Back after a short break: Certification, more functions, talks, Datum Podcast & Tableau Live 2021

0:00Hey, it's Tim here. We're back. I've taken

0:02a long, long break over the last month.

0:05It's been almost, well, it's actually been

0:06over a month since my last video,

0:08but in today's video we are back. I'm going

0:09to be talking a bit about why I had a break

0:12.

0:12In fact, I don't need to say why I had a

0:13break.

0:14I'm going to be talking about my break,

0:14more to the point, and also what we've got

0:17coming up,

0:18but also maybe some content that I released

0:19in the last week that you maybe didn't

0:21catch that wasn't on my channel.

0:23Okay, let's get stuck in.

0:25Okay, so as you can see, I've been away for

0:27a long time.

0:28I think the last time I posted a video, if

0:30we just go to my YouTube channel,

0:31let's just go to YouTube here and go

0:33straight to my channel.

0:35If I can hit the link before you all see

0:37the wonderful taste that I have in computer

0:40building in F1.

0:42I actually need to go to my other account,

0:45my Tabo Tim account.

0:48Here we go. I actually have several YouTube

0:49accounts.

0:50And here we are. The last video that I

0:52released, channel doesn't have any content.

0:56This is like my worst nightmare.

0:58So if I go in here and go to switch account

1:01, what's going on here?

1:05Oh my God, this is so funny.

1:19Oh gosh, this is like the worst, funniest

1:22April Fools joke you can play on yourself.

1:25Clicking the wrong account that also

1:26happens to have the same logo.

1:28What I need to do is actually click on your

1:29channel and it goes to that.

1:31So you've added this thing called Tablo.

1:33Okay, I thought I'd lost my YouTube channel

1:34for a second.

1:35That would have been bad.

1:37Anyway, back to the video.

1:39So yeah, as you can see, the last video

1:40that I posted was a month ago, just over a

1:42month ago in fact.

1:44And essentially what actually goes on

1:46behind the scenes is I plan a whole load of

1:48content in advance.

1:50And so I actually planned most of the

1:52content you saw up until a month ago, three

1:55months before.

1:56I sort of made a list of all the stuff I

1:57was going to do.

1:58I planned it out and then I basically was

2:00always about three weeks ahead of the plan.

2:03So essentially by the time it got to

2:05February, I stopped planning more content

2:08because I was getting extremely busy with

2:09work and life and a few other things that I

2:11'll come to in a second.

2:12And so I stopped planning the content.

2:14And then that meant that when it got to

2:15March, the end of March, I ran out of

2:17content to create.

2:19Now it's very easy to just hit record and

2:20just record any old thing and upload it.

2:23But I really want to sort of stick on the

2:24sort of campaign that I'm on with functions

2:26.

2:27I really want to make sure each video is

2:29well researched and I'm giving you just the

2:31right amount of tips to really get stuck in

2:33, but not too long and too onerous to make

2:35you sort of get bored very quickly.

2:38So I essentially hadn't planned new content

2:39.

2:40So that's one element.

2:41Now, the other element is I also make

2:43videos outside of YouTube on behalf of

2:45other companies as well.

2:47So I was making a lot of other videos that

2:49are Tableau related, but are not

2:51necessarily public videos that you'll see

2:54on my channel.

2:55So those you'll see on other channels, I

2:56sort of feature them on the Tableau website

2:58.

2:59If you actually go to this playlist and you

3:02go to this very, very bottom one here, you

3:05'll see guest appearances.

3:07That's actually like a secret playlist on

3:08my website where I show videos where I've

3:10put them elsewhere.

3:12But it's right at the bottom right hand

3:13corner of my site.

3:14It's not really something to sort of go to.

3:17And so, yeah, I've been making a lot of

3:18those videos and it's also taken up a lot

3:20of time.

3:21Now, something I haven't really mentioned

3:22on the channel before, I haven't really

3:24publicly shared this out on Twitter or

3:26anything is, you know, in October I became

3:28a dad.

3:29So I've also spent time really sort of

3:31enjoying the milestones that come with

3:33fatherhood and your child.

3:35And so I've just been spending more quality

3:37time with the family and just really

3:38enjoying things now that, you know,

3:40lockdown has started to sort of ease in

3:42various parts of the UK.

3:44The weather's starting to get better.

3:47It's just much easier to go out and do

3:48things.

3:49So essentially I wanted to take an

3:49opportunity to do more of that.

3:51And, you know, just April was just the

3:53perfect time to do that.

3:55You know, spring is here.

3:56It's a beautiful time to get out there and

3:57enjoy life a bit more.

3:59So I just sort of impromptu decided, you

4:00know what, April I'm just not going to

4:02create any content.

4:03But it's been great to see that people are

4:04still enjoying content on the channel.

4:07If I go to my analytics, I keep seeing

4:09wonderful, wonderful sort of uptake on

4:11content that I've released a long while ago

4:14.

4:15Even though I didn't release any new

4:16content, I still managed to get 53,000

4:19views.

4:20And that's because lots of my other content

4:22is helpful.

4:23I also did a lot of the 2020.1 release if

4:25you missed that.

4:26So that's another great bit of content.

4:29If you haven't checked it out, go check it

4:30out.

4:31So what's to come?

4:32Well, a couple of things.

4:33Well, I did a talk in the last week.

4:35I did two talks in the last week, actually.

4:37The first one was the analytics Tableau

4:38user group.

4:39If you don't know what this is, this is an

4:40absolutely incredible group.

4:42I sort of said yes to this, not really

4:44knowing what kind of numbers turn up.

4:46And then the organizers sort of got in

4:48touch.

4:49This is Annabelle and Sadel and got in

4:51touch and said, yeah, we got three and a

4:52half thousand people sign up to this.

4:55I was like, yeah, right.

4:56You know how these things go.

4:57People sign up, but then actually turn up.

4:59So I'm on to the actual thing to give the

5:01talk and there are one thousand seven

5:03hundred people when I sort of clock the

5:05number at the highest point.

5:06Roughly that I'm sure they have stats on

5:08that.

5:09But it was amazing.

5:10So many people on this course, so vibrant,

5:12so many great questions in there.

5:14And in that session, what I was doing is a

5:15talk about all my favorite functions.

5:18You can actually catch it here on YouTube.

5:20I'm going to link to it in the description

5:21below so you can go check it out.

5:23But it was really, really fun.

5:25I basically talked about functions and I

5:26can't live with that.

5:28I covered some of the functions I've

5:29already covered on this channel as well as

5:30some other ones as well that I haven't

5:32covered that we'll get to very soon.

5:34So that's one thing.

5:35And then everyone, the Visconnect channel,

5:37I don't think the video for this has been

5:38made public just yet.

5:40But on this community group and Visconnect,

5:43I actually did a talk about the best

5:44version of Tableau being Tableau Online and

5:47the browser version of Tableau.

5:49I know it's a very unpopular opinion.

5:51A lot of people love that desktop version

5:52of Tableau.

5:53But I vehemently believe that actually, you

5:55know, in the future, if you want to have

5:56the best experience, Tableau Online in

5:58combination with the browser is going to be

6:00the best place to do that.

6:02And so what I did is I talked a little bit

6:03about Tableau Online, how it works, some of

6:06the things you need to sort of be aware of,

6:08some of the gotchas you need to be aware of

6:09as well, because there are a few that if

6:11you don't know upfront can kind of catch

6:12you out.

6:13So I talked a bit about that and I talked a

6:15bit about, you know, the positives of

6:17having a platform that is maintained and

6:19run by Tableau themselves versus having

6:21your own infrastructure team running a

6:23Tableau server on premise.

6:25So it's not a perfect world yet, but I was

6:26trying to sort of paint the picture of what

6:28the future could look like and why I think

6:30that's going to be one of the most

6:32important versions going forward.

6:34If you didn't read between the lines of the

6:36previous conference, I can't tell you how

6:38many times the browser was brought up in

6:40various talks.

6:42And so that is a part of Tableau that's

6:44taken up a lot of mindshare and they're

6:45going to keep pushing, because once they

6:47have parity with the browser, it's going to

6:49be much, much easier to deliver products

6:52and bear in mind their own by a company,

6:54Salesforce, who run everything in the

6:56browser.

6:57It sort of makes sense.

6:59So check out that session once it's

7:00available. It's a really, really good talk.

7:02I really enjoyed it.

7:03In terms of what's next, just literally

7:05half an hour ago, I just sat the first sort

7:08of bunch of certification that I need to

7:11set off on my pad.

7:13So I'm going to be doing a video on

7:15certification at some point this year, and

7:18I sort of want to do it from a point of

7:19validity.

7:20I don't want to just sort of come on here

7:22and talk through all the different cert

7:24ifications without having had a fresh

7:26experience of taking them.

7:28So I have actually had certifications on

7:30Tableau for a long while. Some of them have

7:33expired, some of them are about to expire.

7:35So this year I've got this sort of

7:36certification training coming up. And the

7:38first one I just sat was actually an exam

7:40for partners.

7:42It's called the Tableau Consulting

7:44Associate. Let me just go look it up.

7:47I think if I just search Tableau Pearson

7:49View, I think it will come up because it's

7:52the only exam that you can do on the

7:54Pearson View system.

7:56So it's essentially the, if I go to

7:58certification information here, yeah, it's

8:01on the pages here.

8:02So if you go to the bottom, it's the

8:03Certified Associate Consultant and the

8:05Certified Associate Architect.

8:07These are for Tableau partners. You can

8:09only do them if you're part of a Tableau

8:10partner.

8:11And in order to get access to this PDF that

8:13tells you what's in it, you have to be a

8:15Tableau partner.

8:17So I've got access to that PDF. I'll go

8:19through it in a separate video. I'll maybe

8:20do that by the end of this week.

8:22But I'll give you a little glimpse into

8:24what that exam is like. It's not an open

8:26book exam like the other exams up here.

8:28In terms of these exams, the specialist

8:30exam was new. So I had the Associate and

8:33the Certified Professional.

8:35I believe both of those of mine. I think

8:38the Certified Professional has expired, but

8:40my Certified Associate has some sort of

8:42funny thing going on where it's not visible

8:44.

8:44But you know, it should be because I have

8:46done it anyway. I need to get back to that.

8:48I think it expires at the beginning of next

8:51year. So I've only got a year on that

8:52anyway.

8:53So I should get my Certified Professional

8:54so that when that lapses, I've still got

8:56another year on the Certified Professional

8:58to keep me going.

9:00And then on my server, I'm a Certified

9:01Professional server at the moment.

9:04That's going to run out, I think, later

9:05this year. Towards the end of this year,

9:07that's going to run out.

9:08So I might as well start the train on some

9:09of these other ones.

9:11Now, what I can do is sit the Certified

9:14Professional before the Certified Associate

9:17. Sorry, I can sit the Certified

9:19Professional again before my current one

9:20expires to not have to do the Certified

9:22Associate.

9:23But the way these things work, you might as

9:25well just revise for both because one is

9:27like a prerequisite for the other.

9:29So I might do one of those sort of

9:30personally just to try and see what the

9:32experience is like.

9:34So that hopefully by the end of the year,

9:36my real target is to be able to get on

9:37camera here and say, look, I've done all

9:39these exams.

9:40I've passed all these exams and this is

9:41what it's like. This is what all the cert

9:43ifications are like.

9:45There's also a couple of other

9:46certification and accreditations that are

9:47not on here.

9:48One of them is the trainer. So you need to

9:51be a certified trainer for Tableau to teach

9:53courses on behalf of Tableau.

9:55And so you have to go on a week-long

9:56training course.

9:58That's again for Tableau partners and you

9:59have to be affiliated to a Tableau partner

10:01in order to be able to do that

10:03certification.

10:04So that's something. It's not really an

10:06exam per se.

10:07It does have a test involved in it, but it

10:09's like a week-long course.

10:11And then you have to sort of show examples

10:12of you teaching Tableau.

10:14And then on top of that, you have to kind

10:15of teach an element of Tableau to someone

10:18at Tableau who teaches the course in order

10:22to pass.

10:23So that's sort of part of your process. So

10:25certification is going to be another thing

10:27that I will touch on.

10:29Last but not least, there's so much more

10:30other content going on. This week is Table

10:33au Live Europe.

10:34Next week, it'll be Asia and the week after

10:35that will be America.

10:37So no doubt there'll be lots of little

10:39snippets and news from Tableau Live that I

10:41'm going to be able to share.

10:43Ravi and I are going to be doing another

10:44live stream. We're going to be doing it for

10:46the American stream.

10:47So we won't be doing it this week with the

10:49European stream or next week with the Asian

10:51stream.

10:52We will be doing with the American stream

10:53just to give us an opportunity to really do

10:55something and not spoil it for everyone.

10:58So we'll do it for the final one in America

11:00. And that's the one that also probably has

11:02the biggest attendance as well.

11:04That makes the most sense for us. So check

11:06that out. We've also been doing podcasts.

11:09There's so much stuff that we do that's not

11:10on the channel. If you haven't checked it

11:12out, go check it out.

11:13Let me just show you our website for our

11:15podcast datumpodcast.com.

11:18This is a podcast we've been running for

11:19years. If you don't know about this, this

11:21is the first time you're hearing about it.

11:22Great. We talked to Anna Casey, who's a

11:24lead user researcher at Tableau, and we

11:26talked a little bit about her journey to

11:29Tableau, how she got there,

11:31what user experience really means for her,

11:32what user research really means for her.

11:35Those are sort of two slightly different

11:36topics.

11:37And then we also talked a bit about how you

11:38can bring some of that to dashboard design.

11:41So that was really, really fun. Really

11:42great conversation. Go check it out.

11:45And by the way, if you haven't checked out

11:46our podcast, please do. It's available on

11:48all the podcast players in the world.

11:51Apple did some weird things with Apple

11:52Podcasts in the most recent updates.

11:55I'm aware that our podcast might not be

11:57appearing on certain podcast apps because

12:00Apple has switched off a feature in the

12:02Apple Podcasts app to share our podcast to

12:04other podcast apps.

12:06So if you're having struggles finding that,

12:07just bear with us while we try and get into

12:09that.

12:10I can't get into the panel to change things

12:11. It's been a whole mess, Apple. I don't

12:13know what they're doing.

12:14They're just trying to change things for

12:15the better and then they make it worse. But

12:17that's the way it is.

12:18So that's a super fast rundown of

12:20everything we got going.

12:22And today we're back. And as of this week,

12:24we're going to be pumping out more videos.

12:26We're going to be pushing on with functions

12:28as a whole bunch of content around on the

12:30server as well that I really been meaning

12:32to take on.

12:33I know a lot of you have asked for that. I

12:34keep saying I will and I haven't.

12:36So I've got a sort of a hole burning in the

12:37back of my neck here where I need to sort

12:39of get onto that case.

12:41So thank you so much for staying tuned.

12:43Thank you, everyone who watches the videos.

12:46Really appreciate it.

12:46And we'll catch you in the next one.