Snowflake is a multi-feature online data warehouse platform.  Like any other database platform (SQL Server, Oracle, MongoDB) there is a lot to learn, and more than once, I have found myself asking the question “Where is…?”  So I am going to concentrate on just a few areas.

First, in the lower-left corner of the screen, you will find your account user name and the role under which you are currently working.  This is important — you may have several possible roles, and the one in which you are currently working will define what you see when you try and access other parts of the environment.  For grins, you can pull up the account profile (click on your name in the lower-left — you will see a list of options.)  I am the AccountAdmin on my version of Snowflake by default, and I have enabled email notifications from resuorce monitors.  This will help me stay within my spending goal.

On the left side of the screen near the top to about the middle, you will see a list of links.  If you click on Home, you will be taken to a page that gives you a good overview of where you are in the system.  It also resets the screen, so if you get lost (it happens, occasionally) clicking on Home is a good way to get your bearings.

If you click on the Data link, you will find all the databases that are accessible to you at this time.  If you like, you may drill down through the progression (Database -> Schema -> Objects.)  Note that when you do this a submenu appears to the right of the original menu.

Finally, I want to draw your attention to the link labeled Projects.  Under there, you will find Worksheets.  That’s where you primarily write your Snowflake code.  We will spend a good deal of time typing in code in various Worksheets.

There are a lot of other Snowflake features you can access, and you should feel welcome to explore, but for now, that’s enough to get started.