Once you have gained access to a database, the next step in your SQL journey involves building upon your existing skills. This includes joining tables, utilizing basic functions, grouping data, and employing subqueries. In order to effectively explore a database and its data, it is essential to familiarize yourself with various data types such as numeric, character, and date/time. By utilizing data from reputable sources such as Stack Overflow, Fortune 500 companies, and 311 help requests from Evanston, IL, you will gain practical experience in working with these data types. Furthermore, you will learn how to utilize functions to aggregate, summarize, and analyze data directly within the database, eliminating the need to export data to external tools. Even in the presence of errors and inconsistencies within the data, you will acquire the skills to identify common problems and implement strategies to clean up messy data. Upon completion of this course, you will be equipped to confidently explore your own PostgreSQL databases and effectively analyze the data contained within them.