How to Become a Tableau Desktop Specialist
Data visualization is not a new concept, many of them have been doing it right from their high school time. Remember converting small tabular information into charts or bar graphs to gain a better understanding? Well, that was just a simple kind of data visualization. The reason data visualization has gained more popularity in recent times is that we are dealing with a massive amount of data today. Analyzing that raw data has become quite important for companies as they aid in making better business decisions and ensure higher customer satisfaction.
When raw data is collected from different sources, cleaned, and analyzed, the transformed data is finally visualized so as to uncover hidden patterns that are often unnoticed in textual format. As the size of data is quite large and requires high computational power, there are many tools used for visualizing data. Tableau, PowerBI, QlikView, and RapidMiner are some of the top data visualization tools available in the market. Of these popular names, Tableau is highly regarded by companies across the world, and from the past few years, it is declared a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms. So, in this article, we would focus on Tableau, how to become a Tableau Desktop Specialist, and the need to take a Tableau course.
An Introduction to Tableau
The official website describes Tableau as a ‘visual analytics platform transforming the way we use data to solve problems – empowering people and organizations to make the most of their data.’ Taking a user-first approach, Tableau is designed for every kind of customer, be it data scientist, student, teacher, data analyst, or executives. It is one of the most powerful, flexible, and secure end-to-end analytics platforms which has become a market-leading choice for modern business intelligence.
Basically, there are four products offered by Tableau:
- Tableau Prep
- Tableau Desktop
- Tableau Server and Tableau Online
- Tableau Mobile
Tableau Desktop is designed to offer unlimited data exploration through an intuitive interface and enables data-driven decision making. Using Tableau Desktop, you can create interactive dashboards that help in identifying hidden trends on the fly. It allows data to be collected from various sources like cloud storage, SQL database, Google Analytics, Salesforce, or a spreadsheet. You can combine all such data without writing code and optimize it through pivot, split, or managing metadata.
Users love Tableau Desktop’s drag and drop reference lines and forecasts, building powerful calculations, statistical summaries, lightning-fast mapping of locations, and so on. Rather than static slides, Tableau Desktop lets you create compelling narratives through live stories and helps you analyze interactive visualizations with fresh data. What’s more! You can take big data offline or bring it in-memory in seconds by combining advances in database and computer graphics. Due to such high end features, Tableau is preferred by many renowned companies like Verizon, Honeywell, Lenovo, Lufthansa, Wells Fargo, the New York Times, and more.
The Tableau Desktop Specialist Certification
As the Tableau website mentions, analytical reasoning is the third most-needed hard skill in 2020. With a Tableau certification, you can boost your resume with in-demand data expertise. Individuals who have fundamental skills and understanding of Tableau Desktop for at least three months in using the product can apply for the Tableau Desktop Specialist certification. It tests your knowledge in areas like modifying data connections, managing data properties, applying analytics to a worksheet, creating and modifying a dashboard, creating various charts, and dimensions and measures.
The associated exam consists of 30 multiple-choice, multiple response, and hands-on format questions to be solved in 60 minutes. The passing score of the exam is 70%. The following skills are measured through the exam:
- Connecting to and preparing data
- Exploring and analyzing data
- Sharing insights
- Understanding Tableau concepts
- Timeliness
There are no prerequisites to take the exam and you can take up the training resources offered by Tableau to make you exam ready.
Preparing for the Tableau Desktop Specialist Exam
Tableau suggests a six weeks training program to help you prepare for the Desktop Specialist certification exam. The exam prep guide also contains some sample questions that give you an idea of what to expect in the exam. However, if you don’t have any prior knowledge of Tableau and wish to know about data visualization from scratch, then you can also take up online courses from other reputed training providers as well.
A comprehensive Tableau certification course gives you access to blended learning mentored by industry experts who have rich teaching experience. Often, such courses are coupled with doubt clearing sessions, real-world industry projects, structured guidance, and access to Tableau Desktop for practical experience. Moreover, they consist of simulation exams that you can attempt after completing your preparation. The simulation exam is a great way to reinforce your learning and understand what are your strengths and weaknesses.
Apart from the training and simulation exams, one can also join the Tableau community and connect with like-minded peers to know their experience of the Tableau Desktop Specialist exam. The world is wide open for data visualization engineers and learning Tableau will add significant value to your array of skills. Getting certified will further demonstrate your seriousness regarding the field to the employers. So, wait no more and start learning Tableau today!
