Next week is the last week of our four-month training program. We’ll spend the week wrapping things up, and then on Thursday, we’ll have our graduation party! These four months of training have been intense, especially the last one, but I’ve learned a huge amount. If I compare these four months to any of my university semesters, which are about the same length, the knowledge and skills I’ve gained here stand out. This program was incredibly valuable, especially because it was hands-on and practical. I also want to thank all my coaches; their guidance and feedback helped me improve so much.
I will list down some key takeaways that I learned over the past four months.
Tableau
When I started the 4-month training at Data School, I knew very little about Tableau and had only a bit of hands-on experience with it. I had only used it briefly in one of my university classes, and it was very basic. At Data School, I learned so much more. such as the best practices for creating visualizations, using interactivity tools in Tableau, working with parameters, using calculated fields, applying Level of Detail (LOD) expressions, spatial mapping, and much more.
Power BI
Some key things I learned in Power BI include how to build a data model, create relationships between tables, use DAX for calculations, transform data with Power Query, and set up row-level security to control access to data. I also noticed that Power BI integrates well with other Microsoft products, which makes sense since it’s owned by Microsoft.
Alteryx
Now comes Alteryx. It’s one of the most powerful and impactful tools I’ve come across. In university, I did a lot of data transformation and manipulation using Python, writing long lines of code. But Alteryx simplifies all of that with easy-to-use tools, so you don’t have to write long code or spend time debugging. Alteryx makes the process much faster, allowing you to spend less time cleaning data and more time exploring it.
Alteryx has so much to offer from data cleaning and transformation to data mining. It covers almost everything you need. We had a lot of sessions to get familiar with Alteryx, where we learned data transformation techniques like joins, cross-tab, transpose, multi-row formulas, and much more. We also learned how to do spatial analysis with Alteryx, which was challenging but very interesting.
SQL
I was already quite familiar with SQL before joining Data School, so this part was more of a refresher for me to review my concepts. What we learned in SQL was also related to data transformation, but SQL relies more on writing code, similar to Python, unlike Alteryx.
One thing I learned for the first time was advanced subqueries, which really helped me improve my SQL skills and appreciate what SQL can do. I truly admire that even though SQL is an older programming language, it’s still widely used because of its flexibility and capabilities.
Tableau Prep
We had a brief session on Tableau Prep Builder since it mainly deals with backend data work, which we had already learned through Alteryx and SQL. The session focused on getting us familiar with the software rather than teaching new concepts, as we already knew how to do the data tasks.
Presentation Skills
Before joining Data School, I didn’t have much experience with presentation skills. During the 4-month training, we had to give a presentation every Friday. In the first few weeks, I struggled a lot, but as time went on, I got better each week. I want to thank my coaches for encouraging and supporting me; they really helped me improve my presentation skills
Client projects
We had 7 client projects, and I have to say, what we learned through these projects was beyond what I expected. We learned how to handle client projects and deliver what they needed. We also learned how to communicate and interact with clients. Most of the projects were in Power BI, so we had the chance to explore and get a lot of hands-on experience with Power BI reporting.
Dashboard Week
I won’t give too many spoilers about Dashboard Week, but in short, it was intense, and I learned a lot. We created 3 dashboards in Tableau and 2 in Power BI. The main lesson from this week was learning how to manage our time effectively to complete tasks within a set time.
My experience over these 4 months of training was amazing. I had great colleagues in my cohort who were very supportive, and the coaches were extremely helpful and trained us incredibly well. I don’t think I could have achieved all this without them, so a special thanks to all my coaches. Now, my cohort and I are ready for the next part of our journey our placements in different companies. We’re excited and looking forward to seeing what the future holds for us!
