +
explain your pipeline out loud, as in an interview.
Datavidhya AFTER 3 WEEKS
YOU MADE IT
Where you'll be — and what's next
You can now
Query, join, aggregate and optimize real SQL Pull data from APIs with retries and pagination
Solve the SQL patterns interviewers reach for Use generators, decorators & context managers
Write clean, tested Python with Pandas & NumPy like a DE
Build and deploy a real API-to-cloud ETL pipeline
Keep going — PySpark & Databricks Interview prep tracks
Big data is the natural next step. Start with: SQL interview patterns — all 12, timed
PySpark interview patterns
What is Spark? — architecture & partitions Practice problems library — easy → hard
PySpark DataFrames — basics
Databricks overview & Lakehouse
Datavidhya · 3-Week Python & SQL Plan for Data Engineering · All lessons at [Link]/learn