Tableau is a popular platform for data visualisation which has been used by developers around the globe and has revolutionised the data visualisation space. According to reports, the global Tableau services market has been expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.3% during the forecast period of 2017-2028. Tableau is a flexible end-to-end analytics platform that helps in turning your data into insights that drive action.
There are several types of Tableau certifications depending on the levels and advancements that you wish to pursue. Some of the popular certifications are such as Tableau Desktop Specialist, Tableau Desktop Certified Associate, Tableau Desktop Certified Professional, Tableau Server Certified Associate, Tableau Server Certified Professional, among others.
This exam is for those who have foundational skills and understanding of Tableau Desktop and at least three months of applying this understanding in the product. After successful completion of this Specialist exam, you will be awarded the title of Tableau Desktop Specialist.
Apply here.
This exam is for the candidates who have a broad understanding of functionality in the Tableau Desktop, including at least five months of applying this understanding in the product. After successful completion of this certification, you will be awarded the title of Tableau Desktop Certified Associate.
Apply here.
This exam is intended for those who have advanced knowledge and skills in Tableau Desktop and the ability to apply visual analytics methodologies to help people see and understand data. It requires at least one year of dedicated and practical experience using Tableau Desktop prior to attempting this exam. Upon successful completion of this exam, you will be awarded the title of Tableau Desktop Certified Professional.
Apply here.
Anyone with 4-6 months of experience and a comprehensive understanding of Tableau Server functionality in a single-machine environment can apply for this certification. Typical roles include system administrator or consultant.
Apply here.
This also has similar requirements as above with at least 9 months of hands-on experience with Tableau server. Typical roles include system administrator, system architect, IT representative, implementer or consultant.
Apply here.
Below here, we list down the 9 important steps that one must follow in order to crack any Tableau Certification exam.
1. Navigate Your Skills
The easiest way to get started in this journey is to follow the specific exam document that you will be appearing. The document will provide detailed information on the structure of the exam, along with the knowledge and skills being measured during the examination. The skills measured will help you understand what the necessary topics that you need to cover regarding the particular exam are.
2. Try Out The Sample Questions
Every certification in Tableau provides some sample questions along with the prep guide. It is a great way of understanding the type of questions that will appear during the exam. In simple words, the sample questions are basically the examples intended to give you a sense of how questions will look in the exam. The sample questions are available on the exam guide documents and you can ask for the same at the community blog.
3. Look For Free Resources
There are a plethora of resources available online these days. Free resources with detailed knowledge are the best way to learn and hone your skills. In fact, Tableau also offers free training videos where you can learn more about getting started as well as doing deep data preparation and analysis.
4. Focusing On The Tableau Knowledge-Based Questions
Knowledge-base questions can be confusing sometimes and tend to consume more time than hands-on questions. You need to have a clear understanding of the knowledge base topics, which is the theory part of the exam and to do so you can follow the Tableau knowledge base. Following the updated Tableau knowledge base will keep you prepared with various topics, such as visual analytics, Tableau concepts, exploring data and much more.
5. Try Out The Practice Sets
There are a number of practice sets on the data visualisation tool that you can use to practice and brush up your skills before your exam. The practice sets consist of latest questions that vary on difficulty levels along with the explanations of the solutions. This will help in understanding your level of preparation as well as get a glance of how the real exam will be.
Some of the practice sets you can try-
- Online Tableau Practice Test – Latest Questions. Get here.
- Tableau Desktop Specialist Certification – Practice Tests’20. Get here.
- Tableau Certification Questions and Answers Sample for Exam Practice. Get here.
6. Time As A Critical Competency
Time management is crucial. The average time a successful tableau professional takes to complete a certification exam is 30-40 mins. Also, completing a task effectively as well as efficiently has become a standard that organisations have been expecting from employees.
7. Experience The Product
Practice makes a man perfect. The more you get familiar with the data visualisation tool, the more you will understand how it works. To understand how to analyse as well as visualise data using the Tableau tool, you must get your hands dirty using the tool and playing with data.
8. The Value of Flag
This point is more of a trick which will help you save your time during the exam. Each of the questions during the exam consumes two minutes. If you think some questions will take more than two mins to solve, it is better to use the flag option into that question and move onto the next question. After solving the questions which take less than a minute for the answer, you can now go back to the flagged questions and solve them.
9. Getting Some Help
This can be considered as the last option. According to a blog post, during the exam, you will have access to the public, online resources from Google, where you can search for solutions. Besides this, you can also seek some help from the community knowledge base that will help you get some solutions on the product and data visualisation.
