The What and Why of Tableau
Let’s start off with what Tableau is. Tableau is an amazing and flexible analytics and visualization platform. It has a clean and user friendly interface allows users to drag and drop different fields to quickly visualize their data and create worksheets and dashboards providing several insights into the data. Where Python or R may take pages upon pages of coding, Tableau can create the same graphs and charts within seconds. You can create clean and effective business dashboards, or you can create stunning visualizations on sports, music, economics, and more. The options are limitless!
Why Tableau? Why should you, as a student, care about learning Tableau? There are a multitude of reasons, but the biggest reason is that it is a hugely needed tech skill. In a list published by Indeed, Tableau was the #15 fastest rising tech skill from 2014-2019 in percentage of tech jobs, and was the only BI (Business Intelligence) platform on the list. Even if you have no interest in becoming a developer or data analyst, we live in a technology world now. If you study biology, political science, nursing, nutrition, physical therapy, or music, you will still encounter and work with data in this growing world. You can use data to improve your life and the lives of those around you. You can only strengthen your skills when you learn platforms such as Tableau. Data is everywhere and companies have a greater need for people who know how to manage data. There is a constant flow of data that is growing every minute of every day, and businesses need employees with the skills to manage data.
Tableau gives you, as a student, a free license to use as long as you remain a student. That’s huge! Plus, you can use Tableau for school itself, in creating charts for papers and presentations, as a tool to create schedules and resumes, and more. Tableau also offers students a free key to use their E-Learning for Desktop I and Tableau Prep. This is a huge resource which you should definitely take advantage of (read my post about about E-Learning in the Resources page.)
For those of you who may not be students, Tableau offers a 2 week free trial with their Desktop software, or you can head to https://public.tableau.com/s/ to download a free (more limited) version of Tableau.
I’ll tell you a bit of my journey with learning Tableau.
When I decided to major in Economics, my brother advised me to add a minor in Data Analytics. He said that it would be a useful skill to have and that it was a huge resume booster. Not really thinking much more about it, I added the minor and started taking the required classes my junior year. I learned SAS and R and data visualization practices both semesters. I really liked it and knew that I wanted to do something with data. However, the importance of the skills I was building didn’t hit me until the spring semester. Mid-semester I was invited with five other data analytics students to attend a luncheon for the Greater Washington Partnership’s kickoff of their DMV initiative. Companies around the area participating in this initiative promised to give interview opportunities and a quick application process for students in a digital technology program that was just starting up in a few colleges. These business leaders and CEOs like Jamie Dimon, Mark Weinberger, and Roger Krone were talking about the huge need that their companies had for graduates of all different paths and degrees to graduate with technology skills. Data skills was a huge topic, and I realized then that businesses desperately need graduating students with basic data and technology skills.
When I learned the basics of Tableau and put it on my resume, I got 150% more attention from recruiters and companies. I eventually landed a summer internship at Booz Allen Hamilton as a Tableau developer and was selected by Tableau to be a student ambassador a couple months later. Learning this basic skill has opened so many doors and opportunities. Learning Tableau is not major specific. No matter your major or career path, learning Tableau will help you build data skills that you can bring to prospective employers.
If you want to hear more testimonies and examples of how Tableau can help you as a student, head over to the Student Interviews section to read stories from students and teachers and members of the community. Check out this blog post by Bridget Cogley to learn more about Tableau can help you learn and grow during your academic years.
Written by: Maria Brock