Tableau Mastery Isn’t Just About Desktop — Here’s What You Need to Know

Published in

Bootcamp

8 min readAug 31, 2024

Credit | Adam Mico (prompt) and Midjourney AI

This is a blog I’ve been thinking about writing for the past couple of years. It’s been on my mind because, while I’m passionate about the possibilities Tableau offers, I never want to temper the excitement of those who thrive on Tableau Desktop. The thrill of creating stunning visualizations and impactful dashboards is real, and it’s a big part of why so many of us fall in love with Tableau in the first place. But as I’ve grown in my own Tableau journey, I’ve realized that to truly thrive in the long run and stay ahead in this rapidly evolving field, there’s so much more to explore beyond Tableau Desktop.

Focusing only on Tableau Desktop, as powerful as it is, can limit your view of what Tableau truly offers. Tableau’s platform is vast, encompassing many tools and functionalities that demand a diverse skill set. Even if you’re a whiz at Tableau Desktop, there’s a whole world of knowledge to explore if you want to be recognized as a true Tableau expert. My goal with this blog is not to diminish the value of mastering Desktop but to highlight the opportunities that come from expanding your skill set across the entire Tableau ecosystem.

Tableau Expertise: Beyond the Desktop

Let’s start with Tableau Desktop. I love Tableau Desktop — it’s an incredible tool that offers many opportunities for people to showcase their skills, get noticed, and land excellent jobs. It’s where many of us begin our Tableau journey, creating complex calculations, designing custom visualizations, and tweaking parameters to perfection. These skills are essential and form the backbone of your ability as a Tableau developer. But as you look to maintain or elevate your role or even to grow beyond the developer title, you’ll find that mastering additional skills across the Tableau ecosystem is crucial.

Imagine you’re in a scenario where you’ve built a stunning dashboard for your team, but now they want to share it across the company. Suddenly, you find yourself needing skills that go beyond just creating visualizations. You need to understand how to manage data, optimize performance, and ensure that your work integrates seamlessly across different parts of the organization. Let’s explore these broader skills and how they contribute to a comprehensive understanding of Tableau.

1. Data Preparation and Transformation (Tableau Prep)

Scenario: Picture this — you’ve just received a massive dataset from your sales team. It’s a mess: duplicate entries, inconsistent formats, and missing values. Before you can even think about visualizing this data, it needs a major cleanup.

What You’ll Need: This is where Tableau Prep (or another data preparation tool for heavier lifts) comes into play. You’ll be using it to wrangle, cleanse, and transform that raw data into something that’s not just usable but also optimized for analysis. In this role, you’re like a data engineer, sifting through the chaos to find the nuggets of gold hidden within. A firm grasp of SQL and data blending techniques will make your life easier here.

2. Server Administration (Tableau Server & Tableau Cloud)

Scenario: Imagine your organization has grown, and now, your dashboards need to be accessed by hundreds of users. But with more users come more challenges: server performance issues, security concerns, and the need for regular maintenance. This is where Tableau Server comes into play, but Tableau Cloud is increasingly becoming the go-to platform for many organizations.

What You’ll Need: As a Tableau developer, understanding the basics of Tableau Server administration is crucial, but getting familiar with Tableau Cloud is just as important. Tableau Cloud is the platform's future (although Server is not going away), offering more effortless scalability, enhanced security, and the ability to incorporate the latest AI elements more seamlessly than on-premise servers. Knowing how to manage cloud-based solutions will ensure that your dashboards are not only accessible to a global audience but also future-proofed against the rapidly evolving tech landscape.

3. Data Governance

Scenario: You’ve built a dashboard that’s about to be presented to the executive team. But wait — how can you ensure the data is accurate, consistent, and secure?

What You’ll Need: Data governance might sound like a buzzword, but it’s vital. As a Tableau developer, you must ensure that the data you’re visualizing meets the company’s standards for accuracy and security (and, even more importantly, as a data professional). While this role may be more closely related to a data steward or compliance officer, you need to understand the rules and practices that govern data management to maintain the integrity of your work.

4. Integration with Other Tools

Scenario: Your boss asks if your created dashboard can pull live data from the CRM system and update it in real-time. Suddenly, your task has expanded beyond Tableau Desktop.

What You’ll Need: Integration skills are critical here. You’ll need to get comfortable with APIs, scripting (think Python or R), and connecting Tableau with other tools like CRM systems or data warehouses. This is where you become a Tableau developer, creating solutions that connect various systems and automate complex tasks. With Tableau Cloud, integrating with other cloud-based systems becomes even more seamless, allowing real-time data updates and AI-driven insights (for example, incorporating Einstein Analytics).

5. Performance Tuning and Optimization

Scenario: Your dashboard looks great, but when your team tries to use it, they complain that it’s slow and unresponsive. What’s going wrong?

What You’ll Need: This is where performance tuning and optimization come in. You’ll need to dive into the nitty-gritty of query performance, data extract optimization, and workbook efficiency. Think of yourself as a mechanic, fine-tuning the engine to ensure it runs smoothly. In large-scale deployments, especially those on Tableau Cloud, understanding how to optimize performance is critical to ensuring a fast and reliable user experience for all.

6. Collaboration and Content Management

Scenario: You’ve created multiple dashboards for different teams, and now you need to manage who has access to what and how they collaborate on those dashboards.

What You’ll Need: Managing Tableau workbooks, setting up permissions, and enabling collaboration across teams are essential skills for a Tableau developer. This is similar to project, product, or content management—ensuring everything is organized, accessible, and aligned with your team’s goals. With Tableau Cloud, these tasks become even more streamlined, allowing for easier sharing, real-time collaboration, and secure content management across your entire organization.

7. Advanced Analytics and Machine Learning

Scenario: Your company wants to predict future trends based on historical data. They’re looking to you for answers, but this requires more than visualization—it’s about advanced analytics.

What You’ll Need: Incorporating statistical models, predictive analytics, and machine learning algorithms into your Tableau visualizations is where you start to push the boundaries. This is advanced, requiring coding skills (like Python or R) and a deep understanding of data science principles. But once you’ve mastered this, especially in the context of Tableau Cloud, you’re not just visualizing data — you’re predicting the future, offering insights that can drive strategic decisions, all while leveraging the power of cloud-based AI tools.

8. Tableau CRM (formerly Einstein Analytics)

Scenario: Your company uses Salesforce extensively and wants to leverage Tableau to gain deeper insights into customer data. You’re tasked with making this integration work seamlessly.

What You’ll Need: Mastering Tableau CRM is essential for Tableau developers working within Salesforce ecosystems. You’ll be building and deploying AI-powered analytics apps, integrating Tableau with Salesforce, and creating solutions that leverage the full power of both platforms. Tableau Cloud’s integration capabilities make this process smoother and more powerful, enabling you to create deeply connected, data-driven solutions that enhance your organization’s CRM strategy.

Note: A recent blog I wrote also covered the impact of GenAI on Tableau analysts and the need for GenAI literacy plus an additional +1 skill for the role’s future. It could have been added to this list but I believe required a dedicated post.

Expanding Your Tableau Journey

Mastering Tableau is about much more than creating stunning dashboards. It’s about continuous growth and adaptation, especially as Tableau’s platform evolves with new tools and technologies. Even in my role as a Visionary, Ambassador, and leader within a global brand, there are areas within the Tableau ecosystem that I’m constantly working to improve. The reality is that with Tableau’s ever-evolving platform and AI advancements, mastering every skill is next to impossible. But that’s okay — what’s important is a willingness to learn, adapt, and continue growing.

Tableau Cloud, in particular, represents the future of this platform. It’s where the most significant innovations are happening, and the platform will have the most significant impact moving forward. With Tableau Cloud, you can quickly incorporate up-to-date AI elements, ensuring your solutions are relevant today and equipped for tomorrow’s challenges.

Expanding your expertise across the Tableau platform is critical for those looking to move beyond a developer role or solidify their current position. Whether you dive into data preparation, explore server administration, or integrate Tableau with other tools, each skill you add strengthens your ability to contribute meaningfully to your team and organization.

Our journey with Tableau is one of continuous learning and growth. As we build on our existing skills and embrace new ones, we enhance our value as Tableau professionals and pave the way for the next generation of data visualizers. So, as you reflect on where you are in your Tableau journey, ask yourself — what’s the next skill you want to master? How can you push the boundaries of what you can achieve with Tableau? Whatever it is, keep learning, experimenting, and inspiring others with your work.

Thank you for being a part of this journey. Let’s continue growing together and take advantage of Tableau's incredible opportunities for our growth.

Note:
• Annabelle Rincon rightfully mentioned that "enablement" and "engagement" were missing in the previous text. These topics will be covered separately, as they do overlap with dashboard design. Annabelle and Garrett Sauls will be hosting a webinar where enablement and engagement (among items like data visualization, GenAI, leadership, and everything in between) with me. You can register for the webinar on September 4th using the following link (if you can't join live, you can watch the recording later if you register).