Is Tableau Worth Learning? (Insights of a Data Analyst!)

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You’re most likely exploring different data visualization platforms or even making a decision to start learning Tableau. Your time is short, so you’d like to know if Tableau is worth learning and investing time into developing your skills in Tableau. Not to worry, because here’s the short answer:

Tableau is worth learning. Tableau is a common data visualization tool used across a majority of companies and learning Tableau as a skill places one in a much better position to apply for data-related jobs. However, learners who use other data visualizations at work may not find it worth learning Tableau.

Tableau is a great data visualization tool amongst others If you’d like to hear more about why Tableau is worth (and not worth) learning, do read on!

Why is Tableau Worth Learning?

Let’s start off by taking a look at some of the main reasons why Tableau is worth learning. Here’s a list of the 5 reasons why Tableau is worth learning:

1. Tableau is simple to pick-up
2. Tableau is a common data visualization tool
3. Tableau is a transferable skill
4. Tableau quickens workflow
5. Tableau enhances your data presentations

1. Tableau is simple to pick-up

Designed to be easily picked up, Tableau works through a drag and drop interface that’s easy for anyone to learn pretty quickly.

If you’re someone that intends to learn Tableau quickly, perfect! I’m confident that learning Tableau would take much less time compared to learning to plot a data visualization manually using programming.

Therefore, it will almost always be worth your time in learning Tableau, since learning the basics can be done quickly. Although Tableau is commonly used among many data professionals who use advanced features, the bulk of analysis in Tableau is relatively simple.

Need a simple list to get you started learning Tableau? Check out this other post I wrote over here.

Learning Tableau: 7 CLEVER Ways to Start (For Beginners!)

This image above shows how I would usually drag some of the needed data into either the columns or rows field to plot simple but beautiful charts! This was taken from my tutorial on how to create a donut chart in Tableau.

And here’s a quick video I made, demonstrating the drag and drop features of Tableau that make it so intuitive for beginners.

2. Tableau is a common data visualization tool

Tableau is a common choice for business intelligence (BI) for many companies. According to a survey, among 63,251 companies in the Business Intelligence category, a market share of 15.8% belongs to Tableau. This is much higher than other similar BI software

This means that you’ll be expecting more companies to be hiring professionals with skills that can use Tableau. This means good news for all who are skilled in Tableau since that should increase the chances of securing a job.

3. Tableau is needed in many positions

Through a study conducted by Forrester Consulting commissioned by Tableau in 2021, it revealed that 81% of recruiters think data is essential for jobs. Here’s where the gap is: only a small percentage of 39% have the data skills that recruiters are looking for. Being a common data skill, Tableau is very much in demand by many positions.

In fact, the study found that recruiters put data literacy as the highest rank for being the most in-demand skill for entry-level applicants. Do consider that this applies to a wide range of companies with different industries.

Sounds like a real shortage of Tableau talents isn’t there? Well, you can join in on this hiring surge of data proficient professionals by learning how to use Tableau!

4. Tableau quickens workflow

With Tableau, your workflow can dramatically increase without having to go through many manual steps.

This is especially true since Tableau can get your graphs ready with just drag-and-drop just like I mentioned above!

Typically, you’d be using a simple tool like Excel to produce graphs that just don’t turn out the way you want. Moreover, you’ll need more tweaking for them to look good.

5. Tableau enhances your data presentations

Ask any Tableau data professional and they’ll tell you that Tableau has one of the best data visualizations (ever)! In comparison to Excel or even Power BI, Tableau is hands down the best for creating beautiful charts. Simple and eye-catching charts can make your data presentation stand out from the rest and impress your audience.

By learning Tableau, you’ll unlock a whole new way to present that will leave your stakeholders engaged and convinced.

Who Should Learn Tableau?

Since you’re on the fence on whether you should learn Tableau, allow me to give you a list of some of the people that should learn Tableau. If you belong to this list, then you’d most likely find learning Tableau worth your time learning. Here’s who should learn Tableau:

1. Data Analysts
2. Business Analysts
3. Data Scientists
4. Digital Marketers
5. Data Enthusiasts
6. All Students

1. Data Analysts

Being deeply involved with analyzing data from data sources and presenting them to stakeholders, data analysts are highly recommended to learn Tableau! A quick search will show you that Tableau is a common data skill in data analyst job applications.

2. Business Analysts

Much like data analysts, business analysts look at areas of a business to improve them. By picking up the Tableau software as a skill, you’ll be able to provide more convincing arguments with neat and powerful data visualizations to stakeholders.

In such a position where you’re required to drive action through your presentations, every chart detail counts, and Tableau can be the perfect software to help you with that.

3. Data Scientists

Data scientists can benefit greatly from Tableau too! They give data scientists an extra option of using Tableau as an Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) tool to learn more about the data. This is only possible because of how quickly a chart can be generated from a dataset using Tableau!

4. Digital Marketers

Like all things digital, there is much data generated from digital marketing software that’s just lying in wait to be analyzed. With the power of Tableau, you can possibly use the visualizations to drive more campaigns that are doing well.

If you’re a digital marketer, don’t worry about how marketing is different from the regular data roles. Learning Tableau would transform your analysis. Tableau really shines when marketing data is combined from different data sources to track funnels.

5. Data Enthusiasts

For everyone that’s interested in moving towards a role in data, watch out, because this is one software you’ll not want to miss out on. By learning Tableau, you’d place yourself in a better position to negotiate salaries, ask for internal data positions and stand out among the other job applicants.

6. All Students

In the same study mentioned earlier, they found data literacy is the most in-demand skill for entry-level applicants. This directly means that all you students out there need to start having some sort of skills in managing or understanding how to handle data.

What better way to get to know data than through Tableau? Among other common data software like Excel and Power BI, Tableau stands out for its simplicity in creating charts!

Moreover, Tableau has a 1-year free license for all you students out there! If you’re a student, lucky you! Get started with that free license here. I’ve also got the chance to claim this student license when I was a student in college. This gave me a chance to practice my skills in Tableau.

Being a recent graduate from college myself, I’ve also come to learn from the entry-level job market that data skills are increasingly becoming essential in landing that first job.

Tableau is worth learning not just for the technology majors out there but even the creative and medical ones out there too, because data is everywhere!

When Is Tableau Not Worth Learning?

Tableau is not worth learning when there is a lack of need for data visualization. Tableau is not worth learning on a personal license for its high cost. However, Tableau is rarely not worth learning because of how simple, powerful, and transferable a skill it is.

If, however, you find that this applies to you and you find that maybe learning Tableau is not that worth your time learning, you can always consider similar options! You can try learning to create charts on other platforms, like Excel and Power BI. If you’d like to learn some Power BI, do check out my other articles on how long it takes to learn Power BI and whether it’s worth learning DAX.

Who Should Not Learn Tableau?

Career professionals who do not intend to use Tableau in their organizations should not learn Tableau. Individuals without company licenses should not learn Tableau due to the high software cost. However, Tableau is highly recommended as a transferable data skill that can be applied across all industries.

If you’re still unconvinced that you won’t be benefitting much from learning Tableau, you might want to consider getting a more in-depth look of Tableau. I cover some of the most asked questions about Tableau in some of my other articles like what Tableau is, and whether Tableau is worth the cost getting.

Related FAQs

Is Tableau Useful to Learn?

Tableau is useful to learn for both data and non-data professionals. Tableau provides an easy method for dashboard and chart creation without programming knowledge. Learning Tableau is useful because it’s an in-demand skill across a wide selection of job applications.

Is Tableau a Valuable Skill?

Tableau is a valuable skill. According to a study by Forrester, data recruiters rank data literacy as the skill in the highest demand among entry-level job applicants. Moreover, Tableau is a highly transferable skill. However, Tableau may not be as applicable to some industries and job functions.

What is Tableau Not Good For?

Tableau is not good for its lack of data cleaning and data transformation functions. Tableau is mostly only good for creating data visualizations. Tableau is also not good for its lack of connectivity compared to other similar BI software such as Power BI, which has easy connections to Microsoft products.

How Long Does It Take to Learn Tableau?

It takes between 2-6 months to learn Tableau. Tableau is simple to learn but may take longer to master all functions available. The learning duration of Tableau is highly dependent on previous BI experience, hours dedicated to learning per day, the quality of learning resources, and the amount of mentorship received.

Learn more about what would affect your learning speed of Tableau in my other post here. Bonus: I share my personal Tableau learning experience there!

Does Tableau Require Coding?

Tableau does not require coding for basic use. Tableau offers drag-and-drop functionalities for building charts and dashboards without the need for any coding. However, Tableau users can use Python and R coding languages to enhance visualizations and build models.

Check out an article that I wrote previously on whether programming is needed for tableau here.

Are Tableau Certifications Worth It?

Tableau certifications are worth it. Certifications will give employers and recruiters a good indication of Tableau proficiency. For example, the Tableau Desktop Certified Associate and the Tableau Certified Data Analyst ensure a good understanding of Tableau. However, certifications alone may not guarantee employment.

Although most certifications issued by Tableau are mostly worth it, they do not ensure you get that dream job of yours. However, when combining these useful certificates with actual personal projects experience, you’ll be able to stand out from all the competition. For example, you can create a dashboard project on your Tableau Public profile, here’s mine.

If you’ve decided to get that certificate, I’d recommend some preparation courses before taking the certification exams. You can check out the … and the …. to start with.

What is The Best Tableau Certification?

Tableau Desktop Certified Associate is the best Tableau certification. It is the most basic level of Tableau certification issued by Tableau Software. It is widely recognized by many employers and members of the data visualization community. Having this certificate can prove the basic proficiency of Tableau Desktop.

Final Thoughts

Alright, that’s all I have to share about why Tableau is worth learning. Tableau is a great data visualization software to learn for learners from all backgrounds and you really shouldn’t be missing out! If you haven’t already been convinced to pick up Tableau yourself, do consider reading my other posts on Tableau here. Thanks for reading!