How to become a Tableau Developer

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• Last Updated December 22, 2018

Today, Tableau Developer is one of the most preferred job roles in the BI industry. So, what it actually takes to become a Tableau Developer ? Well, you can find the answer in this article. Here, we will first talk about the role of a Tableau Developer and discuss the significance of pursuing a career as Tableau Developer. Later on, we will explore the required skills and abilities to become a Tableau Developer. We will also talk about getting certified in Tableau and improving other technical skills.

Role of a Tableau Developer 

Tableau developer creates solutions for data visualization to enhance business processes. This job comprises various tasks such as working with developers, creating tableau dashboard reports, creating BI reports and visualizations, and participating in feedback sessions to improve systems. This job is perfect for people who work well as a part of team, who have problem-solving skills and can manage their time productively to meet deadlines.

Responsibilities of a Tableau developer

Tableau developer responsibilities vary depending on the type of organization they work for. Below mentioned are the typical tableau developer responsibilities:

Creating technical solutions:

The primary objective of a tableau developer is to create technical solutions to the needs of the business. This can be done by finding innovative resolutions and translating their requirements.

Working with data storage tools:

They create tools to preserve data within the organization, which is known as online analytical processing.

Conduct tests:

They develop database queries and conduct unit tests to troubleshoot and analyze the issues that arise. This process is an ongoing part of the development that occurs continuously throughout the project. 

Enhance systems:

The crucial part of this job is to evaluate and improve existing systems. This also includes collaborating with other teams within the business to incorporate new systems to streamline company process and workflow.

Create Technical Documentation:

Creating reports for completed projects is an important task for tableau developers. They also create and update technical documentation for the senior staff members and colleagues within the organization for reference.

What tools does a Tableau Developer use ?

Tableau developers frequently use the following tools in addition to general computer applications:

BI technologies - Oracle BI, Microsoft Power BI, etc. 
SQL language - SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), SQL Server Reporting Services(SSRS).
Data Analysis tools - ETL frameworks, Online analytical processing (OLAP)

The following reasons state the importance of pursuing a career as a Tableau Developer:

Many connectivity options

The reason why tableau stands out among all the BI tools is that there are wide range of connectivity options. Tableau can connect to any data you can possibly think about. Starting from spreadsheets, databases and even Big Data; you can access warehouses, cloud applications like salesforce, and even connect to cloud database like Amazon Redshift. It also has a WDC (web data connector), and it is used to pull API directly from the web in order to connect any desired data source.

Big data with Tableau

In the world of prevailing big data, many organizations that store, wangle, and analyze data choose hadoop as their platform of choice. Tableau authorizes business users to easily and quickly identify valuable data in their expansive hadoop datasets. It removes the need for its users to have knowledge of query languages that makes engaging with big data more feasible for stakeholders.

Market for Tableau

Tableau is known as the leader in BI tools and it has been crowned the best by the IT research giant Gartner. Gartner’s magic quadrant mentioned tableau for the fifth time in a row as the best among tableau competitors like Microsoft, SAP, Click. 

Job opportunities

In addition to having a great demand for tableau experts, there are rewards to offer as well. If you browse through the job portals like indeed, you can find plenty of job postings. Tableau professionals are also getting the best salaries in the IT industry with an average of $91,000 per annum. There are tons of jobs available which require tableau as the major skill.

Storytelling and Forecasting

Tableau has amazing features like forecasting and storytelling. Tableau represents data like no other tool does with its features like storytelling. One can even connect to the data personally and understand the depth of analysis. Forecasting uses a technique called exponential smoothing in Tableau.

Future of Tableau

Natural language processing and machine learning enabled data prep are the various things tableau is focusing on. It is moulding itself with new technologies to enable futuristics approaches to view data. It is going to launch hybrid data connectivity for the cloud. With Tableau, another advantage would be a new live query agent that will act as a tunnel to on-premises data.

The above reasons give you a clear understanding of the importance of pursuing a career as Tableau Developer.

Required knowledge, skills, and abilities to become a Tableau Developer 

• Should have a Bachelor's degree in Business, Computer Science, or similar field.
• Requires an experience in whole life cycle development of applications at enterprise level.
• Maintain proficiency with SQL in large data sets.
• Should have excellent analytical skills as they are needed to analyze the requirements of client or business.
• This role demands working with software from beginning till the end of the project. So, they need to solve any issue that occurs during the development stage.
• This job requires the ability to create innovative solutions to problems within the business. 
• They need to be self motivated for finding solutions and improvements to systems during the phase of  customer testing and prototyping.
• They need to maintain strong attention to details for spotting errors in data or coding.
• Having knowledge of Microstrategy and Data Architecture is preferred.
• Should have effective written and oral communication skills.

Acquire a Certification in Tableau!

Acquiring a certification in Tableau will increase your chances of getting a job as a Tableau Developer. Getting certified in Tableau means that you are certainly standing out from the crowd. This process requires attending a formal tableau training which makes you improve your skills. It is an excellent way to start learning the tool more efficiently and effectively.

Tableau conducts formal certification tests that help you exhibit your skill level. You can use this certification to give your resume a credibility, which increases your chance of getting hired by top employers.

Improving other technical skills

Though you acquire all the skills that are mentioned above, there are other skills as well that you need to master. Learn about other skills like having an understanding of statistics, working with databases, and having knowledge about gathering data from various sources and placing it together in a way to perform visual analytics in tableau.

Conclusion

The above skill set is enough to make yourself fit for the position of a Tableau Developer. There are many opportunities available in the IT market for the candidates who acquire the skills of a Tableau Developer. So go ahead and get started with Tableau.

About Author

Saikumar Talari

Saikumar Talari is a Technology Enthusiast and has passion towards writing content for various technologies in IT.