BigQuery Sandbox Setup — First Query & Bytes-Billed Report

# BigQuery Sandbox Setup — First Query & Bytes-Billed Report > **Outcome:** Run your first query in the BigQuery sandbox and read > bytes-billed. **Check:** LAB BQ-1 bytes report (screenshot + bytes number). ## 1. Setup (free, no credit card) 1. Create a Google account; open the BigQuery console; accept the sandbox (10 GB storage + 1 TB free query tier per month, auto-enforced). 2. Open the public dataset `bigquery-public-data.samples.natality` (or the course `w7-retail` upload) and run: ```sql SELECT year, COUNT(*) AS births FROM `bigquery-public-data.samples.natality` WHERE year BETWEEN 2000 AND 2010 GROUP BY year ORDER BY year; ``` 3. Read the query validator: "This query will process X MB/GB" **before** clicking Run — that number is your bytes-billed estimate. ## 2. LAB BQ-1 bytes report (required evidence) Submit: query text + validator estimate + post-run "Bytes billed" from Job Information. One paragraph: why `SELECT *` on the same table bills more than the projection above (columnar projection pruning).