Google trends have shown an all-time high score for keywords like Tableau developer jobs and Tableau developer salary in the past year. Tableau’s explosive popularity lies in the ever-evolving stream of data visualization—the graphical representation of analyzed data via simplified visual elements like graphs, charts, and infographics. Tableau is an intuitive data visualization tool that is changing the face of business analytics with its straightforward integration through native connectors. In 2021, Tableau’s demand shot up so high that Salesforce launched Tableau Online, a powerful web-based analytics platform to instantly access, analyze, and share data through visualization. This blog focuses on how to become a Tableau developer, its job prospects, and the skills and certifications you need to excel in this portfolio.

How to Become a Tableau Developer

Tableau developers come with a balanced palette of hard and soft skills; these include: 

• Finding solutions for unique data-interpretation challenges 
• Strong communication skills to offer succinct data analysis to non-technical audiences 
• Analytical skills to meet business requirements 
• Maximum attention to detail while coding and neutralizing bugs in the system

ALSO READ: All About Tableau: A Guide to the Powerful Data Visualization Tool

Tableau Developer: Skills Required

Knowing how to become a Tableau developer is synonymous with honing the following skills:

• A Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or Business Administration
• Data querying with ANSI SQL
• Strong business acumen skills
• The ability to combine technical data-centric knowledge with specific business requirements
• Strong understanding of data architecture
• Data sorting and grouping
• Math and statistical analysis
• Ability to visualize data from reading data sets, and from prototyping and testing
• Data forecasting and formulating strong data predictive algorithms
• Innovative approach toward data set and coding errors
• Working closely with Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) tools to design dashboards and manage the Tableau Server

Tableau Developer Jobs

Some of the high-demand portfolios that attract Tableau developers in multinationals are:

• Data analytics
• Business analytics
• Tableau consultancy

In the genre of business administration, Tableau developers can explore and excel in the following portfolios:

• Business intelligence management
• Business intelligence development
• Business intelligence analysis

Steps to Become a Tableau Developer

Check out these tips on how to become a tableau developer and stand out with your skill sets:

Tableau Developer Certification

There are five different kinds of Tableau certification courses available and these combine Tableau Desktop and Tableau Server courses.

Tableau Desktop certification comprises the following:

• Tableau Desktop Specialist: Requires fundamental knowledge of Tableau and three months of working experience with Tableau Desktop
• Tableau Desktop Certified Associate: Calls for a functional understanding of data connections, data trends, and forecasting, working with dashboards, and a minimum working experience of five months with Tableau Desktop
• Tableau Desktop Certified Professional: This advanced-level certification can’t be obtained without passing the Tableau associate exam. It demands a strong understanding of extracting stories from data visualizations and expertise in data restructuring

Tableau Server certification involves the following:

• Server Certified Associate Certification: IT professionals with Tableau experience of at least four months in single-machine environments are eligible for this certification. The test also asks questions on hardware and software requirements related to operating Tableau, such as data source identification, handling network infrastructure, security, and server configurations 
• Server Certified Professional Certification: This certification validates your advanced expertise in complex job profiles such as system architecture, server administration, etc, in both single-machine and venture configurations

Taking a Tableau Developer Course

Taking a comprehensive online or offline Tableau developer course that prepares you for the various certifications distinguishes your resume within the highly saturated market of data literacy. A basic developer course on Tableau includes the following:

• How to install Tableau
• Learning to create bar charts, pie charts, interactive dashboards, dual axis charts, scatter plots, treemaps, storylines, etc
• Export Tableau workbooks
• Export results in different formats
• Advanced data preparation, data cleaning, and data wrangling
• Understanding data hierarchies, granularity, and aggregation

Learn the Tableau Desktop Fundamentals

Are you wondering how to become a Tableau developer without learning the fundamentals of Tableau Desktop? The answer’s easy. In this age of unlimited video tutorials, you can always try introducing yourself to this software system. Here’s a guide on the same:

• Understanding the application terminology of Tableau
• Basic elements of visualization
• Installing Tableau Desktop
• String manipulation, custom aggregations, quick table calculations
• Understanding metadata grid and changes in data
• Data filtering and sorting
• Geographical data mapping
• Data customization 

Practice Building in Tableau Desktop

Upskilling is mandatory when it comes to Tableau development, which is why Tableau Every Day (TED) is a nice way to go about it. Start with a commitment on a personal level or volunteer for a project on the Tableau Github community. A diverse community filled with projects will drive your commitment levels and inspire you to take on daunting data visualization tasks. 

ALSO READ: What is Data Visualization and Why is it so Important?

Community Involvement and Networking

Community participation is your best bet for making a public portfolio of all your projects for recruiters to check out. Tableau Public is another centralized space to hire or get noticed by various participants of the Tableau ecosystem.

There isn’t a shred of doubt that learning how to become a Tableau developer will boost your chances of being hired in the data science industry. Tableau is an indispensable tool for budding data scientists and Business Intelligence (BI) enthusiasts. But to comprehensively understand all the Tableau applications, it is also crucial to delve into the basics of BI and data analytics. Ride the wave of digital transformation with Emeritus’ online data science and analytics courses, and participate in one of the grandest innovations of our times!

Written by Bishwadeep Mitra

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