What this book covers

Chapter 1, Tableau Desktop Specialist Certification Overview, is all about orienting you to the recent job market for those who possess a Tableau skillset, the Tableau tool, and some very basic applications of Tableau.

Chapter 2, Data Ingestion, begins your exploration into the data layer of Tableau. To begin creating data visualizations, you need to work with data and know how to add it to Tableau. You will learn key information about how Tableau Desktop works with data and how to perform basic preparation in the tool.

Chapter 3, How to Interpret Data in a Tableau Visualization, provides an introduction to working with a Tableau sheet after ingesting data. It also teaches you how to create a basic chart and about formatting in a based-in-real life iteration process for a team.

Chapter 4, Working with Dimensions, Measures, and Marks (Oh My), going beyond the basics covered in Chapters 1 and 3, this chapter goes into detail with examples of applying data dimensions, data measures, and discrete versus continuous fields, and provides an introduction to the Tableau Marks section.

Chapter 5, Calculations and Functions Syntax, covers calculations and functions syntax. The examination does not go very deep into this topic, but expects a working knowledge of the types of calculations and functions and how to work with them. This chapter is more technical than the previous one but focuses on the essential and commonly applied functions and calculation basics.

Chapter 6, Connecting to and Preparing Data, extending the basic knowledge of working with data from Chapter 2, provides more technical applications of data elements, including working with the Tableau Data Model, managing data properties, and working with live data versus extracts.

Chapter 7, Understanding and Creating Fundamental Charts in Tableau, teaches you about 11 common Tableau charts covered in the examination, with step-by-step instructions to build each one, while providing details of when to use them and insights that can be explored. It’s a very hands-on chapter and will help you feel like a Tableau developer.

Chapter 8, Data Organization and Worksheet Analytics, going beyond creating charts, illustrates the additional analytics and data organization a developer would apply to a worksheet to provide additional functionality and insights. The organization portion of the chapter includes the hands-on management of sets, groups, bins, and hierarchies; the analytics portion includes creating a histogram, applying reference lines, and the basics of table calculations, with an introduction to parameters.

Chapter 9, Sharing Insights, concluding the instructional section of the book, is a substantial chapter that dives into the real magic of Tableau. It details additional and more advanced, but necessary, formatting options, creating a basic dashboard and the additional actions and functionality dashboards provide, and finally, how a dashboard or its data can be shared with others.

Chapter 10, Exam Preparation, as many people are not experienced with taking proctored examinations, covers what to expect from the exam and how to make sure you are ready to take the examination, and is filled with tips to make sure you are successful.

Chapter 11, Mock Test, now that you have learned the fundamentals of Tableau and taking a proctored examination, puts those skills to the test with a mock exam. It follows a similar weighting and methodology to the actual Tableau Desktop Specialist certification.