SQL

Intermediate

As a final-year BCom Actuarial Science student, I have developed a working knowledge of SQL through academic work, projects, and self-study. I use SQL to query, clean, and explore datasets, and I continue to build skills in database design and integration.

Querying

Writing SELECT statements with JOINs and filtering conditions

Using aggregate functions with GROUP BY and HAVING

Constructing subqueries and Common Table Expressions (CTEs)

Applying window functions for simple ranking and cumulative calculations

Using CASE statements for conditional logic

Data Manipulation

Filtering, sorting, and transforming datasets

Basic pivoting using CASE and aggregation

String functions and date/time manipulation

Databases

PostgreSQL & MySQL

Writing queries on structured insurance or financial datasets

Exploring use of indexes, primary keys, and constraints

Working with JSON fields and basic stored procedures

SQLite

Used as a lightweight solution for prototyping and small-scale projects

Integrated with Python for exploratory data analysis

Database Design

Understanding normalization principles

Designing tables with appropriate data types

Using foreign keys to enforce relationships

Project Work

Claims Data Analysis

→Queried mock claims data using window functions
→Performed cohort analysis and summary reporting

Data Cleaning & Transformation

→Wrote scripts to clean inconsistent or missing values
→Used joins and filters to prepare datasets for modeling

Performance & Optimization

Exposure to EXPLAIN plans for understanding query performance

Practice with writing efficient joins and filtering

Understanding the impact of indexes and constraints

Integration & Tools

sqlite3, psycopg2, SQLAlchemy for Python data pipelines

DBI, RPostgres for connecting to databases during analysis

DBeaver and pgAdmin for query writing and exploration

Ongoing Learning

Practicing more advanced queries and performance tuning

Learning ETL patterns and data pipeline design

Studying schema design principles and data warehousing

Reviewing open-source SQL projects and tutorials

SQL has become an essential part of my data toolkit, helping me manage, explore, and prepare data efficiently for analysis and modeling tasks in academic and personal projects.