Overview

Tableau is one of the most popular data visualization and analytical tools available today. Hundreds of business corporations are constantly using Tableau on a day-to-day basis to find more insights about their business operations and the data they have. One of the most popular questions that I have come across candidates who are working in Tableau and looking forward to getting a certification to enhance their resume is if the Tableau certification is really worth it? Candidates on Reddit and other social forums have highlighted that the certification definitely adds value to your resume. But the most important thing is to have sufficient hands on practice with the tool, you should be fully aware how to work in a live business environment and projects along with having a certification.

Read more: Which Tableau certification is best? »

Tableau Certification Worth

A Tableau certification only adds value to your resume when you already know how to use that tool well enough. Many candidates have highlighted that during switching jobs, one of the things that helped their resume move forward was their certifications. If you are changing your field of study, a certification might often reinforce your commitment and dedication to building up a skill in that domain. It is useful when you are early on but in case you have a lot of experience, it might not be often as necessary and relevant. However, in my experience as a consultant, I know there are a variety of companies who will like me having the certifications because clients often ask for different types of certifications like for Tableau Software for a partner recommendation.

In case your company has certified people in senior roles, then whether you have a certification is a very common and preferable trait question frequently asked by the company. Many candidates who are the hiring manager shared in Reddit and social media that the experience and portfolios always beat certifications, unless you are applying for a type of government job. In the government job type of cases, it is relatively more likely that a certification will be considered of greater value than the actual experience. The hiring managers also shared that in case a candidate has never touched Tableau, then the certification preparation study materials can be a good way to kickstart your learning.

Tableau Career with a Certification

Kick-starting your learning with the certification is a good way to have a structured path that will help you get on boarded into the mainstream Tableau world. Working as a consultant, many candidates have shared that it is often important to get as many certifications across different platforms as possible. This will show your competency to a potential client and help you get the job. It is also an easy way to articulate your level of proficiency and expertise with the tool. This is because the client or the company will be knowing what the skill requirements of that certification are. The fact that you have that certification will tell a lot about your skills and background. However, a portfolio is often equally if not more valuable when you are looking for a job.

So the Tableau community always recommends that you should show off any kind of portfolio or profile that you have - that highlights all the different kinds of visualizations you have built and shows your skills in the data analytical world. You have different types of certifications which are offered by Tableau, and some of them do not expire. The Tableau community recommends that if your company sponsors the certification, and if it does not expire, then it is an excellent opportunity to add value to your resume. Spend some time with quality practice exams for the Tableau Certifications provided above and make sure that you pass the certification tests in a single attempt.

Tableau Job Opportunities with Certification

Practice with a variety of different data sets and Tableau certification questions to make sure that you have covered every topic before you appear for the actual exam. Managers often look through the resume of candidates before hiring them, and having a certification definitely helps make your resume stand apart from the rest. It is important to create a portfolio as well which you can showcase to your future recruiters and managers. Hence, if you have learned how to build some exciting new charts and visualizations, use some publicly available data to create it, and build the different types of visualizations that you can add to your resume. It is often seen that if you have the Tableau certification in your resume, you are by default giving a topic for the hiring managers and recruiters to start a conversation.

Many of the candidates who had Tableau certifications have highlighted and shared their experiences about what they came across during their interview as a data analyst. Having a Tableau certification like the Desktop Specialist or the Data Analyst often helps to spark conversations quickly during your interview. It often gives the impression that you would be able to add value to the team and the project very quickly. This is one of the important things that many hiring managers and recruiters preferred to have. A candidate who will be able to add value immediately is much more preferable than a candidate who will need to learn and then add value to the team.

Tableau Interview Questions

Candidates can add value by producing visualizations rapidly using the Tableau Software, and also can add value more by sharing their expertise and tutoring others in the team. It is important to note that while you're preparing for a job interview, having a Tableau certification only helps you get ahead of other candidates, and helps your resume stand out. Ultimately, you'll have to answer a lot of questions that focuses around the Tableau fundamentals, and the different types of scenarios and datasets you have worked with. You might often be asked in your Tableau interview about some of the challenges you have faced while working with Tableau, and some scenarios that you overcame while working with it.

In such cases, you will need to have a very strong understanding of the Tableau concepts and key features. Make sure to focus and learn thoroughly all the important fundamentals that might start to fade from your memory before you appear for the interview. There is little downside risk of getting a Tableau certification, and it has the potential to supplement a portfolio by adding a lot of credibility to your resume and profile. An online training and certificate for a Tableau certification is definitely a bargain. There has been different experiences reported by candidates who have been looking forward to getting a data analyst job, that certifications help in large organizations where candidate applicants were huge.

Tableau Certification during Interviews

The candidates often shared their experiences that there was a huge volume of applications that were submitted for only a few vacancies and job openings of a data analyst. The technical recruiter often had little idea about the skills required and different meanings of the certifications. In such cases, having a certification often adds value to your resume and helps it stand apart. It also helps your resume in getting forwarded to the hiring manager for the next round of review. Hence, a Tableau certification is definitely a value addition and helps in a lot of scenarios if you are looking for a good and better job opportunity. The Tableau certification is definitely worth it if you do not have a job or sufficient experience in using the tool.

Maybe you are a student who is graduating recently, or an intern looking to get into a good project. In such types of scenarios, getting a Tableau certification adds a lot of value to your profile and resume, you will be easily visible to the senior leadership and the hiring managers who will be automatically clear about the level of expertise and skill you have in the Tableau tool. If you have been doing more certifications on data analyst type of skills and technologies, then you can add them to your resume. And these along with the Tableau certification will help you improve your profile even further. Some of the key questions that the Tableau community recommends asking yourself is what is your current level of expertise and experience?

Tableau Certification by the Tableau Community

The Tableau community also recommends asking yourself have you used Tableau certification already in your workplace? The usefulness of a Tableau certification can be determined on the specific job that you are applying for. In your case, maybe you know how to use Tableau, but you do not really know how to ask and answer different types of questions related to the particular job that you are applying for. In such cases, your Tableau certification will not be very much useful. Many candidates who use Tableau every day often use it only as an intermediate scratchpad for something which ultimately they end up doing in Excel. Hence, Tableau can go a long way for most of the jobs, but it is important to understand what the particular role you are applying for.

Accordingly, you have to prepare the answers to the questions that you can get asked. Many candidates who are working with Tableau would consider applying for different jobs that use Tableau more extensively. Many candidates have said that they often do not get callbacks from the interviews and jobs that they apply for. In those cases, having a certification definitely improves your chances of getting a call back from the hiring manager or the technical recruiter. Another general perception in the Tableau community is that only job experience with Tableau matters, and a certification does not contain any value at all. However, this is a very relative statement because if you do not have the knowledge required and unable to answer questions in the interview, then there is no value in having a Tableau certification.

Tableau Key Skill Requirements and Eligibility

However, having extensive knowledge and knowing clear fundamentals of the essential important Tableau topics like level of detail expressions and order of operations, and then having a Tableau certification definitely is valuable. Practice Tableau certification questions above, and the Data Analyst certification questions and answers to make sure that you are fully ready for the Tableau certification exam. If you're able to pass the practice exams given here, then you can be sure that you are ready for the actual exam. If you are unable to get the passing marks in the Tableau certification questions and answers given here, then you need to revisit your preparation and focus on the individual topics you could not answer here.

Get hundreds of questions here with real time feedback. In each of the questions here, you will be getting a complete solution with real time feedback and explanations. You will also be getting to learn the individual concepts holistically before moving on to the next question. The practice exams here have been curated specifically for the purpose of getting the certification done in a single attempt by providing you with a extensive and robust learning experience. There are many data visualization tools which are available in the market today. Many of them have varied complexities of learning, and takes different amount of time to learn. However, neither of them are complex to get familiar with.

Tableau Certification Value for Employers

As long as you're focused and spending sufficient time with the particular tools and working on solving datasets, you will be able to learn them very fast. A data analyst should be using the data visualization tool at the end of the day to build similar insights for the different companies. Hence, as long as you have your concepts and fundamentals clear, you should be in a good shape to get ready for your learning journey and certification on the way. The data analysts who are using Tableau right now in the industry often recommend that in terms of furthering an existing career, you can use a Tableau certification because your employer will pay for the exam. Many of the Tableau certification exams are not cheap.

Hence, many candidates share that they find value in it because they're in consulting, and they're willing to take the certification exam by Tableau because their employer is going to pay for it. In terms of job hunting, Tableau certification has often been found useful by different candidates who have shared their experiences. There have been many job postings on LinkedIn and on other job portals which candidates have shared that they have often come across which show that Tableau certification is required. However, many candidates have also shared their experience that they have seen that the job opening only states that experience with Tableau is required, but those jobs often did not say that a certificate or certification in Tableau is required.

Tableau Experience and Certification

Hence, it is important to note that it is important to have experience in Tableau and the certification will be required in the cases where you are applying for some of the jobs. Many of the job openings might not need or see much value in having a certification, whereas some data analyst jobs and companies that you will be joining will value you more if you have a Tableau certification already in your resume. The Tableau certification has quite a few benefits and hence it is definitely worth it. You need to make sure you that you practice enough for the exam.

Tableau makes sure that the exam questions are complex enough so that people who pass a Tableau certification exam truly demonstrates their abilities of using the tool. On the other hand, the certification questions needs to be achievable enough so that a decent number of people will take the time to get certified and pass a particular exam. Hence, the Tableau certification questions are neither too tough, nor too easy. However, having a Tableau certification showcases your level of expertise, which will be extremely helpful to your hiring manager and the technical recruiter. Since Tableau is the owner of the product, having the certification from the product owner adds a lot of value to your resume.