Why Learn Tableau?

Tableau is one of the most popular data visualization tools currently used in business intelligence. It can transform raw data into accessible illustrations that can be presented to professionals at any organizational level. Have you explored all of Tableau’s visualization and analytic capabilities? Here, you’ll learn about the different careers that benefit from Tableau and how using this tool can enhance your professional life. Learning Tableau is a valuable and impressive skill to add to your resume regardless of your goals. 

What is Tableau?

Tableau is a data visualization tool used for data analytics and business intelligence. It was designed to help individuals and organizations make better data-driven solutions. This software can simplify raw data into an accessible dashboard format that incorporates visual depictions of raw data from datasets, which can then be understood by various professionals working within a company, regardless of whether they come from a technical background. One of the main benefits of working with Tableau is that it performs fast data analysis and can create stunning visualizations based on data findings.

Tableau provides users with many helpful data analysis and visualization features, such as real-time analysis, data blending, and collaboration capabilities. It allows Data Analysts to manipulate live datasets and devote their efforts more to analysis rather than data wrangling. In addition, Tableau doesn’t require programming or technical skills, making it an accessible, effective tool for data analytics.

Read more about what Tableau is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with Tableau?

Tableau has a variety of professional uses. Ultimately, the more you know about Tableau, the more data-driven insights you can bring to your organization. Tableau can bring together various data sources into a single point of truth. For example, suppose you’re working with data in Microsoft Access and Excel, as well as in SQL databases and cloud-based applications such as Salesforce. In that case, Tableau can help you bring these data together with just a few mouse clicks. This provides one central source that can be used for all types of business reporting and doesn’t require you to have any coding knowledge to set up. 

Tableau also provides a way to efficiently perform ETL operations (extract, transform and load). With the help of Tableau’s automated data reshaper tool, you can transform any data you want to use into the necessary format by splitting fields, eliminating header and white space, and changing data formats. Instead of spending a whole day extracting, transforming, and loading data using apps such as Excel, you can do it in just seconds in Tableau. In addition, Tableau’s automated reporting feature allows you to easily create a report, then set it to focus on a specific dataset so that the data will automatically refresh without requiring any coding know-how or additional time commitment.

One of Tableau’s most remarkable features is its visualization capabilities. Even for those new to visually presenting data insights, Tableau comes with built-in best practices to help you present information clearly, effectively, and engagingly. This helps ensure that data is delivered to internal and external stakeholders through eye-catching and informative reports.

Common Professional Uses for Tableau

Tableau is the most widely used modern business intelligence tool available today. Many organizations that rely on data to drive their decision-making process rely on Tableau to help them make sense of the data, making Tableau a staple across industries and professions. It has a range of applications that extends beyond traditional data analytics and business analytics. For example, those working in communication and media analytics use Tableau to maximize audience engagement. Individuals in sports management analytics rely on Tableau to collect player statistics, merchandise and ticket sales information, fan engagement, and build more balanced teams.

In the financial sector, Tableau is used in banking analytics to manage risk and improve customer experience. The manufacturing industry works with Tableau to blend and link similar data to gather immediate results that can improve the efficiency of processes and overall customer satisfaction. In the educational sector, Tableau provides a way for educators and administrators to gain insight into how lesson planning affects student performance or how to make the enrollment process more efficient. It is also used in the classroom to help teachers and students explore and understand data. Even the government leverages Tableau’s features to perform tasks like querying national databases, publishing transparent and interactive dashboards that can communicate data findings, and analyzing data from cities, counties, and boroughs to better manage public services and spaces.

Benefits of Learning Tableau

The following are just a few ways that Tableau skills can help you achieve your professional goals:

You Can Help an Organization Integrate and Manipulate Data

Tableau helps to streamline the process of data integration. Those working with Tableau can easily integrate any program, code, or software. In addition, Tableau makes it possible to avoid compatibility issues that can arise when connecting data. Tableau users can elect to implement various analytics into Tableau and consolidate data, gather reports from databases, and manipulate data without encountering any issues.

You’ll Have Job Options in Nearly Every Sector

More data is being made every day than ever before. More than 50 times more data was created in the past decade than in the prior decade. This onslaught of data has led to the corresponding need for those with the skills and training to make sense of it and present it to stakeholders to make decisions based on the findings. Many sectors are currently using Tableau to help manage data. That means if you have a background in Tableau, you have many professional options across sectors to help organizations with their data needs. You can choose an industry of work, and if it isn’t a good match, you can explore other options in other fields, all of which would draw from the same Tableau skill set. For example, you could work as a Business Analyst and switch professions to a Tableau Developer, or spend a few years serving as a BI Developer, then try out a role as a Tableau Developer. 

You Will Make a Good Salary

Because the demand for Tableau professionals is high and is expected to grow, there is currently a significant gap between the demand for those with Tableau skills and the supply of individuals to fill positions. This is one contributing factor to the high pay for Tableau professionals. Although pay rates vary depending on industry, profession, employer, and experience level, those with advanced Tableau skills make an average of $120,000 a year. And, as the demand continues to increase, it is likely that pay rates will as well.

You Can Work for a Top Company

In addition to transferable career skills and high pay, Tableau skills can help you land a job with one of the top companies in America. Because Tableau is a relatively new tool compared to other technologies, many large and well-established companies still have job openings for those with a background in data analytics and visualization. Some of the biggest companies in the U.S., such as Dell, Meta, General Motors, and Bank of America, rely on those with Tableau training to help them find actionable insights from within the data. 

How to Start Learning Tableau

There is a wealth of resources available for those interested in studying this powerful data visualization tool. In-person and live online Tableau courses are currently available from top educational providers. Those who are new to Tableau can enroll in beginner-level data visualization classes, and those who already have a background working with Tableau can choose more advanced courses, such as bootcamps or certificate study in data analytics. 

For those interested exclusively in in-person study options, Tableau classes near home can be compared using Noble Desktop’s Classes Near Me tool. One of the main benefits of studying in a live online or in-person environment is that students can ask questions in real-time and receive individualized instruction and support. Whereas in-person study requires students to commute to and from class for each meeting, you can complete live online Tableau courses from the comfort of your home.

If you are a self-motivated learner interested in exploring Tableau basics on your own, on-demand Tableau classes are a great learning option. Unlike live online study, you can complete these courses at your own pace since they don’t meet at a regularly scheduled time. Udacity’s Data Visualization in Tableau is a free learning option that provides students with three weeks of instruction on the basics of visual design and data visualization. Other on-demand Tableau courses, such as Skillsoft’s Tableau Desktop and LinkedIn Learning’s Tableau Essential Training, are available with a platform subscription. 

In addition to in-person, live online, and on-demand Tableau study, other free resources are available for those interested in exploring topics related to Tableau and data visualization. 

Noble Desktop offers a variety of free Tableau resources that provide instruction on core data visualization procedures and skills, such as creating maps and dual-axis charts in Tableau, as well as working with the new Relationships feature in this program. You can also read about Using Table Calculations in Tableau, which discusses what table calculations are, the different types of table calculations, and how the table calculation is performed. Additionally, a free tutorial is also provided on Using Parameters in Tableau, which provides an overview of what parameters are, how to use them, and working with parameter actions and parameter control.

Read the full guide on how to learn Tableau. 

Learn Tableau with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop provides several great Tableau learning opportunities. For those new to Tableau, Noble’s Tableau Level 1 covers core Tableau tools and skills, such as creating various charts and data visualizations. Students receive an introduction to Tableau Public, a free version of Tableau, and learn how to create and edit graphs and charts.

In addition, Noble’s Tableau Bootcamp is a program that teaches students the fundamental components of data visualization. Those enrolled explore Tableau Public’s different tools to connect to datasets, analyze, filter, and structure the data to make visualizations. By course completion, students will know how to customize, manipulate, and publish various data visualizations. This class comes with the option of a free retake for students who wish to revisit course material.

For those seeking a more rigorous learning environment for learning Tableau, Noble Desktop’s Data Analytics Certificate is a great option. In addition to providing hands-on training with Tableau in the small classroom environment, those enrolled in this certificate study also gain industry-relevant training with other data analytic skills, languages, and programs, such as SQL, Excel, and Python. Expert instructors ensure that those enrolled receive training to become Data Analysts or Business Analysts. One-on-one mentoring is provided for all students.

In addition, for those interested in learning more about Tableau, Noble’s Tableau Resources page has more than 50 articles to help you learn more about this powerful data visualization tool.

Key Insights

• Tableau is a hugely popular tool for business intelligence and data visualization and is used by many top companies in the U.S., such as Dell and Bank of America.
• Tableau has various uses across professions, such as finance, manufacturing, communication, sports management, and education.
• There are many reasons to learn Tableau. It will provide job opportunities in nearly every sector, you will receive high pay for your expertise, and you will be able to contribute to the growth of your organization.
• If you want to learn more about Tableau and the many professional doors it can open, you can receive excellent data visualization training through Noble Desktop’s in-person and live online Tableau classes.