What are good project-based ways to learn SQL with a C# background?

Start with an interactive resource such as SQLBolt, SQLZoo, or a similar hands-on tutorial. You can cover the basic syntax fairly quickly, then use SQLite and a desktop database browser to create tables, insert data, run queries, and experiment with joins and foreign keys.

Build a small C# CRUD application backed by SQLite. For example, make a console app that stores records, accepts user input, updates and deletes entries, and displays query results. That gives you practical experience with tables, relationships, joins, and parameterized queries instead of just completing isolated exercises.

Don’t focus only on syntax. Spend some time learning relational database concepts, normalization, schema design, and access control. SQL works with sets of rows rather than individual objects, so understanding that difference from OOP makes a big difference.

You can also practice with public datasets from government open-data portals. Import a dataset into a local database and answer increasingly complex questions with SQL. That’s a good way to move from tutorials into realistic filtering, grouping, aggregation, and multi-table analysis.

A game-related project could be a useful bridge: create a small web API for a leaderboard or player inventory system and write the database queries yourself. Using migrations and a database connection layer will expose you to real insertion, retrieval, and schema-change workflows without relying entirely on object-oriented models.