Instructor since 2023
Irina Sokolova
Database engineer teaching PostgreSQL, data modelling and query performance
Sample
- Students
- 6,990
- Courses
- 3
- Instructor rating
- 4.3
- Reviews
- 21
About Irina
I work as a database engineer, mostly with PostgreSQL. My job covers schema design, migrations, indexing, query tuning, backups and helping application developers understand why their queries are slow.
I teach databases as a practical engineering skill. We model real domains, write SQL by hand, read EXPLAIN output together and break things on purpose so you can see how constraints and transactions protect your data. I explain the theory, such as normal forms and isolation levels, only as far as it changes what you do.
All examples run on a local PostgreSQL install or a Docker container, and every course includes the scripts so you can reproduce each step.
Courses by Irina
What students say
Chiara B.
Sample Version notes appreciated
Clear notes on what changed in PostgreSQL 18, such as buffers in EXPLAIN ANALYZE and skip scan.
Joseph N.
Sample Great for analysts too
I came from spreadsheets and now write my own queries with window functions for monthly reports.
Leila M.
Sample The review checklist is excellent
We added it to our pull request template. Schema reviews are faster and catch more problems.
Nikolai P.
Sample Finally read plans with confidence
The loops and estimates explanations changed how I look at EXPLAIN output. Found a 40 times misestimate in our main query the same day.
Sophie T.
Sample Finally understand what my ORM does
I have used PostgreSQL through an ORM for years. Writing joins and reading EXPLAIN myself changed how I design features.
Thomas R.
Sample Changed how I approach schemas
Writing relationships as sentences and finding hidden entities saved our team from a bad design last month.
Grace E.
Sample Start with pg_stat_statements first
Starting from total time instead of the slowest single query reshaped our tuning work. Huge win from fixing two frequent queries.
Amara O.
Sample Normalisation explained clearly
I had memorised normal forms for an exam without understanding them. The messy spreadsheet example made it click.