I Learned Tableau And So Can You.
When I first started out in the Tableau community, I struggled A LOT. I was honestly overwhelmed by all the vizzes shared on Twitter and the ‘Viz of the Day’ announcements. I had some self-doubt about this line of work and didn’t think I can actually work up to that level of perfection.
I was asked a few times about how I got to where I am today. So, I thought it would be awesome to share my data visualization journey.
DATA VIZ JOURNEY
Two years ago, I thought of a career change because it was just taking so long to get good at data visualization. In fact, I wasn’t naturally bright in school and probably spent most of my college years sitting at the tutoring center. Fortunately, it was through a ton of studying and hours at the learning center that I actually ended up graduating from college.
Maybe that’s what I needed to do. Just like in school, I need to spend more time practicing, reading up on Tableau blogs and watching video tutorials on Tableau. I can even try reaching out for a mentor.
Like most members in the Tableau community, I started out with #MakeoverMonday. My first few vizzes weren’t great. I felt like I was always at the same level. I really didn’t understand what I was doing wrong. Since I wasn’t that active on Twitter at the time, I had no one to talk to about how I felt but I kept practicing.
OUTSIDE MY COMFORT ZONE
After a while, I saw an announcement about a Comcast internal Tableau “Iron Viz” in 2019. I had no clue what an “Iron Viz” was back then and didn’t know the company I worked for ran this event.
In all honesty, I actually thought it was a sign-up form to watch the “Iron Viz” not actually partake in the competition!
I registered and a few weeks later, I get this email saying I’m a potential candidate. I just rolled with it and sent a sample of my Tableau Public portfolio since I was asked to share samples of my data visualization work. A week later, I get another email saying I was selected as one of the three “Iron Viz” participants.
I was assigned a mentor and had less than three weeks to build my dashboard. Through a ton of feedback and trial-and-error, I finally landed on a viz and topic I really loved. This was also my first time using a dark background!
The scariest part of this competition was that I had to present to over a hundred attendees. It was even more stressful when I had only 30-min to recreate this dashboard from scratch on stage. We were given a little more time than the actual “Iron Viz” at the Tableau Conference.
I remember a friend of mine saying he saw my hands shaking nervously from above on stage. Well, he was absolutely right.
TABLEAU USER GROUP
After my “Iron Viz” presentation, I was invited to give my first talk about my data viz journey at our local Philly Tableau User Group. I didn’t feel like I was ready for that either, but Josh Tapley (Tableau Public | Twitter) encouraged me to share my experiences. It turned out to be really great and I met a lot of cool folks in the Tableau community.
After going through these experiences, I kept practicing and eventually crafted my own design style. It took me nearly two years, but everyone learns at a different pace. I was so proud of how far I’ve come in my data visualization journey.
MAKEOVER MONDAY VIZZES
In 2020, I completed almost every single #MakeoverMonday viz until I felt confident in my skills and was comfortable with the designs.
Since joining the #MakeoverMonday community, not only have I developed stronger relationships with members of the Tableau community but learned so much about design and storytelling.
Participating in #MakeoverMonday has honestly shaped my career in so many fantastic ways. I highly recommend checking it out if you are looking to explore new data sets, receive feedback, and strengthen your design / storytelling skills.
“PASSION” VIZZES
Sometimes, it even helps to create a dashboard on a topic you are passionate about or are interested in. I noticed some of my “passion” vizzes were a lot more creative and outside the scope of work I typically do for #MakeoverMondays and in the office.
The Boys is one of my favorite Amazon Prime TV shows. I rewatched every single episode and noted down all the on-screen superhero kills.
I wasn’t sure how to show this type of data but after some design iterations and spending eight-hours in front of the computer, I came up with a simple but creative way to show this information on a Tableau dashboard.
I also love the holidays. During Christmas in 2020, I created a visualization looking at holiday spending which then ended up being my first ‘Viz of the Day’. I never thought I would receive a VOTD and was literally teary-eyed when I saw the VOTD announcement.
COLLABORATION VIZZES
Just recently, Priya Padham (Tableau Public | Twitter) and I worked on a collab viz together. We both love The Matrix franchise and started building out a long-form dashboard. This was such a fun and exciting way to learn from one another and also create a viz on a topic we absolutely love. If you are ever thinking about doing a collaboration viz, then go for it! You’ll learn a lot from the experience.
There is still so much that I need to learn but I hope sharing my journey was at least a tiny bit helpful in how you can start off your path in data analytics / data visualization. It felt like a very long time for me but I truly enjoyed seeing my progression overtime.
When I was younger, I loved reading Dr. Seuss’s books. I still look back to one of my favorite quotes from him. It’s so simple but meant a lot to me.
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” — Dr. Seuss
If you ever have any questions, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter / LinkedIn. I’d be happy to help if I can.
Thank you so much for reading!
