2023 In review

0:00Okay, we should be live, let's wait and see

0:07.

0:07[Music]

0:19Let's wait and see.

0:21[Music]

0:38We're live.

0:40[Music]

1:06Right, I think the streaming to everywhere

1:11is going fine.

1:12I hope it's going fine. If you're joining,

1:15let me know.

1:16Apparently there's 12 people on LinkedIn.

1:19If you are actually here, let me know and I

1:23make sure everything sounds good.

1:26I'm also mainly streaming to YouTube, which

1:29is actually what most people will be tuning

1:30into.

1:31So let me know how that goes.

1:34Great to have some feedback.

1:38Jouda, hello, how are you?

1:41Jasmine, hello.

1:43New to the channel, but you started

1:45following when you saw one of my posts

1:47about Tableau on LinkedIn.

1:49Happy to be here. I'm happy to be here too.

1:51Thank you for joining.

1:53It's fantastic to have so many people

1:55excited and interested in the session today

1:59.

1:59I have not planned this at all, hence you

2:01can see this live stream plan, which is

2:05just this sort of notes I prepared whilst

2:08walking the dog.

2:09It really is a rough agenda, but we'll try

2:11and make sure that we make it interesting

2:13for everyone.

2:14What I think I can do is if I go over to

2:19this view here, we can actually see the

2:21comments.

2:22What I'll try and do is I'll try and make

2:24this larger because I think the idea is

2:27that when people start joining us off

2:30LinkedIn, the comments will also show up

2:31here.

2:32I hope the LinkedIn comments work. No one

2:34has left a comment on LinkedIn, so I can

2:36actually see that.

2:38Roberto, hello, how are you?

2:41From Salesforce/tableau. Thanks for the

2:44great wish at the end of the year.

2:46It's fantastic to have people interested.

2:48I always kind of think that the majority of

2:51my audience, I secretly think the majority

2:53of the audience is actually inside of Sales

2:54force/tableau.

2:55But if that's not the case, I'd love to

2:58hear from people. Let me know what they

3:00think.

3:01All I definitely know is when I post a

3:03video about anything to do with Salesforce/

3:05tableau in general, it's normally the Sales

3:08force crew that are first to respond.

3:12Actually, I'll show you some interesting

3:14stats on LinkedIn that kind of affirm what

3:17I'm thinking. Absolutely fantastic.

3:19Right. We're still sort of ramping up. We

3:22're not supposed to start until 7.45, so we

3:25'll give it another few minutes and then we

3:28'll kind of go from there.

3:30For everyone who is joining, if you're

3:32joining on YouTube, are you able to just

3:34give me sort of a thumbs up, yes or no?

3:37Does the sound OK? Can you hear me OK? Do I

3:40need to speak louder, quieter? Can you hear

3:42the music in the background? Is it annoying

3:43? All that kind of stuff.

3:45Let me know what you think. I'd really,

3:47really appreciate that. And then we'll make

3:49sure we can get going.

3:52What I have done, if I actually, let's

3:55bring this over to desktop number three

3:59here.

4:00Let's bring everything to one place so we

4:01can make sure everything is good.

4:03What I've done is I've put together a rough

4:06agenda. I really don't know what people are

4:07interested in when it comes to sort of a

4:09YouTube channel.

4:10So there will be an AMA section, but I

4:12encourage you to ask questions all the way

4:15through the session today.

4:17And then what that will allow me to do is

4:19to kind of fill the questions, put the

4:21right questions in a group, make sure

4:23everything's working.

4:25I'm probably going to just start off by

4:27just recapping the year in terms of YouTube

4:29stats so you'll get a chance to see my

4:31YouTube channel back end,

4:33where you can see all the fun numbers and

4:35stats about the people who watch the videos

4:37, the content that gets watched.

4:39I'm going to talk a bit about that down

4:41here and the strategy in the mix.

4:44I'll talk a bit about Tableau/Salesforce. I

4:47think this year I've been making a mistake.

4:49I think everyone's been making this mistake

4:51and I just want to sort of clarify here in

4:53terms of approach with content and

4:54everything else.

4:56And then I want to talk about the Tableau/

4:57Salesforce because it's weirdly in beta and

5:00there is no videos on my channel about it.

5:02And normally I'm the channel you go to and

5:04there's something new with Tableau.

5:06So we'll talk a bit about that. It's a

5:07little bit frustrating, at least from my

5:08perspective, but we can touch on that.

5:12And then the general stats for 2023. It's

5:19always interesting what people think people

5:20watch on my channel versus what actually

5:25happens.

5:26And so there's actually been a very

5:27interesting shift this year, more than any

5:30year.

5:31The year has completely changed the

5:34audience that YouTube thinks my channel has

5:38.

5:38And as a result, I'm starting to get penal

5:40ized for not serving that audience over the

5:42core audience that I've always served.

5:45So we'll talk a bit about that. Content

5:48strategy, content mix, becoming a media

5:50company.

5:51This is something I really only realized

5:53six months ago. So I'm going to talk a bit

5:55about that.

5:56Got a super exciting project I want to

5:58share with you towards the end.

6:00This will be sort of where I think 50

6:02percent of my effort will go next year.

6:04And you're probably wondering, what does 50

6:06percent mean? I'll talk about that and then

6:08ask me any questions.

6:10So as people sort of pile in and you're

6:12watching and as we start to go through this

6:15, there'll be questions.

6:17I appreciate there'll be lots of people who

6:19are probably watching this after the fact.

6:22So if you watch this after the fact and you

6:23want to drop a question in the comments,

6:26you're more than welcome to do so.

6:28But we're pretty much there. So let's just

6:30check out the last few comments.

6:32Hello Mensa, George Jasmine. Thanks for the

6:36sound check Jasmine. Perfect.

6:39Peter Maduco, preparing for Tableau

6:41certified business analyst, but I'm having

6:43some challenges.

6:45That's what I need your assistance on,

6:47please. This won't be the stream for that,

6:49unfortunately.

6:50I'm pretty sort of firm on that because I

6:52actually have tons of content.

6:55So you can very easily find what you need

6:58to find already out there.

7:00On the certifications, this is probably how

7:03I'm going to add this in. I'm going to add

7:05this in.

7:06So Tableau certifications I have done up

7:09until a year ago, I had done every single

7:12certification available on this planet for

7:15Tableau.

7:16I'd re-certified all but one multiple times

7:19as well.

7:20And this year I just let all of them expire

7:22because I think there's something strange

7:24going on with certifications and I kind of

7:26just want to touch on that.

7:28So I've added it to the points on here.

7:30That's not to say that obviously cert

7:31ifications aren't important. They're

7:33important. They're required.

7:34Lots of people want to get involved. But

7:36yeah, certifications have kind of hit me in

7:39a bad place and I kind of want to talk

7:41about the dynamic that I see.

7:43So I'm going to try and sort that out. R

7:46ohan, hi. Hi, Hanya.

7:48Nice to see you here. Back from your break.

7:51We should chat more about that when you're

7:52when you're around.

7:53So I'm very jealous of Hanya. She's been

7:56traveling to lots of amazing places.

7:59So yeah, if you know Hanya, nudge her and

8:01ask her where she's been to.

8:03Good. Right. Shall we get into this? So 746

8:10.

8:10Oh, Rohan, will there be no Tableau jobs in

8:13upcoming years? That's a great question.

8:16So let me add this to the list. Tableau

8:19jobs outlook.

8:22I don't think that's that's going to be the

8:23case. And there'll always be Tableau jobs.

8:26The example I always give, and this is a

8:29bad example, it puts Tableau in a bad light

8:31.

8:32But the example I always give is that there

8:34's programmers out there who program

8:37languages that had not been developed in

8:40many, many years, in decades.

8:43So as long as someone has Tableau, there'll

8:44always be Tableau jobs. So that's not

8:46really the question.

8:48The real question is, what are the hot

8:50skills in demand right now? And is Tableau

8:52one of them?

8:53And I think that's the better question to

8:54ask. Where is industry moving? Where is

8:56analytics moving?

8:57What are the skills to really sort of focus

8:59in on? I've touched on this a little bit in

9:01one of my videos in the past where I talk

9:03about the, you know, how to learn Tableau.

9:06But nonetheless, yeah, I'll touch on that.

9:09So there'll definitely be jobs. Don't worry

9:11.

9:11I still work in a space where Tableau is a

9:13requirement. I wouldn't be working in that

9:16space if it wasn't.

9:17So we can touch on that. But I'll put this

9:20down here in the AMA section. We'll get to

9:22that.

9:23So, Rohan, if you're not here later on, I

9:25want to answer this question. Just check

9:26back on the livestream. I'll have timest

9:27amps. I'll answer all these questions.

9:29We'll make it pretty easy for everyone to

9:30follow. OK. Right.

9:33So let's get down to the business. Right.

9:37So let's start off with my channel

9:40dashboard. Boom. Here we go.

9:43So YouTube is a very funny business. It is

9:50a business. I always like to tell people

9:51that because it's it's if I rewind 20 years

9:57, not even 20 years, 20 years for let's say

10:0015 years, maybe even 12 years.

10:03We rewind 12 years when Star Wars, I think

10:05it was episode one or episode three, I can

10:08't remember which one it was, and it's the

10:10most downloaded trailer of all time.

10:13The most important thing about that is that

10:15it was downloaded, wasn't streamed, it wasn

10:17't viewed on YouTube, it was downloaded.

10:19And that was because the dial up modems

10:21that we used to use, they just weren't good

10:24enough for streaming video.

10:27It wasn't until, you know, we moved out of

10:30the ADSL dial up broadband system and we

10:33started to get proper Internet through

10:35copper wires that this really started to

10:37sort of pick up and streaming was actually

10:40possible.

10:41So YouTube was one of the first video

10:42websites. Then you had things like Vimeo.

10:45Then you had the flux of Facebook. And then

10:47suddenly social media started to come about

10:48.

10:49But even then video was still quite

10:51expensive. And so what YouTube did is they

10:53took a bet and they said, hey, we'll make

10:55it super easy for you to stream video and

10:58we'll do it to you at no cost.

11:00And for that, in exchange, we'll run ad

11:02verts on top of your videos. And that is the

11:05core business of YouTube.

11:07And that is essentially what this whole

11:09entire sort of back end interface is sort

11:11of optimized to get you to focus in on.

11:14How can you drive up your view count so

11:16that you can get more ad revenue so you can

11:19get more people watching your content and

11:23get better reward?

11:25That is the fundamental business behind it.

11:27But for most channels, in fact, I know for

11:29a fact that on my channel, I meet about 50

11:32to 60 percent of people viewing it with ads

11:35.

11:35That number is dropping because YouTube is

11:38clamping down on ad blockers so you can no

11:41longer use ad blockers in certain parts of

11:44YouTube.

11:45They're kind of going back and forth on

11:46that. But anyway, nonetheless, this entire

11:48channel back end is designed to sort of

11:51focus you in on performing better.

11:54So when I log into my YouTube video, this

11:56is what I see. I see the last video. It's

11:59got this really frustrating score out of 10

12:02.

12:03This is brutal because the majority of my

12:05videos are not one out of tens. And so the

12:08best way to think about it is that if you

12:10upload a video and you get anything less

12:11than eight out of 10,

12:14it's kind of like saying to you, yeah, this

12:15video you just uploaded, it's the worst one

12:17out of your last 10 videos. That's kind of

12:19what that is.

12:21And so if you look at this little section,

12:23you click on it, you can kind of see where

12:25my typical video views are performed.

12:28So let me just turn the music down because

12:30I can hear it myself and it's actually

12:31getting annoying. Hopefully that's okay for

12:33everyone.

12:34But anyway, if I click on this, you'll see

12:36that you get this range. The range isn't

12:38going to stick up whilst I hover over it.

12:41So I'll just do this. If I put my cursor

12:43where this is right now, you'll see the

12:46typical range is 580 to about 1000 views

12:49per video.

12:50So when I launch a video, that's a rough

12:51range. Typical is roughly in the middle.

12:54And then 2K is what this one got.

12:56So this one got 2.1K. Now this is going to

12:58perform better. It's a generic topic. I'll

13:01come back to content mix later.

13:03But what performed the worst, finding

13:05issues in Tableau on the known issues page.

13:08You might think 473 videos.

13:10That's the views. That's not really that

13:11good. And it's not going to be good because

13:14no one really,

13:15no one comes excited to Google or YouTube

13:17to watch a video about how to find out what

13:20issues are.

13:21You tend to find issues based on what the

13:23issue is. So this is a bit of an obscure

13:25video.

13:26But there's a purpose behind this video.

13:28And that is, I think, over a long period of

13:29time.

13:30I'm thinking five or six years. This video

13:32will get a lot more views than maybe some

13:34of these other ones.

13:36Because if you get stuck and you search

13:38specifically for this problem, you'll find

13:40this video.

13:42And so what I can do with this video is

13:43link to it, reference it in other videos,

13:46show people I can refer to it.

13:48So that's really why it's been created.

13:51Some of my other videos, they get quite low

13:53view counts.

13:54And this is what I was saying to you about

13:55being punished by YouTube for not making

13:58videos for my core audience.

14:00And my core audience, I'll get to what that

14:01is now. And I'm going to describe it as

14:03YouTube season,

14:04not as I think of it, if that makes sense.

14:08So my core audience is anyone who watches

14:08the channel, frankly.

14:10Everyone's welcome. But these view counts

14:14are about half of what they used to be over

14:17time.

14:17And my view counts for new features in

14:19Tableau used to be up here. Now, it could

14:22be for two reasons.

14:23Either people aren't as excited about Table

14:24au, hence there was a question earlier about

14:26whether it's a skill to be worried about.

14:29I don't think that's the issue. The second

14:31one is I might be making worse videos. OK,

14:35that's quite possible.

14:36The third one is YouTube wants me to be

14:38making different videos.

14:41And its algorithm is down tuning the

14:43visibility of certain videos and up tuning

14:45the visibility of other videos because it

14:48perceives my audience to be interested in

14:49those.

14:50So what are the levers that YouTube uses to

14:54understand those things?

14:57Well, actually, some of them are here on

14:58this page. So if we look at the view count,

15:01the view count is broken down into interest

15:04in the actual video.

15:06So I'll show you this in a second. But the

15:07main one is actually the view duration and

15:09the click through rate. These two metrics

15:12pretty much drive the entirety of YouTube.

15:16And YouTube use these to get signals. If a

15:19video has a high click through rate, that

15:21means the thumbnail and the title are super

15:24well designed, really interested.

15:26And it communicates typically what the

15:27person wants to see. So for this video, it

15:30was 4%.

15:31So of the thousands of people that saw this

15:34, 4% actually clicked on the thumbnail. A

15:38good thumbnail will push that number higher

15:40.

15:40Average view duration meant that once

15:42people got into the video, the average

15:44amount of time they spent was about 3

15:46minutes, 25 seconds.

15:48So that's essentially what that does. And

15:50so if we go into the analytics for this

15:53video, you get a more detailed breakdown.

15:56And the detailed breakdown that I was going

15:58to point out is actually here at the bottom

16:00. So it's actually down here.

16:03But the thing about this is not what you

16:05see first. So let me go down, like for each

16:07video, I get this breakdown.

16:09So for each video at the top, you can see 2

16:10.1 thousand views. You see a general trend

16:14just here that shows you sort of the

16:16general trajectory of my videos.

16:18So I get like, what is it, up to a thousand

16:20videos maybe in the first, where are we, in

16:24the first 18 days.

16:26And then after that, it's like a slow

16:28trickle and it just sort of keeps going.

16:31But actually with this video, there's a

16:33really interesting thing that's happened,

16:35which is it started higher.

16:37So the trajectory is higher, which means

16:39this tail off is actually going to be a lot

16:41longer and way more consistent.

16:44So if I just draw this off screen, I just

16:47do this, okay.

16:50You'd be able to say, well, this video is

16:51going to get 5,000 views or 6,000 views

16:54over time.

16:55But that's actually not correct because

16:57what happens over an even larger amount of

16:59time is something even more interesting,

17:03which is it takes the algorithm about 90

17:05days to figure out who likes your videos.

17:07And once it's figured that out, it just

17:08sends that video to everyone it thinks

17:10matches that profile.

17:12So you actually get a second hockey stick

17:13that starts to happen, like a new

17:15trajectory.

17:16And what that can do is at about, let's say

17:18, day 90, you start to see this, okay.

17:21So you kind of think your video is dead and

17:22then it goes off.

17:24But that's only for good video, only for

17:25good videos that happen.

17:27So that's the view count.

17:29Watch time, the most important metric, how

17:31much time have people spent actually

17:32watching this video.

17:33And so you can take watch time and views

17:35and do the maths to get the average view

17:37duration for a video, okay.

17:40So I actually, I'm honestly sometimes like

17:44truly amazed how much time people spend on

17:49these videos.

17:51And it kind of really puts pressure on me

17:54in a huge way because if you think I've

17:56made this one video about embedding, okay,

17:59it's only 10 minutes, but 118 hours have

18:02been spent watching this video.

18:05And if you think about it from like an

18:07advice perspective, you think about doing a

18:09talk or a presentation,

18:11you might do that to an audience of 100.

18:14Well, the thing YouTube does here is it

18:16just scales that to another level.

18:18This 10 minutes of content can just be

18:21scaled to as many people who wants it.

18:24YouTube is generally available at any

18:25corner of the earth that has an internet

18:27connection,

18:28good enough for, let's say, 720p streaming,

18:30right.

18:31Like that's how available this video is.

18:34And YouTube does the hard work of that.

18:36Now the cost of that is not free.

18:37I'll come back to that in a second.

18:38But nonetheless, that's just incredible

18:40reach for what I think is a fairly niche

18:43topic if you think about it.

18:45So yeah, that's that.

18:47And then for each video, each video has an

18:49impact on my subscriber count.

18:52So for example, this video, it encouraged

18:5320 people to hit the subscribe button.

18:56Maybe because I asked them, maybe because

18:57they just liked the video and they liked it

18:58.

18:59You don't really know what it is.

19:00But generally speaking, this video is good.

19:04It's adding subscribers to my overall

19:04subscriber count.

19:05But it's nothing like the numbers that I

19:07get on a daily basis.

19:09This isn't like the view counts here and

19:11individual videos tend to not be the driver

19:14for big subscriber jumps.

19:17It tends to be what I call well videos and

19:18there's a little bit harder to explain.

19:21So I'll show you that in a second.

19:23And then the estimated revenue.

19:25So this is essentially how much money comes

19:29in to the channel and subsequently me and

19:32my business from the ad revenue.

19:35And you're probably thinking, hey, Tim, you

19:36make videos and you make money out of these

19:38videos.

19:39Well, yes, this is revenue. This is not

19:40profit.

19:42We'll get on to profit later.

19:44It's completely non-existent.

19:46But anyway, you know, put it this way.

19:48Consulting is a much better career than

19:51making videos on YouTube.

19:54So I'll come back to this revenue number in

19:55a second because it's super important

19:58because it kind of does actually decide the

19:59balance of everything.

20:00But anyway, you get to YouTube, you get

20:02this sort of very nice, simple sort of

20:04setup.

20:05And these are like your four metrics.

20:08And then each one has an individual tab at

20:10the top.

20:11So for each video, you can then say, okay,

20:14well, let's look at the reach this one

20:15video got.

20:16And you can go in and you can click through

20:17and you can kind of see, oh, this is how it

20:20helps.

20:21This is how it works.

20:22For example, this one on unique viewers did

20:24really, really well.

20:26Look at that little sort of increase there.

20:29But if I just go on views, you can see

20:30generally follow the same profile.

20:33So actually, this was a really, really good

20:35video when it launched.

20:37And now all of this traffic here is

20:39basically people discovering it on search.

20:42So you can kind of also see the impact that

20:44I have through my social channels to get

20:46people to watch a video.

20:48It's actually quite big.

20:49When I post something on LinkedIn, Twitter,

20:51whatever, it tends to have a really good

20:54impact and people generally see that.

20:56So I can get 500 views out of the gate.

21:00The other thing is obviously I have a large

21:01subscriber count.

21:02So that also counts this.

21:04But actually, this is a tiny percentage of

21:05that subscriber count.

21:07It's not even 1%.

21:08So it's not sort of the full picture.

21:10And then you have like a view of all the

21:12places that comes from.

21:14Google search for external sites is always

21:15top.

21:16LinkedIn is, again, second to that.

21:19Twitter is basically nonexistent.

21:20I don't really even bother with Twitter.

21:23They should really change this to X in my

21:24opinion, but hey-ho.

21:26And then engagement is just things like

21:28watch time, view duration.

21:30It actually shows you the fluctuation.

21:31So what you can sometimes have is a really

21:33different number in the early days compared

21:35to the latter days

21:36because the early days are the people who

21:37know your content, the people who know what

21:39's going on.

21:40And then your latter days are more

21:41generally people who want to know more

21:43about it in detail.

21:45So people who are discovering this based

21:46off Google searches.

21:48And so you can actually get variation in

21:50this over time.

21:51Let's say tablet do a big splash on embed

21:52ding.

21:53They spend a ton of marketing money on

21:54embedding as a concept.

21:56This number would also change because then

21:58my video might come up in searches and

21:59people might watch it.

22:01Anyway, that's sort of the overview of

22:03everything.

22:04I think I did audience.

22:06This is sort of the general.

22:07This is just one video, remember.

22:09So I get this for each and every video.

22:11I get the split between unique and

22:12returning viewers.

22:14You can see this one.

22:16The returning viewers, the new viewers is

22:18very low here.

22:19So actually this was almost all entirely

22:21people who already subscribe to my channel

22:24on this one.

22:25And then the revenue tab.

22:27This used to be split in two.

22:28It used to be get estimated revenue and

22:30then you used to get something called CPM

22:32and RPM.

22:33They've kind of gotten rid of that and they

22:35're only giving you one number which is the

22:37revenue that you get.

22:38But actually what happens is that YouTube

22:40charges advertisers a certain amount of

22:43money.

22:44That money pays for the hosting and the

22:46distribution of the video in general.

22:49And then that is split 60/40 between you

22:51and YouTube.

22:52I think YouTube takes the 40% and I keep 60

22:56%.

22:57So this revenue is the 60% from the

22:59advertising revenue from the video if that

23:01makes sense.

23:03So you can kind of see here on average for

23:05each thousand views that I get, I generate

23:08£7.57.

23:10I live in the UK so this is in pounds.

23:12So if I did a million views, I would get £

23:157,570.

23:18That's the basic way to think about it.

23:20And so that's why you can see people like

23:21MrBeast are actually printing money with

23:24their viewcams.

23:26So many more people are interested in the

23:28kind of stuff they make.

23:30Making videos about Tableau on YouTube at

23:34least, okay, great fun for education and

23:37everything.

23:38It's not a money making thing at all.

23:40We'll get into that in more detail.

23:42But the thing I wanted to sort of get to is

23:45actually this.

23:47So when I make a video, this is sort of

23:49what I live and die by.

23:51And I think a lot of people make videos and

23:53don't pay attention to this.

23:55And it's actually hard to know what works

23:58until you've done it a few times.

24:01One of the most common questions I get is,

24:03"Hey, I'd love to start making videos.

24:04What tools do I use? What software do I

24:06need?"

24:07Doesn't matter. Brutally does not matter.

24:10What matters is what happens to the content

24:11and what people are interested in.

24:13You could make a video on the worst screen

24:16recording software and people might get

24:19frustrated with it.

24:20But if it generally helps them, they'll

24:22sort of persevere through and they'll watch

24:24it.

24:25I've actually had this where people said, "

24:27Man, I had to sit through that 15-minute

24:28video of yours

24:29because you had loud music on, but thank

24:30you for the help."

24:32I've actually had comments like that

24:33because there was a phase where I tried

24:34music on the channel.

24:36So it's a super interesting thing.

24:39But what I like about this video is that I

24:42can generally say that 33% of people make

24:44it over halfway.

24:47And a good percentage, this is a pretty

24:51good chart.

24:53You can see my typical retention.

24:56There's a moment in these chapters where

24:58these lines are chapters in the video.

25:01There's a moment where people come back and

25:03I can actually take the playhead to that

25:05point

25:06if I just start playing that and it shows

25:08you that whole thing.

25:10It's actually this exact moment when I'm

25:12showing people how I'm embedding something

25:14on the page side by side.

25:16And I think people really find that

25:17interesting.

25:19So what that tells me is maybe I should

25:20make another video specifically on the

25:23process and technical capability of embed

25:25ding as well.

25:26So that's super interesting.

25:28By the way, I keep looking that way because

25:30I moved my camera over there

25:32and I just have this habit of looking that

25:34way.

25:35I keep looking in the wrong place.

25:37But nonetheless, that's essentially what

25:39happens.

25:40Anyway, if we go back to the landing page,

25:42which is where we started,

25:45this is just the dashboard landing page.

25:47You see a bunch of other stuff, the

25:48community tab, members, recent activity,

25:51comments, overview.

25:53We're 81,000 subscribers.

25:55Three weeks ago we hit 75,000.

25:57I don't understand what's going on with the

25:59subscriber count right now.

26:01In three weeks we've gone from 75 to 81.

26:06I just don't understand it.

26:08And if I then take you to the...

26:10Let's go to the content one because this is

26:11really boring.

26:12It's just all the videos in chronological

26:14order by page.

26:16So you don't need to really know much about

26:17this.

26:18Other than you can see my like counts,

26:20dislike.

26:21There's always some videos where I was like

26:21, "Come on.

26:23Who hit dislike on that video and why?"

26:26I'd love to know why they hit dislike.

26:27I wish you could give the creative feedback

26:28.

26:29Is it because you didn't like the feature

26:31or is it because you hated the video?

26:32I want to know about the ones that hate the

26:33video.

26:34You don't get that detail anymore.

26:36These are hidden because what used to

26:37happen is people used to get abused,

26:40essentially, with dislike attacks.

26:43So a creator would say to their fans, "Go

26:45dislike this video."

26:47And you'd get a ton of dislikes.

26:49And that person would get demoralized

26:50because you'd log into the back of this

26:52and you'd see 98% dislike or something like

26:56that, 1% like.

26:58And it wasn't good for mental health.

27:01So they moved it and made it a creator or

27:02anything.

27:03Anyway, the analytics tab.

27:05This is where the numbers truly, truly live

27:07.

27:08So if we were to go and if I just go back

27:09to my agenda here,

27:11so YouTube starts for 2023.

27:13What we can do is we can say up here, let's

27:17go.

27:17We can actually just do 2023.

27:20Last 365 days would be better, but let's

27:23just do 2023

27:25because this is not going to change.

27:26It's the 29th of December.

27:27We've only got two more days.

27:28So in 2023, we did 1.2 million views.

27:32Huge number.

27:33I literally cannot believe that in my

27:35opinion.

27:36When I started this three years ago,

27:38I just did not think I could reach 1.2

27:42million views.

27:44I didn't even know there's that much

27:46interest in Tableau, frankly.

27:49I know that sounds almost rude to an extent

27:51, given how much I use the product,

27:53but it's just phenomenal the reach this has

27:55.

27:56Twitter, blogs, nothing has this kind of

27:58reach other than Google.com.

28:01And that's a really important point.

28:03And I only realized this in my second year

28:04of using the channel.

28:06YouTube is the second largest search engine

28:09.

28:10That is the way to think of it.

28:12So if you're making content,

28:14would you rather put it on a site that

28:17doesn't serve as a search engine

28:19or put it on a site that does serve as a

28:20search engine?

28:21Now, to get content on Google.com, you have

28:23to create a website, blog,

28:24go through all that process.

28:26And if it's really, really good, it gets

28:27ranked highly.

28:28But YouTube, YouTube is the cheat code

28:31because YouTube is the only search engine

28:33that allows you to make content

28:35specifically for it.

28:37So if you think of that, you can reach so

28:39many people

28:40because the same place where you're posting

28:41the video

28:42is the same place people are searching.

28:44And that is actually what drives the

28:45majority of the traffic.

28:46I'll show you this in a second.

28:48About 60% of the traffic that I get on

28:50these videos

28:51starts inside of YouTube.

28:53So there's a whole ecosystem of people that

28:55only use YouTube or TikTok

28:56or whatever to access their content.

28:58So super, super crazy, crazy, crazy numbers

29:01.

29:01Watch time 102.3 thousand hours, just in 20

29:0623.

29:07Now, if we kind of... Let me do this.

29:10Let me screenshot this.

29:12And let's just pin this so you can see this

29:16.

29:16And then what I'm going to do is I'm going

29:18to put this

29:19and set this to lifetime, and then we'll

29:21come back to 2023.

29:23And so what you can do is if I do this,

29:25you can kind of see 2023 versus the

29:28lifetime.

29:29In 2023, I got half of my lifetime views on

29:35the channel.

29:36I got nearly half of my watch time hours.

29:39I definitely got half of my subscribers.

29:42And in terms of revenue, I didn't get half

29:46of my revenue.

29:47But revenue is like a weird thing,

29:49and I did some weird things that sort of go

29:52against the economics on YouTube this year.

29:54So it's just... I just cannot explain the

29:59reach that YouTube has

30:02and the potential it's got to sort of help

30:05people,

30:06partly through search, partly through the

30:08platform itself.

30:09So it's been a phenomenal year.

30:12I'm hugely grateful, actually.

30:16One of the things you'll see, and I sort of

30:18alluded to this early on,

30:20is that there were some huge gaps, not

30:22least right now.

30:24So if I sort of highlight these gaps in

30:27blue,

30:28there's been a gap since basically November

30:30.

30:31There was a gap right at the beginning of

30:32the year,

30:33and then these sort of infrequent gaps.

30:37And you might just think, "Oh, this is Tim

30:39having a break."

30:40And actually, it's actually been a tougher

30:42story than that in earnest.

30:45If I sort of talk about just the last month

30:48,

30:49I've got two young kids, they go to nursery

30:51, they come back,

30:52they bring nasty things.

30:54I've just been ill. I just have no voice.

30:56I actually started recording, and I sounded

30:58like Yogi Bear one day.

31:00I listened to myself back.

31:02I only spent five minutes just talking to

31:03the thing,

31:04and I put my headphones on to edit the

31:05video,

31:06and I was like, "Oh, man, I can't put this

31:08out.

31:09I just sound like Yogi Bear." So I just had

31:11to stop.

31:12And frankly, only in the last week have I

31:14actually gotten my voice back.

31:17And I can talk and speak to the microphone.

31:20Thank God for this live stream.

31:21If not, I would have just sounded banged up

31:23today.

31:24But I think that's partly health-related.

31:26I need to sort of get on top of that, stay

31:28healthy and fit and all that jazz.

31:31So big push for that in 2024.

31:34These smaller breaks were actually just due

31:36to me being busy with life,

31:38if that makes sense.

31:39So they're just odd weeks here and there

31:41where something happens in life and you

31:42need to step out.

31:44And this year had a lot of those.

31:46And then I actually managed to keep up this

31:51really nice stint here.

31:52And this was basically right off the back

31:54of this long break.

31:55I'll explain that in a second.

31:57And I managed to get this really good

31:59momentum.

32:00And the good thing about momentum is that

32:01YouTube rewards you.

32:03It kind of gets more of your content out

32:04there.

32:05So every time you take a break on YouTube,

32:07it kind of assumes that you've sort of

32:09disappeared

32:10and it stops sharing your content out.

32:12And then if I go back to this very start.

32:16So this starting period, the start of the

32:20year basically,

32:22was an absolute car crash.

32:24And it wasn't because anything bad happened

32:27.

32:28Just to cut a very, very long story short,

32:31the very beginning of the year I found out

32:33I had a very, very rare form of skin cancer

32:35.

32:36Thankfully it was found, it was dealt with,

32:39and as of three months ago, I got the all-

32:42clear,

32:43as much as you can get an all-clear with

32:44something like that.

32:46But nonetheless, in that amount of time,

32:49I went from just having a routine

32:52investigation on something,

32:54"Oh, is this thing innocuous?"

32:57Initially got the answer that, "No, it was

32:58fine.

32:59You can not worry about it."

33:01I coincidentally had scheduled a second

33:03opinion anyway

33:04because healthcare in the UK is just not in

33:06a great place.

33:07So the waiting times sort of put me off,

33:09and I went and got help through another

33:12source.

33:13And in essence, they came back and said,

33:15"Actually, we're going to do a biopsy."

33:17They did a biopsy and they found something.

33:19So I was super grateful I got that second

33:20opinion,

33:22but it also meant that everything had to

33:23kick into action

33:24because it's the kind of thing that once

33:25you found it,

33:26you kind of have to deal with it.

33:28It was dealt with extremely quickly.

33:30I was very fortunate.

33:31And through a funny turn of events,

33:36I ended up getting help at an institution

33:39who supported by a charity that I'd worked

33:42at

33:42as a consultant just three years ago.

33:45It's just absolutely crazy.

33:47So it's so funny how these things work out

33:49in life.

33:50But anyway, I was literally going in and

33:54out of appointments.

33:55I had a patch on my shoulder, actually on

33:58this side.

33:59I actually recorded a video about the ideal

34:01version of Tableau

34:03on this, I think it was a week after the

34:09surgery,

34:10which was quite straightforward actually

34:13because the surgery itself was just done

34:15under local anaesthetic.

34:17I was awake the whole time.

34:18It was more like a dental appointment, if I

34:20'm briefly honest.

34:21It was a very, very sort of gentle

34:23procedure, if that makes sense.

34:26And it was dealt with very quickly.

34:28Anyway, that knocked me for six.

34:30I literally had a whole ton of plans.

34:32And in the YouTube world,

34:34these first three months are the most

34:36important three months.

34:38Like if you set off the year with all the

34:40new year content on a good rhythm,

34:42it just compounds over the year.

34:44So in essence, April, May was my sort of

34:48new year.

34:49And then I also changed jobs partway

34:51through this.

34:53And what these sort of other gaps are is

34:56also just work and life being busy at the

34:57same time.

34:58So having to maintain all of that was

35:00pretty tough.

35:02But bearing in mind I have a full time job,

35:04this YouTube channel is something I do on

35:06the extra at this sort of time.

35:09It's 8 p.m. here in the UK.

35:11This I think was a pretty good year in

35:14terms of content.

35:16I didn't make as many videos as I planned

35:18to.

35:19I didn't make as much sort of impactful

35:21content as I planned to.

35:23But the great thing about that is when you

35:25have these ideas,

35:27they're not going anywhere.

35:28I can still do them.

35:29It doesn't matter if someone else does them

35:30either.

35:31Because in my opinion, at least on YouTube,

35:33is that multiple people can have an opinion

35:35on the same thing

35:36and still both put out videos.

35:37And if you've ever watched a tech review,

35:39you tend to watch both of them.

35:40You don't just watch it from one person,

35:42you watch it from five people.

35:43So I did sort of struggle a little bit

35:45mentally with watching other people do

35:47types of content that I was going to do.

35:49I just hadn't had time to kick into action.

35:51But I also was happy to see that other

35:53people are sort of taken to the platform

35:55and putting their own ideas out and making

35:57fantastic content.

35:59So that is like a high-level view of 2023.

36:04Yeah, it was a super interesting one.

36:06Let me just make sure that my comments are

36:08still showing.

36:09Yeah, they're still there. Cool.

36:11And what is LinkedIn doing?

36:13Six people. Good, good.

36:15My worst nightmare would be for this stream

36:17to have died 10 minutes ago, and I didn't

36:20realize.

36:21So let me move this comment thing off

36:22screen because I think I'll just miss

36:24comments unless I put them here.

36:27If I go to my top content this year, so

36:31what is Tableau?

36:32222,000 views this year.

36:34There's a weird dynamic going on with that.

36:37So I'm going to just ignore this video for

36:40now.

36:41This is what I call a well video.

36:43Well video shouldn't really be considered

36:45as part of your general video account

36:48because they are sort of, they are real

36:51exceptions.

36:52You can't make a YouTube channel out of

36:54Wales unless you're MrBeast, okay?

36:57So it's just not feasible.

36:59Also that video took me a whole week, and

37:02by week I meant 9 to 5 for a whole week.

37:06Monday to Sunday I took time off to make

37:09that video, and the impact really has shown

37:11.

37:12Now if I was to try and make a living doing

37:14that kind of video, just about Tableau,

37:17I'd run out of content within 4 months.

37:20It's just the way it is, so I can't do

37:21stuff to that level.

37:23On the broader datascape, there's

37:24definitely enough content to be doing there

37:27.

37:27So maybe that's an idea for the future, but

37:29for now this idea is parked

37:32and we are revisiting it because software,

37:34technology, lots of things have changed.

37:36I have a much better way of doing this, and

37:38this video needs updating.

37:40So we're just going to sort of strike that.

37:42That said, on the 12th of Jan 2023, the

37:45very beginning of this year,

37:46I actually recorded and planned this video

37:47right out of the gate.

37:49So we had this Tableau desktop crash course

37:52, and this was fantastic.

37:55This was just a wild idea, and it came from

37:59the very fact that I saw lots of people

38:03doing 6, 5-hour courses on Tableau, and I

38:06was like, "Man, I can do that."

38:08Not only can I do that, I think I can edit

38:09it better and do it as a live event like I

38:12'm doing now,

38:13and teach people, as if I'm right there,

38:15rather than this sort of planned piece of

38:18content

38:18where you edit it together after the time.

38:20I just did the whole thing back to back.

38:22We sat, we edited it, it took me a whole

38:23week to edit it, and we pushed it out.

38:25We've done 94,000 views.

38:2721 minutes on average watched.

38:30If I go into the metrics for that, we can

38:33see here that people generally do watch it.

38:37These numbers are a lot lower, but for a

38:38long piece of content, which is this,

38:41this is a 4-hour video nearly, this is very

38:43good.

38:44You can see the peaks where people are

38:46watching.

38:47Spending an average of 21 minutes watching

38:49it is perfect,

38:50because what that means is people are

38:51watching it in segments.

38:53You can kind of think of it as a watch

38:54session, as basically what that's actually

38:56about.

38:57When people come on and watch it, they're

38:58watching it on average for 21 minutes at a

39:01time,

39:02and they're watching roughly 10% of it,

39:04which means they're picking what they want.

39:05But this is a great video for showing you

39:06that trajectory I was talking about.

39:09Initially, for the first, let's say, 118

39:13days, it's got one trajectory,

39:17and then the YouTube algorithm decides, "

39:19Right, I know who's going to really like

39:20this,"

39:21and the trajectory changes ever so slightly

39:22.

39:23It's not quite the same as what it started

39:25out to be.

39:26If I draw those two lines, you can kind of

39:28see the difference in that.

39:30The algorithm has a genuine impact and lift

39:33on what's going on.

39:35The other crazy thing about this is that

39:37now that I've made it,

39:39people are watching this video every single

39:41day in the last 48 hours.

39:44This is the number, 678 people.

39:47If you think about it, 678 people spending

39:49an average of 21 minutes.

39:51That is a lot of time being accrued every

39:53single day just learning Tableau.

39:56This is a zero-to-dashboard course.

39:58It's supposed to bring people into the

39:59world of Tableau.

40:00It's not really supposed to be this six-

40:02hour monster crash course

40:04and everything you need to know.

40:06It's not like a 10-level drill-down video.

40:09It's none of that.

40:10It's purely like, "You've never heard of

40:11Tableau.

40:12You're only going to watch this video, and

40:14by the end of it,

40:14you need to be able to build a dashboard."

40:16That's what this is.

40:17It's super, super important.

40:20The watch time, pretty much the same.

40:24Subscribers, nothing interesting there.

40:26This is a subscriber growth video, actually

40:28.

40:29You can see that the change in trajectory

40:30once the algorithm starts to show people.

40:33Actually, this is a good example of,

40:35"This is where I was before the algorithm

40:38kicks in,

40:40and if I just draw that line, you can see

40:42that I would have got 1,600 subscribers

40:46over the same amount of time had the

40:47algorithm not given it that lift

40:49that you can see very clearly."

40:52This lift gives it more exposure to more

40:54people,

40:55and those people should want to subscribe

40:56to the channel as a result.

40:58That makes a lot of sense.

41:00This is one of those weird videos where the

41:03revenue just about starts to make sense.

41:06I spent four days planning this out.

41:13I didn't do a lot of planning.

41:15It was just me trying things out, going

41:17through a rough order,

41:18mucking around in desktop, trying things

41:20out.

41:21I was going to do it all again in the live

41:22stream anyway

41:23and just work through bullet points as I

41:25did.

41:26Then I spent about a week and a half

41:28editing it.

41:29This video, along with a couple of others,

41:31are probably the only videos where the time

41:34spent and the revenue

41:35that you get back kind of equate to an

41:38actual decent living wage,

41:40if that makes sense.

41:42But it's an absolute well of a video.

41:44It's a completely different ballgame.

41:48All of these other ones don't really make

41:50that cut at all.

41:51Some of these are older than this year as

41:53well,

41:54so super important to bear that in mind.

41:56The only three videos that I made in '23

41:59that made it to the top 10 for this year

42:02are the Tableau GPT videos,

42:04How to Build a Scatterplot, and Tableau

42:07Desktop Crash Course.

42:09Super, super interesting.

42:12Let me just check the contents.

42:16I don't know how to say this correctly.

42:18Is it Anthonysoir?

42:21I don't know how to say that.

42:23If you're able to put a phonetic spelling

42:24of your name,

42:25in the comments, that would be fantastic.

42:27I don't want to get your name wrong, but I

42:28'll read your question out.

42:30"Hey Tim, I wish you a healthy long life

42:32so that we learn from you in the future.

42:34Question, is YouTube paying at gross or net

42:37of tax?"

42:39YouTube pays before tax, so this is all

42:41before tax.

42:43I live in the UK, so I am taxed after the

42:46fact,

42:47and I can guarantee you,

42:50I spent more than this number on the

42:52channel

42:53in time, equipment, resources, editing, my

42:57laptop.

42:59This number does not equate to that.

43:02I can go into the business a little bit

43:03later.

43:04I'll talk a bit about that later on when we

43:06talk about the media business.

43:08I'll come back to that, but long story

43:12short,

43:13if I only lived off YouTube revenue to run

43:17this channel,

43:20I would probably be a year or two behind

43:24in terms of the production levels that I've

43:26been able to achieve,

43:27and I'd probably not have been able to work

43:30with companies like LinkedIn.

43:31There has been some genuine investment from

43:33me on top of this

43:35to get certain things across to a certain

43:37standard

43:38that then enables other parties to be

43:41interested,

43:43to then make this an actual capable thing.

43:47And we can come into this a little later on

43:49.

43:50Money on YouTube is always a funny one to

43:52discuss,

43:53but I'm happy to talk about these numbers

43:55in more detail,

43:56so we can get into that.

43:58But I want to get through all the 2023

44:00stats first.

44:01So YouTube 2023, that is pretty much it for

44:05a nutshell.

44:07If we just go through this, let's just see

44:09more here.

44:10This is actually a more detailed breakdown.

44:12You can kind of see the top videos.

44:14Last 28 days, let's just do 365 days.

44:17So you can see the fall-off is huge, right?

44:21To really be getting any sort of income

44:23from YouTube,

44:24all of these videos have to be doing 100,

44:26000 views once a week.

44:28That's not happening.

44:30The bottom 50 of these, just no.

44:35So it really goes back to--

44:37and I've done this many times, which is why

44:39I'm not talking about it today.

44:40I did a talk at several user groups,

44:43actually.

44:45I've done a talk at--

44:48I think I did a talk internally in our

44:50company, actually, at Aimpoint.

44:52They're absolutely fantastic.

44:54They wanted to know more about how I make

44:55content.

44:56So I did a talk internally at our company

44:58about what goes on here and how it works.

45:02I also did a talk at the Veterans Tableau

45:04User Group in America.

45:06They actually gave me this really cool

45:10challenge pin.

45:12Let me just hold it to the camera so you

45:13can see it.

45:14Let's just do this.

45:17Let me also-- I think I can do this.

45:19Let's change the camera. There you go.

45:21They gave me this really, really cool pin.

45:24It's so cool because it has two sides,

45:27right?

45:27It's fantastic.

45:29It's the first time I've ever been given

45:30something

45:31for doing a Tableau User Group talk.

45:33It kind of knocked me to six because I wasn

45:34't expecting it.

45:35I just love doing talks to help people.

45:37That's actually what this is all for.

45:39I love the reach YouTube can give you

45:41and I love the exposure that it can do.

45:44But actually, you can see the weird things

45:46that are happening with the video that I

45:47was mentioning over here.

45:49There's just some very weird things

45:51happening.

45:53We'll get into that a little later on

45:55and I can kind of explain that a bit more.

45:58Right.

46:00What else? Watch time.

46:03There's not really much to look at in here.

46:06Content.

46:08There are some interesting tabs here for 20

46:1123.

46:12Shorts, I try them. I just really struggle

46:14with them.

46:15But hey, the whole world is going that way.

46:17I'm going to re-evaluate how I do those.

46:20I've invested in a piece of software

46:23that can really, really help improve the

46:25quality of the shorts that I make.

46:26I'm going to keep pushing with that

46:28and try and make a short for every type of

46:29video that I make.

46:31Subscribers, most of them are coming from

46:33normal videos.

46:34This is not the year. Let's do 365 days

46:37again.

46:38And if we sort of drill down here,

46:43this is the falloff I was mentioning.

46:45This is actually an important tree to think

46:47about.

46:48This is sort of how YouTube works, actually

46:50, in a nutshell.

46:51YouTube showed this to 15...

46:53YouTube will show my videos 15.9 million

46:56times.

46:583% of those people, nearly 4%, will click

47:01on one of those thumbnails.

47:03That will give me this number of views.

47:05And from that number of views,

47:07people spend on average five minutes

47:09watching a video of mine,

47:11and that gives you the watch time from

47:13impression hours.

47:15So that's essentially sort of the funnel of

47:18YouTube and how it works.

47:20So, yeah. I'm no longer sharing my screen.

47:23This is why I have the comments on.

47:28Oh, my God. Thank you so much, Jasmine, for

47:33highlighting that.

47:34So where was I?

47:35I think I came back to...

47:38Yeah, I came back to the Analytics tab.

47:40So I'll just go through that again.

47:42We have the watch time. There's nothing

47:43really special here.

47:44Subscribers and revenue.

47:46And if I go back to last 365 days and I go

47:49to the Content tab,

47:51you get this sort of breakdown.

47:55It doesn't work over a certain number of

47:57days.

47:58So I think to get some of these numbers, it

48:00only works up to 90 days.

48:02I think it's to do with aggregated details.

48:04Essentially, YouTube can only store a

48:06certain amount of data for 90 days,

48:08and then it loses it just because it would

48:09get ridiculous

48:10storing that level of fidelity over time

48:13because of how fast YouTube grows.

48:15But beyond 90 days, you only get some of

48:18these numbers.

48:19So this is sort of a fair reflection of how

48:21things work.

48:22And all I was doing was explaining this

48:24funnel here on impressions

48:26and how you basically start with nearly,

48:29well, let's say, 16 million impressions.

48:31Four percent of the people click on that,

48:33those thumbnails,

48:34which then gives you this number of views.

48:36From those views, people spend five minutes

48:37watching it,

48:38which gives you roughly 53.2 hours from

48:41impressions.

48:43There is more watch time from other types

48:45of content,

48:46but you can kind of cut this into short

48:48live stream.

48:49And actually, when you go to videos, you

48:50get this breakdown

48:51of above typical introductions and below

48:53typical introductions.

48:55Below typical introductions are introdu

48:56ctions that lose people.

48:58Above typical introductions are introdu

48:59ctions that do well.

49:01Your top videos, all that stuff, top

49:03moments, spikes,

49:05like moments in videos that are causing

49:07people to like,

49:08"Hey, find out what's going on."

49:10Tableau Pulse is actually in there.

49:12So this one, if I go to this specific

49:13moment,

49:14it's likely when I'm showing how something

49:15works in Tableau Pulse.

49:17So you get a ton of data.

49:20If you ever want to know what channels do

49:22people who watch my channel watch,

49:24so if you're a subscriber of mine and you

49:26're thinking,

49:26"Oh, who else should I watch?"

49:28Well, Andy Crevel is absolutely at the top

49:29of that list.

49:30Andy's been making a ton of content for

49:33years, well before even I was.

49:35Andy is the original YouTuber.

49:39He's the OG Tableau YouTuber, as it were.

49:42And I think he's just left the Information

49:43Lab

49:44and he's gone full-time on making content.

49:46So I can't wait to see what he achieves

49:49next year

49:50with all the time he's got now to put into

49:52just serving his audience, as it were.

49:55That's now his full-time job.

49:56Very jealous.

49:57Maybe I can follow in his footsteps very

49:59soon.

50:00But nonetheless, after that, you've got

50:02Alex the analyst.

50:03Alex is super popular.

50:04He's a-- I kind of go back and forth with

50:06Alex.

50:07Alex is a cool guy.

50:08He focuses on lots of different things,

50:10SQL, Python, Tableau is one of them.

50:12He does make Tableau content,

50:14but he makes what I would call introduction

50:18Tableau content.

50:20It's very obvious that Alex has learned

50:22Tableau through other resources.

50:26And so when you watch one of his tutorials,

50:28it's very much designed to pair Tableau

50:31with something else

50:32or pair it as part of a workflow,

50:34or really pair it as a more realistic

50:37setting

50:38to being an analyst, whereas I tend to just

50:40focus on the technical features.

50:42I'm almost too technical for a broader

50:44audience.

50:45Alex really appeals to that large audience.

50:48You've got Donebell Santos, who's literally

50:51fantastic.

50:53I can't think of anyone who has more bang

50:54for buck

50:55in terms of number of videos to subscribe,

51:00account,

51:00and view time and watch time and all that

51:02stuff.

51:03I think for every 10 videos I make,

51:07Donebell just needs to make one to have the

51:09same sort of impact.

51:11She's a great teacher.

51:13She's a great educator.

51:15Her style is really unique to her.

51:17You can't really replicate what she does.

51:19She's very clear.

51:21Her tutorials take you through stuff like

51:2340 minutes at a time.

51:25It's always detail.

51:26You leave her videos feeling like an expert

51:28.

51:29It's the kind of content I aspire to make

51:30in the future

51:31if I have more time and I have a little bit

51:33more

51:34of what I would say craft to the way that I

51:36plan my videos.

51:38But I just don't have that sort of time and

51:40balance

51:41that it's clear that she puts into her

51:42videos.

51:43So super, super useful.

51:45Data Science Roadmap is new.

51:46I have not seen this in here,

51:48maybe because I've never gone to 365 days.

51:51But yeah, Data Science Roadmap is kind of

51:53like a new channel.

51:55Penguin Analytics is always in here

51:57because people watch their YouTube videos,

52:00for Tableau introductions and stuff like

52:01that.

52:02Then we've got Stanley George Joseph,

52:05who's making a new channel, I think, as

52:08well.

52:08Super popular.

52:10But this says, I see this says 365 days at

52:13the top,

52:14but it says 28 days down here and 90 days

52:16down there.

52:17So I have no idea what's going on.

52:20But it's not all in the same time frame.

52:22So that's just something to bear in mind.

52:24But anyway, super interesting detail.

52:26Most people watch around about my lunchtime

52:29or my afternoon,

52:30which is generally where you have the most

52:32overlap

52:32between all the time zones.

52:34The mornings tends to be Asia,

52:37Asia mostly watching.

52:39The middle of the day tends to be UK, Asia,

52:42and America watching all at the same time.

52:44And then the evenings is sort of the West

52:46Coast of America

52:48and everything like that.

52:50So yeah, super interesting.

52:52Revenue for goes to the last 365 days.

52:54Essentially, another detailed version of

52:56that dynamic.

52:58So this is all before tax.

52:59So I do not get to keep all this.

53:03I get to keep none of it as a matter of

53:05fact.

53:06Unfortunately, it all has places to go.

53:08I'll talk a bit about that later.

53:10And then research.

53:12This is a new thing that YouTube are

53:14starting to do saying,

53:15"Hey, make videos about this rather than

53:17that."

53:18And so it's kind of interesting that like

53:21the videos

53:21that get thrown in here kind of come from

53:23the places

53:24and the kind of content that I don't want

53:26to make.

53:27So go make content about Python.

53:30I don't make content about Python.

53:32Let's look at videos related to Tableau.

53:34Hey, look, look at this video that Simply

53:35Land is making.

53:36Look at this video that Donabell is making.

53:38And two of these are from Donabell Sanders,

53:40and I keep saying that her videos are

53:41fantastic

53:42if you look at the duration, the 23 minutes

53:45,

53:45compared to mine, which is typically 10

53:46minutes.

53:47And then you've also got Tableau.

53:49You've got putting a video there.

53:51So that makes sense.

53:52If I go and see all,

53:54then it shows me sort of the general gist

53:55of what's going on.

53:57So it's kind of telling me, "Make videos

53:59like this

54:00rather than just the ones you're making."

54:02So that's pretty much that in a nutshell.

54:05That's sort of 2023 summed up

54:09if I sort of take it that way.

54:11Now, let me do this.

54:12Let me just mark this so it's super clear

54:15what I've actually covered, because I know

54:16I will forget.

54:18Where are we? Where are we? Where are we?

54:20Ooh, why can't I...

54:22Oh, no, can I not cross this out?

54:25"Strike Through."

54:28Oh, that is so difficult to get to. Anyway,

54:29there you go.

54:30Tableau.

54:32Salesforce. Tableau, a Salesforce company.

54:34God, yeah, Tableau this year.

54:36Ooh, I want to be careful here,

54:40because I don't want to annoy people,

54:41but I think I have to talk about it.

54:43Tableau has been a funny old company this

54:47year.

54:48First and foremost, I've just made that

54:49mistake there.

54:50I called Tableau a company.

54:52Tableau stopped being a company three years

54:54ago.

54:55It's a product. It's owned by Salesforce.

54:57And I keep making this mistake of referring

54:59to Tableau directly

55:01as if it exists, okay?

55:03It doesn't exist anymore.

55:05And actually, I'd go as far as to say

55:07that there have been enough changes

55:09specifically this year

55:11to Tableau, the product,

55:13and the leadership team that pushed that

55:15product

55:16to pretty much justify just thinking of

55:20Tableau

55:21as being under new management wholesale.

55:23Now, this has been happening over time.

55:25We went from Adam Cilipski to Mark.

55:30Then we had Ryan Stepin, Ryan A.T. Stepin.

55:36And that sort of quick succession of

55:38changes

55:39in basically three years, three CEOs in as

55:42many years,

55:43actually less than that, has meant a real

55:45sort of change.

55:47Now, I don't know if Tableau have, what is

55:49it,

55:50like a leadership team, like products,

55:53partners, resources?

55:56Where is this? Do they have like a, oh,

55:59about Tableau?

56:03Mission. Let's go to the mission.

56:06Does it have a leadership team page?

56:10They used to have one.

56:12Maybe we don't have one anymore.

56:15Is that really true? Am I missing something

56:17?

56:18So, products, solutions, resources,

56:21partners.

56:22Okay. About Tableau.

56:24Awards recognition, careers.

56:27Let's do this instead. Let's do this.

56:30Press at Tableau.

56:33I think this will take me to Salesforce

56:37page.

56:38So, if I go to the press releases,

56:43and I go to the slug, does it tell me?

56:46Yeah, if I go to the about page,

56:48I can't believe this is how I'm doing it.

56:51Yeah, I don't know where it is.

56:53It used to be much easier than this.

56:55Anyway, the Tableau leadership team is

56:58pretty much entirely new.

57:00You can see how hard, how difficult it was

57:02to find it.

57:04Maybe, ah, why am I giving up on this?

57:06Let's call Salesforce leadership team.

57:11Let's go, let's actually start making the

57:13mistake I've been saying.

57:15Let's go to the Salesforce page.

57:17Look at the leadership team.

57:19You can see I'm clearly struggling with

57:22this.

57:23So, this is the Salesforce leadership team.

57:26Okay, they don't have,

57:34Salesforce companies, God, this is so tough

57:36.

57:37Let's go to Tableau.

57:43No, this takes me to a Tableau page inside

57:46of Salesforce.

57:48Very subtle.

57:50And about Salesforce, no, I cannot find it.

57:54I don't know if it's me being an idiot.

57:57If you're watching this on YouTube,

57:58and you know where I'm supposed to go to

58:01find the leadership team from Tableau,

58:03let me know, because I can't find it.

58:05It used to be easy to find.

58:07When Mark Nelson or Adam Sierlebski was

58:10like CEO,

58:11you could just, it was literally a couple

58:12of clicks,

58:13and I could have found it.

58:15I just can't find it.

58:17I found the Salesforce team, but what we

58:18don't see is like the,

58:20I was hoping to find the teams at each

58:25organization.

58:28Our values about Salesforce leadership.

58:34Nevermind, this is becoming incredibly

58:38boring now.

58:40This takes you to this, and it's not down

58:44here.

58:46Careers? No.

58:49Contact us? Is there something here?

58:54No, technical support, headquarters,

59:00but nothing about the leadership team.

59:02Okay.

59:03Very strange.

59:04Anyway, Tableau, Salesforce company.

59:07I've been making a mistake this year.

59:09I need to make it less.

59:10We're going to start referring to Tableau

59:12as Salesforce.

59:13Tableau does not exist. It's a product.

59:15So Tableau can't make decisions because it

59:17's a brand and a product.

59:19Keep making this mistake.

59:21It's a bit like saying Coca-Cola the

59:24company versus Coke the drink.

59:27You can't sort of critique the drink.

59:29Drink is not running its own business.

59:32It's run by the people who run Coke.

59:34A better example would have been to say

59:35Sprite.

59:36Okay, so Sprite is owned by Coca-Cola.

59:39To critique the Sprite leadership team

59:42means you're critiquing the Coca-Cola

59:43leadership team.

59:45So I need to stop talking about Tableau and

59:49focus more on Salesforce.

59:50I think this year more than anything has

59:52been one of those years.

59:54If I actually go to Tableau homepage,

59:56you'll see that one of the things that's

59:58actually here is Tableau Pulse

60:00and this whole thing about Tableau AI.

60:03This is actually going to be my second

60:05thing,

60:06which is Tableau Pulse is now in beta.

60:09You can learn more about Tableau Pulse.

60:12You can go to this page.

60:14You can find out lots of interesting things

60:16.

60:17To get started, you can sign up for the

60:21beta to be turned on.

60:23And this is all great if you're a customer,

60:25but if you're not a customer, which I'm not

60:26,

60:27I guess for some bizarre reason,

60:32being part of the Tableau community program

60:34and helping teach Tableau doesn't qualify

60:37as being up high enough

60:41on the list in the Salesforce process

60:43to get people access to just see what it's

60:46like.

60:47It's interesting because with embedding,

60:49you can do that.

60:50There's actually embedding demos that have

60:51generic username and passwords

60:53that you can go in and see what it's like.

60:55So it's not like Tableau aren't familiar

60:56with this.

60:57I keep doing it.

60:58It's not like Salesforce aren't familiar

61:00with this.

61:01It's just a very strange dynamic.

61:03So yeah, to this day, I still don't have

61:04access to Tableau Pulse.

61:06I can't show you anything.

61:07All I have done is talk about the old pre-

61:10recorded setups

61:12of Pulse from conferences.

61:14I am 100% certain what we saw at conference

61:19was like a hybrid between the actual demos

61:21and what I call Figma demos.

61:23So Figma is a UX/UI design tool,

61:27and you can actually create very compelling

61:29user interface demos in it.

61:32I think what we've been seeing at

61:33conferences has been the vision piece

61:35and maybe very controlled demos of small

61:37parts of it that did work,

61:39especially when you're going between

61:40screens

61:41or you're seeing emails or you're seeing

61:42Slack.

61:43But then when we saw the product itself,

61:45I think we were seeing the very early days

61:47of that.

61:48And the beta is being very tightly

61:49controlled

61:50to make sure that people are using it in a

61:53trusted way.

61:54I'm sure it's designed to make sure that

61:56Tableau doesn't break any rules

61:59in terms of giving people the wrong

62:00insights

62:01and then people basing decisions on that.

62:03I'm sure there's a whole legal rigmarole to

62:05get through.

62:07But nonetheless, been really frustrated

62:09to try and get my hands on it.

62:11My big concern with Tableau parts,

62:13and I'll just come out and say this now, I

62:15haven't tried it.

62:16I know some people have.

62:17They've thought really good of it.

62:19Two people that I trust have actually tried

62:21Tableau parts

62:22and have told me good things about it.

62:24It's made me really sort of excited to try

62:25it out.

62:26But this is the big but.

62:28This is the big but.

62:30My biggest concern with Tableau parts

62:33is that Tableau doesn't understand its core

62:37innovation.

62:38And I know that's a brutal thing to say.

62:42But Tableau's core innovation was never the

62:46platform.

62:48It was never sort of the fancy drag and

62:51drop, whatever.

62:54Tableau's core innovation was helping

62:57people work through their data.

63:00You could think of it as drag and drop,

63:02but I actually go further and I'd say,

63:05as a creator, when you're in Tableau

63:06desktop

63:07and you connect to your data and you drag

63:08things around,

63:09you write a calculation, you drag things

63:10around,

63:11you answer a question, you go to the next

63:12one,

63:13you're moving around, that in itself,

63:15that was actually the first thing that was

63:16released.

63:17That was the core innovation that brought

63:19it to people.

63:20Dashboards was a byproduct of that.

63:22Needing to share that was a byproduct of

63:24that initial core innovation.

63:26And then the platform was a further

63:29consequence of that.

63:32So you build something cool, you discover

63:33an insight,

63:34you want to share it, let's put it into a

63:35dashboard.

63:36Okay, you want to get that dashboard in

63:37front of people.

63:38Oh, let's put it on a platform.

63:40That platform can be server or cloud, right

63:42?

63:42And now it's on server and cloud.

63:43Oh, let's add governance and trust on top

63:45of that.

63:46And I think where Tableau are now is they

63:49think of themselves

63:50as that latter thing, the platform,

63:52and they've got lots of platform thought,

63:54but they've just run away from that core

63:56innovation a bit too much.

63:58And as a result, my big concern with Table

64:01au Pulse

64:02is that it's going to be fantastic when it

64:05works.

64:06And then the question will come, which will

64:08be,

64:09well, how do you make it work well?

64:11And the tools you have at your disposal,

64:14if you're only looking inside of the Table

64:15au platform,

64:16have not been brought to the same standard

64:18as Pulse

64:19in order to get it matching and singing and

64:21dancing.

64:22And this is sort of the big frustration

64:24with a lot of Tableau features.

64:25They tend to be really well thought through

64:29,

64:30really well conceived, even to the point

64:34where the first thing you see

64:35is always just the initial gambit,

64:37and then over the months, the devs and the

64:39product managers

64:40are just knocking it out of the park.

64:42They know their stuff.

64:43I can't tell you how frustrated it is to

64:45have conversations with them

64:47where I'll turn up and I'll be like,

64:48"Right, I've been wanting to tell them

64:49about this."

64:50And I tell them about something and they're

64:51like, "Yeah, we know."

64:53They all know. They all know about this

64:55stuff.

64:56The things you and I find frustrating,

64:58the things we see in the community forums,

64:59that feedback generally gets back to them.

65:01The issue comes around deciding what makes

65:04it onto the cutting block,

65:05deciding what gets dev time,

65:07deciding what makes it onto the product's

65:09feature list.

65:10That is a very tough thing to do,

65:11and as a company, you've got to make bold

65:12bets.

65:13If you ask people for a faster horse,

65:16you'd have just plugged more horses onto it

65:19.

65:20I think there's a saying about that,

65:21but no one ever thought of a car, right?

65:23People wanted better phones and we all had

65:25Blackberries

65:26with a button for every letter of the

65:27alphabet

65:28and then Apple turns up with no buttons and

65:30just a screen

65:31and everyone's like, "Wow, that's what I

65:33want," right?

65:34And then everything followed that path.

65:36So my big concern is the Tableau policy.

65:40It's just moving further and further away

65:41from the core innovation

65:42and as a result, some of those other bits

65:45of the platform

65:46haven't been brought to that same level.

65:49The only exception, the only exception to

65:51this, I think, is Tableau Prep.

65:53I have to say this because Tableau Prep has

65:55been, for me this year,

65:57the feature that's made me the happiest in

65:58the whole entire platform.

66:00They're just doing what people want.

66:02It's so simple. They're going onto the

66:03feature list,

66:04they're solving problems, they're bringing

66:06them through,

66:07and on top of that, we're finding more and

66:09more ways

66:09to bring it into the workflow, right?

66:11So it's just so rewarding to see a partner

66:15Tableau

66:16that is literally just working through the

66:17to-do list

66:18of the biggest pains and issues.

66:21And then on the other side, you have Table

66:22au Pass,

66:23which it's not that no one was asking for

66:25it.

66:26It's kind of a big, bold bet,

66:28and I do think technology is heading in

66:29this direction.

66:31I don't think it's a wrong sort of

66:32direction from Tableau on this,

66:35but if I still have to fight with published

66:37data sources

66:38to make Tableau Pass work, then Tableau

66:41Pass won't work

66:42because many of the things that drive me

66:44insane

66:45about published data sources aren't going

66:47to get fixed in Pass.

66:49They're just going to get exacerbated, if

66:50anything,

66:51because with Pass, you'll get a big

66:52appetite

66:53for better quality data sources,

66:55and if you're still fighting with data

66:56sources the same old way,

66:58then it's just not going to sort of sing

67:00and dance.

67:01But this is all saying this without me ever

67:03trying it.

67:04I haven't tried it, haven't used it.

67:06I know there's an interface to build

67:07metrics.

67:08I've asked some questions about that ahead

67:09of time.

67:10I've even asked the product team at one

67:12point,

67:13"Look, what is your vision for the most

67:15optimal way

67:16to build data sources for this?

67:18Where am I doing that? Am I doing that in D

67:19BT?

67:20Am I doing it in the database, or am I

67:21doing it in Tableau Prep,

67:23or am I doing it in desktop?

67:24Tell me, where should I invest my time?"

67:26And I still struggle to get what I feel is

67:28a convincing answer,

67:30and I think there is one right answer.

67:32I don't think any one of those is going to

67:33be perfect,

67:34but I think one of those is going to be a

67:35lot better,

67:36and so I'm kind of looking to people and

67:39customers

67:40who are using Tableau Pass to say,

67:41"Hey, we've found that this works really

67:42well,

67:43and hopefully over the coming months, we'll

67:45find that answer

67:46and we'll be able to sort of get to the

67:48bottom of that."

67:50Anyway, I felt like I just went on a

67:51massive rant.

67:53It's not intended as a rant.

67:55It's just I'm so passionate about Tableau,

67:58and there's just so many things that are

68:00just so small and simple.

68:02It's crazy.

68:04Simon has asked, "What are the problems

68:05with published data sources?"

68:07When you publish it, I'll do this very

68:10briefly,

68:11but if you go to the Tableau ideas, let's

68:14just very quickly do this.

68:16So Tableau ideas.

68:17I'll actually go to this, because this is

68:21...

68:21Page, let's say forums.

68:25Have they moved this?

68:29Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no.

68:32Is this... Have they moved this? Have they

68:34changed this?

68:35Oh, here we go. Thank God.

68:37Okay, I worry they moved it, because, you

68:38know, Salesforce.

68:39Anyway, this ideas biz, they have moved it,

68:43and it's not as good,

68:43but okay, fine.

68:47Oh, maybe we go to the ideas page.

68:49Yes, okay, this is what I was looking for.

68:51So if we go to the ideas page, and you

68:53search for...

68:54If you're wondering what's the problem with

68:55the feature,

68:56go to the ideas page, type in the feature,

69:03and filter to things that are still open,

69:06okay?

69:07And these are like the working list of

69:10things that, let's say, open...

69:17If I just say open, and then we sort by

69:21popular ideas...

69:25Has it only got... Let's just do all.

69:29I'm not seeing all of them.

69:31I'm not seeing...

69:33Maybe because I put a space in data source.

69:36Let's just try this.

69:38Let's just try this data source.

69:42Okay, yeah, so I...

69:45This doesn't feel like the full list to me,

69:47but nonetheless,

69:49you'll get a good mix and feel for all the

69:51different sort of issues.

69:53I can't go through all of them here,

69:55but this is a pretty good list of the kind

69:57of things people want to do.

69:58The other thing with them is just working

69:59with them.

70:00Once you create a published data source,

70:02especially in desktop, that is it.

70:04It's locked down. You can't do anything

70:06more to it.

70:07Beyond that, you can't create relationships

70:08with it.

70:09Now relationships are a fairly relatively

70:11new feature to Tableau,

70:13but on the flip side of that is actually

70:15pretty powerful.

70:17We should be moving as many people away

70:19from doing joins and blends

70:20where it's unnecessary and using

70:22relationships

70:23because it's much more powerful.

70:25Donna Bell-Santas has got some great videos

70:27on this.

70:28I've got some videos on this as well.

70:30Andy Kriebel's got some videos on this as

70:31well.

70:32So go check out all the content to kind of

70:34find out more about that.

70:35But to go back to my point about Pulse,

70:38if you're going to use good data sources

70:41to drive this really innovative feature,

70:43you have to give the people who build those

70:44data sources good tools.

70:46And if Tableau prep is the answer to that,

70:48I'm not sure Tableau prep is all the way

70:49there,

70:50even though it makes me super happy.

70:52I love everything about prep.

70:55Published data sources are not quite there.

70:58Some of the other capabilities around the

71:00platform

71:01that kind of relies on you pushing that

71:03work back to the database,

71:05and that's fine as an answer, but if that's

71:06the answer,

71:07then Tableau Pulse doesn't stand on its own

71:10.

71:11You've then got to couple it with a really

71:13good database technology

71:14or couple it with a really good data

71:16engineering team

71:18to get the data sources working and singing

71:20so that people can actually use them

71:21properly and ask questions.

71:23So anyway, I'm going to stop there.

71:26That was a rant.

71:28I did go on for a bit too long.

71:31But we'll stop there.

71:33On to the next one.

71:34I really do have to carry on.

71:36Let's talk about Tableau certifications

71:38very, very quickly.

71:40Tableau certifications.

71:43Basically, my thing with this is that I

71:47think there's something going on

71:50with analytics companies having cert

71:53ifications, creating requirements,

71:56and essentially creating what I would call

71:58a side hustle out of its customers

72:01because those customers want to see people

72:04that are accredited

72:05and validated, and some of the charges and

72:09costs

72:09to do some of these exams are quite steep.

72:12Now, thankfully, normally it's your

72:14organization

72:15that's sometimes paying for this.

72:16Sometimes it's, you know, if you work for a

72:18consultancy,

72:19it's your consultancy paying for it.

72:21But this all goes back to the vendor,

72:24analytics vendor, Tableau,

72:25to make these now.

72:27A comparator is Alteryx.

72:29Alteryx, I think the first two exams are

72:30free,

72:31so the equivalent of the specialist exam is

72:33free.

72:34So that means everyone can get certified,

72:36prove that they know what they're doing

72:38very easily,

72:38and just get the certification done.

72:40And that's actually quite an important

72:41thing

72:42because it allows people to dip their toes

72:45in know enough,

72:46but also have something to show for that

72:47energy and effort.

72:49Now, with the certifications,

72:51I haven't renewed any of my certifications

72:53recently at all.

72:55I once had every certification under the

72:57sun.

72:58They've changed them as well.

72:59I've even helped sort of work behind the

73:01scenes

73:02to improve some of these certifications as

73:03well.

73:04So I'm not saying that they're a bad thing.

73:06I've just gone bored of re-certifying every

73:08single year.

73:10And it's just, you know, unless I actually

73:13have to,

73:14I'll just sort of try not to, if I'm honest

73:17.

73:18It's just getting a little bit boring.

73:20And the platform's about to change a whole

73:21ton.

73:22So the other thing I'm worried about is

73:24doing the certification

73:25and then having things like Tableau Pulse

73:27and all this AI features come in,

73:29and then next year there's two more cert

73:30ifications.

73:31I just want this all to settle so then I

73:33can go and do it properly.

73:35So it's kind of interesting.

73:36Now, there is one that's not on here, on

73:38Coursera.

73:39So there is a Tableau certification on Cour

73:41sera, the platform itself.

73:43And that's a super interesting thing.

73:46Let's just, everything's super interesting,

73:48according to my phraseology.

73:50Tableau Business Intelligence Analyst

73:52Professional Certificate.

73:53Here we go. I've searched it before.

73:55So this is it. This is the Coursera course.

73:588,000 have already enrolled.

74:01It starts in December the 26th.

74:02It starts today? Oh, my word.

74:05Enroll for free.

74:07Included with Coursera Plus.

74:10How many eight months or 10 hours a week?

74:12Oh, that's a hefty toll, isn't it?

74:14That feels like a competitor to my YouTube

74:15channel.

74:16I'd better check it out.

74:19But no, stuff like this is super

74:20interesting.

74:22I would be intrigued to see what the body

74:24of content in here is like.

74:25Oh, actually, you do get it.

74:27So eight-course series,

74:28Introduction to Business Intelligence,

74:30Business Analysis, Data Ecosystem,

74:33Introduction to Tableau, Data Visualization

74:34,

74:35Advanced Data Visualization, Data Analysis.

74:39So, yeah, the first three courses are kind

74:41of generic.

74:42And I think they might already include

74:44content made elsewhere.

74:46I'm not sure if this has all been made by

74:48Tableau.

74:49The instructor is Tableau.

74:51Yeah, Tableau Learning Partner Instructor.

74:54Tableau Learning Partner. What does that

74:55mean?

74:56That's a really interesting phraseology,

74:58isn't it?

74:59So these are all the courses.

75:03Do we get...

75:05If you've done this, let me know.

75:07I'd love to know someone who started this.

75:09I'd love to know what the content is. Maybe

75:10I should do it.

75:11I've had some dealings with Coursera

75:13related to their Google Analytics course.

75:16I'll come to that later.

75:18But, yeah, we'll move on from cert

75:20ifications.

75:21I'm just finding certifications a little

75:22bit tricky at the moment.

75:23So maybe I'll just sort of buckle up and do

75:27them properly.

75:30Thanos. Yes, that is a much better name.

75:37My setup costs. Any savings for pickleball.

75:39Please don't change plans for me.

75:41Oh, no, no.

75:43I'll talk about the stuff here when I talk

75:46about becoming a media company.

75:48So we've gone sort of back and forth.

75:50We've done a bit of Tableau.

75:51I think I'd already done top video of 2023.

75:55Top video released in 2023.

75:58Now, that is a more tricky question to

75:59answer.

76:00I need a data source to do that because,

76:04again, YouTube backend is just diabolical.

76:06But what we can do is I can go to this...

76:11Oh, man, I've got so many things on my

76:13screen.

76:14I can go back here.

76:15I'm looking over my laptop, which is in

76:17front of my screen,

76:18which is why I'm looking like this.

76:20If I just go to...

76:23How many videos have I done this year?

76:24So this is Ryan 8A, CF, YouTube, YouTube

76:29and Tableau.

76:31Okay, so I think the top video released in

76:362023 was the crash course.

76:45The next one was going to probably be my

76:48chart series.

76:50I think they're probably the next biggest

76:53ones.

76:54There's no real way for me to filter to

76:57when they were...

76:59That is actually really...

77:01Am I being dumb?

77:03No, YouTube is really that bad.

77:06No, YouTube is really that bad because only

77:09in the dashboard do you see the last 10.

77:14And there's no drill down for that.

77:16So the way I would do this is I've got an

77:23extension called vidIQ.

77:26I pay for this.

77:27It allows me to do a CSV export of an

77:31entire channel.

77:33So you'll see that it's basically doing

77:34this.

77:35And what it does is it grabs all the

77:37channel videos, not the downloads.

77:41It just grabs the names and then it gets

77:43the metadata for that video.

77:45So what this will get is the publish time

77:46for that video as well.

77:48So when this is done, we'll be able to see

77:51that.

77:52Maybe I'll do it a little later on.

77:53So I'll leave that running in the

77:54background and then we'll come back to that

77:56question in Tableau maybe.

77:59I bet you my Tableau is not even licensed

78:01because I haven't opened it in a week or

78:03something and it kicks you out very quickly

78:04.

78:05So we'll come back to this.

78:07I'll leave it in there.

78:08Content strategy and content mix.

78:10Okay.

78:11So to talk about content strategy and

78:13content mix, the best way to do this is to

78:16show you a graphic that I got on my phone.

78:18Actually, coincidentally today that I

78:20decided that this is actually a really good

78:22graphic to show you.

78:24So let's do this.

78:25So I'm going to open three images.

78:28I'm going to put them on screen.

78:29Oh, there's my CSV.

78:31Let's download that to my machine.

78:33And I'm going to sort of minimize this.

78:36So I'm going to open three images and what

78:41they are are screenshots from my phone

78:44actually today at two o'clock roughly.

78:47And this is basically YouTube sends you

78:50these.

78:52What do I call these?

78:53It sends you kind of alerts and then it

78:54tells you how your channel performed that

78:56week.

78:57And this was actually a hint that it

78:59dropped on my channel.

79:01So I'll actually show you the video I took

79:02of the screen recording.

79:04And can I get can I get it to loop?

79:09QuickTime Player file.

79:12Can I get it to loop?

79:13No, I can't get it to loop.

79:15So we'll just hit play a few times.

79:17So this is basically the graphic.

79:19So basically says, look, this is your

79:21content we consider as part of a hub.

79:24So this keeps many of you happy and coming

79:26back.

79:27The new features videos.

79:29And then if you get to the next type of

79:31video and help like content.

79:33So Tableau desktop crash course.

79:35That's a very sort of good group of content

79:36.

79:37And another one here could be seen as a

79:39scatterplot video, which I'd shown you.

79:41Yeah.

79:42And then the next one after that is what I

79:43call the hero videos.

79:45This I call these whales, but YouTube calls

79:47these hero videos.

79:49Popular topics with big appeal.

79:51So these ones are the ones that really

79:52reach a big audience, really go out there

79:55and draw people into your channel.

79:57So those are the three general sort of

79:59frameworks for videos.

80:01I have traditionally only been making hub

80:04videos and help videos.

80:06And this year I didn't really make any hero

80:08videos at all.

80:10They just take too much time.

80:12As I explained, I didn't have the time.

80:14So super, super, super difficult to make.

80:18But nonetheless, it's kind of interesting

80:22because what YouTube wants you to do is to

80:24balance these, kind of schedule them.

80:27So it's basically saying, hey, help content

80:30is really working for you.

80:32Go and focus on hub and hero basically.

80:35So how can you complement these types of

80:37videos with the other two types?

80:39So I'm known for help content and it's

80:40basically saying, hey, go check out these

80:42other videos.

80:44And so here's some strategies.

80:46And so that's actually very much how I look

80:47at it.

80:48Now, content on my side is done in Notion.

80:52I can't really show you that because there

80:53's some confidential stuff in there about

80:56stuff I can't share.

80:57And I haven't really checked with various

80:58people to see if I can actually share stuff

81:00with them.

81:01So I won't share that in there.

81:04But none to say I have about like 300

81:06videos like penciled in.

81:09That's no joke.

81:10300 videos as a list in Notion.

81:12It's a table with basically a title.

81:15Most people start with a title and they go

81:17to the thumbnail.

81:18Then they actually make the video.

81:19I tend to start with a title, I make the

81:21video, then I decide a thumbnail

81:23essentially after making the video.

81:25It's a bit of a backwards process compared

81:26to other YouTubers, but that's just the way

81:29it is.

81:30And the big thing for next year is ideally

81:36just slowing down on the quantity and

81:39really ramping up the quality.

81:42So if I was to put myself on a slider, I am

81:45going to be making the usual, "Hey, this is

81:48what's new in Tableau videos."

81:50But on top of that, I also want to start

81:52making the 30-minute, 40-minute, one-hour

81:55long crash courses that I did really,

81:57really well at the beginning of this year.

81:59So beginning of '24, we'll do a Tableau

82:02prep crash course.

82:04We'll do a Tableau cloud and server crash

82:06course.

82:07And then we'll make our way through the

82:09smaller parts of the product.

82:11So we'll do something like a calculations

82:13crash course.

82:14We'll do something like a charting crash

82:16course.

82:17We'll try and build out these, let's say,

82:20more instructive videos.

82:23And the reason is because I can really plan

82:26my way around those.

82:28And the work around that can happen

82:30irrespective of what hurdles come my way.

82:34Because all I need to do is find a four-

82:36hour window to record that in one sitting.

82:40And then the editing can happen

82:41irrespective of whether I'm ill or whatever

82:43's happening.

82:44And so I want to get into a cadence where I

82:45've maybe recorded three or four of these

82:48ahead of time.

82:49Maybe I spend a weekend recording three of

82:50them.

82:51Then I edit them over the course of two

82:52months and I release them on a more casual

82:55cadence, interspersed with some of these

82:58more frequent, "Here's what's new" Tableau

83:00videos.

83:01So that's essentially my game plan for the

83:02year.

83:03I think that's going to work pretty well.

83:05I want to try and collaborate with more

83:06people.

83:07I want to do more stuff like this.

83:08I think this kind of content is really fun.

83:10Take up sections of the videos and just put

83:12them out and see how that works.

83:14But nonetheless, it's just really tough to

83:18get this.

83:19Bearing in mind, I still work full-time.

83:21I'm still a father of two.

83:23And there's so much going on in life.

83:26This is, again, something I only do between

83:287 p.m. and 9 p.m. when I have the time.

83:32So I have to live within those parameters

83:34as much as I can.

83:36And then this point about becoming a media

83:38company.

83:39Now, one of the things I've realized is I

83:42can't do things just on my own.

83:45It's the amount of stuff I have to do to

83:47get a video done is actually ridiculous.

83:51And I only realized how ridiculous it was

83:54when I tried to bring someone into that

83:55workflow for the first time.

83:57Completely new.

83:58And it was actually crazy.

84:02When I tried to break down the steps and

84:03bring them into it, I suddenly started

84:05realizing, "Oh, crap. I haven't done that.

84:08Oh, I can't share that. Oh, this isn't set

84:09up for sharing in that way."

84:11Or, "Oh, no, there's just so many things."

84:14So that has been a process that actually

84:16started, let's say, three, four months ago

84:20now.

84:21So I have what is called a content producer

84:23helping out.

84:25I haven't asked them if I could share their

84:26name on the channel.

84:28So that's why I'm not saying who it is.

84:30But when I get that permission, we'll

84:31absolutely share that with everyone.

84:34And it shouldn't be a surprise for those of

84:36you who know me.

84:37I've worked with this person before as well

84:38.

84:39So it's been super fantastic to sort of get

84:41them on board.

84:42They've been immensely helpful.

84:44So I'm super grateful for having them

84:47because essentially it's no longer just me

84:48anymore.

84:49So that's a huge, huge deal.

84:52The number two person I need to sort of

84:55bring onto the team needs to be an editor

85:00because the biggest bottleneck to all of

85:00this is just editing.

85:01If I spend an hour recording something, it

85:03's going to take me four hours editing it.

85:06If I spend five minutes recording something

85:08, it's going to take me 30 minutes editing

85:10it.

85:11And there's a tradeoff because I'm not a

85:13full-time editor. I'm not a professional

85:15editor.

85:16Yes, I can edit all my videos myself, and

85:18that's kind of useful when it comes to

85:20articulating points and being in control of

85:23the direction, the art style and everything

85:25, as well as the instruction.

85:27That's super important.

85:29With LinkedIn, this is actually one of the

85:30reasons I work really well with them

85:32because they allow me to do all of that

85:33myself.

85:34I just send them the videos and they do the

85:36editing of the videos.

85:38All I do is record the videos and send it

85:39to them.

85:40I'll come back to LinkedIn in a second.

85:43But for my channel, I need an equivalent

85:45because I realize that guarantees a

85:47workflow that gets content out the door.

85:51And there's probably a gap I have to fill,

85:53and that is invest a little bit in an

85:55editor myself to kind of make the comics

85:57work.

85:58But if we can get four months with an

85:59editor on board, we can kind of hit this

86:02cadence where we're then able to make all

86:05the videos I sort of come up with and not

86:07have this ridiculous backlog where I'm

86:08having to pick the ones I'm sort of most

86:10passionate about.

86:11And then on top of that, we're actually

86:13able to make this like a self-fulfilling

86:15flywheel and just get more and more content

86:17out of it that helps people,

86:19that then allows this to just be sort of a

86:21net benefit for everyone.

86:23For me, in terms of time, I don't spend too

86:25much time for the editor and the content

86:27producer who are involved doing something

86:29that is interesting, challenging, getting

86:31their content out to people as well so they

86:33can say they're part of something.

86:35And then most importantly, the actual

86:36people who need the help, people who are

86:38searching on Google, people searching on

86:40YouTube, wherever they're searching, they

86:42can get that out.

86:43And that's sort of been a really

86:44interesting sort of dynamic.

86:46So let me just check my comments. I think a

86:48couple have come through.

86:51"Apex Smart, looking forward to Tableau

86:52Server Cloud, Crash Course. Will it be like

86:54the Tableau desktop Crash Course?" Yes, it

86:56will be. Nice and long.

86:58Me going through it live stream, then

87:02edited, yes. Snakeboy290, that's pretty

87:05cool.

87:06I think I missed what that was in relation

87:08to. There's a bit of lag in terms of the

87:10stream, but no worries.

87:12Apex Smart, "Anyone can edit." I didn't

87:14have the skills to edit before I started

87:15this channel. I just made a video.

87:18Go to my first video on my channel and look

87:20how bad it is. That is not an edited video.

87:22What I do now is very heavily edited. So

87:25super important to understand the value of

87:28editing and how much it lifts the story.

87:31But just to go back to sort of this thing,

87:34LinkedIn. I haven't talked much about

87:36LinkedIn.

87:37For those of you watching on LinkedIn, this

87:38might not, this might be actually of

87:40interest.

87:41So let me, where is, where is my, okay,

87:43here we go. So this did download. I'll come

87:45back to that later.

87:48If I go to LinkedIn, we can go to Learning.

87:55And then if we go from LinkedIn Learning in

87:59here to my Analytics.

88:03So I have two courses on LinkedIn. Let me

88:04just make this larger. I have two courses

88:07on LinkedIn.

88:09One was released last year in November, so

88:13over a year ago. Then September 25. And

88:18then we are going to do one more course

88:20with LinkedIn early in 24.

88:23This is the reach they have. So you can see

88:25that this is a completely different level

88:27of reach compared to YouTube.

88:29We're not getting sort of tens of thousands

88:31that I get on YouTube. But what is

88:32interesting, and this is sort of some

88:34inside baseball,

88:36is that it's actually these LinkedIn

88:38courses that make the business of this

88:41YouTube channel work.

88:43Because I can't tell you the numbers, but

88:45long story short, you know, everybody's

88:48introduction to Table.

88:49If we go to that course, how long is that?

88:53Focus on data that helps. Don't talk to

88:54yourself.

88:56Yeah, let's just call this one hour, 14

88:59minutes. Okay, so it's one hour, 14 minute

89:03course.

89:04It's packaged for a professional audience

89:08and people, like the stats on LinkedIn are

89:12just so different to YouTube.

89:13People watch the stuff like really, really

89:16detailed and they complete it.

89:18One of the great things I get on LinkedIn

89:21every time I log in is, you know, people

89:24sort of just completing the course.

89:27So you'll see this, "Hey, someone just

89:28finished my Snowflake course. Someone just

89:30finished a Snowflake course. Tableau course

89:32."

89:32I get this all the time and it's crazy. The

89:35number of people that are just constantly

89:38finishing the course

89:40because they need it for something, they

89:42need it for certification, it's absolutely

89:44wild.

89:45And if I go to, let's go to the analytics

89:48for, let's say the Tableau course, you'll

89:51see that it's just, again, it's a steady

89:53line.

89:54It's very consistent. Same number of people

89:55roughly every month.

89:57There is some stuff that LinkedIn does

89:58because it knows who's actually interested

90:00in learning about Tableau,

90:02where it puts the course right in front of

90:04the right people at the right time.

90:06So this kind of stuff is super interesting.

90:08This is where it's really helping people do

90:10their job.

90:11And if you're wondering how do you get

90:12access to this, you need LinkedIn Premium

90:14to get access to the courses.

90:17Once you have LinkedIn Premium, you get

90:19LinkedIn Learning for free.

90:21It's part of the subscription. So you can

90:23just go and learn anything on LinkedIn

90:25Learning,

90:26which used to be a platform called Lender.

90:28com, which should tell you that it has

90:30literally any topic on the planet.

90:32It's pretty much going to be available on

90:33LinkedIn Learning.

90:35The other way you can watch the course is

90:37to go to my profile and you can watch it

90:39for free if you go to my profile.

90:40Let's say you don't have Premium. If you go

90:43to my profile, where is it?

90:45If I go to my profile, I'll show you where

90:48specifically. One of these featured pieces

90:51of content.

90:53So here you go. These featured snippets, if

90:59you click on them, you'll go to the, let's

91:03call this the post that I made.

91:06This specific post, I can't see it and you

91:09will be able to see it.

91:11It's just under here, there'll be an option

91:13to save it and start the course.

91:16And when you click on that from this post,

91:17you get access to it free for 24 hours.

91:20So that's something you can do, but you can

91:22also just use it with LinkedIn Premium if

91:25you've got access to that.

91:27So, yeah, these are the numbers behind this

91:29. Anyway, what I was saying about this is

91:31that this makes the YouTube channel work.

91:34So I actually do these courses at least one

91:36course a year with LinkedIn,

91:39and that then allows the business to

91:41actually work for me to be able to get a

91:44decent microphone, camera, laptop, editing

91:48setup,

91:48all of that to be able to actually make the

91:50YouTube channel work.

91:52So I make considerably more, like to give

91:55you an idea, that one hour 14 minute course

91:58took me, let's say four working days in

92:01total,

92:02if I was to put that back to back.

92:04But in terms of if I talk about it in

92:07percentages compared to the revenue that

92:11you saw,

92:12it's probably, YouTube probably only

92:14accounts for like, let's say 40% of the

92:18revenue.

92:19So this is the other half of the picture

92:21that makes the YouTube bit much, much more

92:24palatable and much easier to sort of not

92:27worry about

92:27and not sort of put pressure on that being

92:30like a profit center, if that makes sense.

92:34This balances the books and just allows

92:36everything to even out.

92:38If you want to know more about my media

92:40company, you can go find out about it.

92:44In the UK, we have very sort of open

92:45accounting system.

92:47So the company is unoriginally called TN

92:49Media Limited, TN being my initials.

92:52I literally didn't know what to call it, so

92:54I just typed in my initials and I called it

92:56Media and I called it Limited and there we

92:58go.

92:58We have a company.

93:00The main reason for having that is two

93:02reasons.

93:03Number one, insurance.

93:04I make YouTube videos, I work with various

93:06companies and one of those things is

93:09needing insurance in case you do something

93:11wrong or bad.

93:13Now, that shouldn't really happen in most

93:14cases on YouTube.

93:16If you do something bad, someone will send

93:17you a letter, take the video down, you're

93:19fine.

93:20But I actually in older times worked with

93:22Salesforce to make some videos for them

93:26that actually sits today in Trailblazer.

93:29So I've actually worked with Salesforce in

93:31the past to make content that is actually

93:33used as part of training equipment and

93:35training capabilities.

93:37My relationship with LinkedIn also requires

93:39me to have a pretty decent sort of business

93:41setup and accounting system.

93:43So really, I had to actually become a media

93:45company in order to work with people

93:48because you can't just be a sole trader as

93:50it's called here in the UK to kind of make

93:52those things work.

93:53So I have an accountant that helps me with

93:55all this stuff that kind of guides me

93:57through the best way to make everything

94:00work as a content creator.

94:03And the main aim of the business is to just

94:05generally not make a loss.

94:08That sounds ridiculous, but essentially we

94:11generate some revenue, we do something more

94:14ambitious that helps teach people.

94:16And so that's actually, I'll come to that

94:18in a second because that's what this datum

94:20bytes.io thing is going to be about in a

94:22second.

94:23But the other final part of that picture is

94:26actually also that we're just getting to a

94:29point where if I look at YouTube channels

94:32of the same scale, the same sort of level,

94:36I can't just keep going as I am without

94:42having an impact on me and without just

94:47disappointing a lot of people all at once.

94:50And that's sort of why I'm trying to slowly

94:52build up this media company.

94:55So then one day I'm thinking, who knows, in

94:58the future maybe Tableau Tim loses the Tim

95:01moniker and becomes just a generic data and

95:04analytics brand because it doesn't help

95:06just people with Tableau.

95:08It helps people with lots of other things

95:10beyond Tableau.

95:12I started covering Snowflake. I will cover

95:13more of it.

95:15I'm hoping to work with people that cover

95:16other technologies and tools.

95:18And so who knows what will happen with this

95:20over time.

95:21But I'd love this to become a community

95:23resource.

95:24TableauTim.com, the most frustrating part

95:26of this whole thing, my website is so bad.

95:30But honestly, if it wasn't for the website

95:34as well, a lot of people would struggle to

95:36find the videos.

95:37Actually 4% of all my video watch time

95:38comes from my website, which is crazy

95:40because that ranks above Twitter and

95:42WhatsApp and all these other things.

95:45So I'm going to be redesigning this.

95:48It's just long overdue.

95:50It's completely washed out.

95:52I'm not passionate about the site because

95:54it's just broken in a lot of ways.

95:56But we're going to update that as well and

95:58get that going.

95:59Part of becoming a media company is getting

96:02help, doing things properly, investing a

96:04little bit in the future

96:06and making sure that all of this becomes

96:08its own flywheel and that there's not a

96:10sudden moment where I've made a loss and I

96:12have to stop the channel or something.

96:15One of the great things is I don't have to

96:17have annoying sponsors on the channel at

96:19all.

96:20You've never seen me go, and now for this

96:22ad break, yes YouTube puts ads, because I

96:25can't stop those,

96:26but you've never seen me have a sponsor on

96:28the channel saying, "Hey, check out squares

96:31pace.com."

96:33That stuff always feels a little bit out of

96:35kilter for me because I don't know what you

96:37're interested in.

96:38I've not done market research on you.

96:40I don't want you to become the product

96:41either.

96:42That's not the agreement we enter to when

96:44you're looking for help with Tableau.

96:47You don't want to be salty.

96:50For the more generic content, maybe that's

96:52possible, but it's a little bit iffy.

96:56I've actually struggled to work with

96:57sponsors.

96:58I nearly entered into a discussion with a

97:01sponsor towards the end of this year

97:04because I was just looking at the help that

97:05I needed to do,

97:06and I just thought, "Hmm, a sponsor would

97:08really help that happen faster."

97:11But no, I kind of just stayed away from it.

97:13We're just going to do it the slow, more

97:16sure way. We're going to keep going, podd

97:17ling along, and see where we end up.

97:18Maybe I'm wrong about that, but hey, time

97:21will tell.

97:22We will find out more about that in due

97:25course.

97:26Media company, I kind of talked a bit about

97:29that.

97:30If you've got any questions, ask me in the

97:32comments.

97:33A few people have asked, "Have you

97:34considered pushing the courses to Udemy as

97:37well?"

97:38Number one, I don't make any courses.

97:42Actually, we're coming onto this in a

97:44second.

97:45Do you get consulting work through LinkedIn

97:48as well?

97:49I actually don't work for myself. I work

97:52for a company.

97:54I work for a company called Aimpoint

97:55Digital.

97:56Let me just tell people about them because

97:58you might as well because you're probably

98:01knowing and want to know what I do for a

98:03living.

98:04Aimpoint Digital, based in Atlanta, America

98:07.

98:08We have a UK office as well.

98:12If I go to this, this is a good sort of

98:17diagram.

98:18Analytics, that's called the division or

98:21pillar that I work for.

98:23Decision science, data engineering, and

98:25infrastructure and strategy.

98:27Those are the four different things that we

98:29do.

98:30The great thing about that is I get to work

98:31with people who are good at all these other

98:33things that I'm not good at.

98:35I learn a ton of things from them.

98:39One of the reasons I came to the company is

98:40because I wanted to be exposed to more

98:43interesting uses of tools in the analytics

98:46space beyond just Tableau and Alteryx,

98:48which is what I was doing a lot in my

98:51previous role.

98:53I've learned a ton.

98:56I can't tell you how much I've learned this

98:59year alone since moving over.

99:02Any company, like any consulting, I've been

99:03a consultant for 10 years, I can't sit here

99:05and tell you consulting is an easy gig.

99:07I'm not the kind of person to go out and

99:09sell myself.

99:11I'm not good at that, actually.

99:13I'm good at communicating, I'm good at

99:14making content.

99:16That's what I do.

99:18A lot of people ask me, "Hey, you've got

99:19this 70,000 subscriber channel.

99:22You could just click your finger on Fiverr

99:24and get like a thousand pounds an hour and

99:26do this."

99:27The problem with those kinds of gigs is you

99:30don't work on the really interesting stuff.

99:34Yes, on Fiverr you might be asked to help

99:35out with a Tableau dashboard rebuild.

99:38Yes, you might be asked to do a couple of

99:40things.

99:41But in order to do some really ambitious

99:43aspirational work, you need to be part of a

99:46much bigger company with a much bigger

99:48pedigree of delivering results.

99:50That means you're part of a team and teams

99:52tend to work at really reputable consult

99:54ancies like your Accenture and so on and so

99:56forth.

99:57I've worked at Accenture.

99:59It was a great year and a bit.

100:01I wouldn't go back there for various

100:02reasons, but the people I worked with were

100:04fantastic.

100:05The work I did was really super interesting

100:06.

100:07But just the dynamic in the company just

100:09meant that I knew I was going to hit a dead

100:11end very, very, very quickly.

100:13Aimpoint is just fantastic.

100:17They're not paying me to say this.

100:18I am an employee, so maybe I'm biased a

100:20little bit.

100:21But you can see the tools that we work with

100:23here, the partners that we have.

100:26There's also like a, I'm not going to call

100:29it a startup-like field, but we are a very

100:32small company compared to other consult

100:35ancies.

100:36I think probably around 80 people.

100:40I don't know the exact number.

100:42But if you actually, I don't have to guess,

100:45go to our team and you can count the number

100:47of people.

100:49So this is our team essentially.

100:51And if you scroll down, you can click on

100:53names and see what people do.

100:55I think this is in order of when people

100:57have joined.

100:58So you can see I've joined all the way down

101:00here.

101:01And since myself, everyone after me has

101:03joined since.

101:05So also growing really, really quickly.

101:07And I think that's super interesting for a

101:09consultancy in the current climate.

101:11It's super rare really that consultancies

101:13are growing as much as we are and as

101:15quickly as we are.

101:16And in my opinion, doing well.

101:19So go check out Endpoint Digital.

101:22It's where I work.

101:24And you can find out more about sort of the

101:25core things that we do.

101:27So a little piece of important context, I

101:30think, to explain to people why I don't go

101:31out and sell myself in fiber.

101:34I don't need to, Endpoint keeps me more

101:36than busy and entertained with some really

101:38interesting, amazing challenges.

101:41Datumbytes.io.

101:44So what is Datumbytes?

101:46So the quickest explanation to this is the

101:49question I've been asked about Udemy.

101:53If I had a penny for every time someone

101:56says, "Hey, do you have a Udemy course?"

101:59I think I would actually be rich.

102:00And maybe that's the hint I should be

102:02taking all this time.

102:04So let's just go to this.

102:06Let me go to my comments.

102:09And in here, I'm going to search.

102:13Can I search comments?

102:15Can I search? Yeah, here we go.

102:16Course.

102:17Search for course.

102:18The term course.

102:20So here we go.

102:21Like when I search for the term course,

102:23people ask me this all the time.

102:26"Hey, can you recommend a course?"

102:27"Hey, would you suggest this course?"

102:29"Can you go to this course?"

102:30These are just searches of the term course

102:33on my channel.

102:35And some of these are, you know, if I

102:38highlight the term course,

102:40you can kind of see this in more context.

102:43You know, paid for courses, Udemy.

102:49If I actually search specifically Udemy,

102:51I think this has been mentioned many times.

102:53So let's search for this.

102:55And search, let's do that.

102:57So, hey, yeah, people ask for this all the

103:00time.

103:01And I get some very persistent questions as

103:05well.

103:06"Please make a Udemy course."

103:07"Please make a Udemy course."

103:09I find those funny as well.

103:12If I made a course on Udemy, you wouldn't

103:15see me on YouTube

103:16because the stuff on Udemy really requires

103:20the kind of lift.

103:23It requires me to be fully a content

103:26creator,

103:28not have a consulting job.

103:30And I need to spend what would be four

103:33months

103:34building something worthy of Udemy's sort

103:35of scale and time.

103:37So it doesn't work.

103:39I can't do that kind of thing, not in my

103:40own setup.

103:42What I can do is something slightly

103:43different,

103:44which is to make my own courses on my own

103:47platform

103:49that I think can help people learn about

103:51analytics,

103:52not just Tableau.

103:53And the important thing that I have that I

103:55think is unique

103:56is that I've been working in analytics for

103:5810 years,

103:59well over 10 years now.

104:00I've been a consultant for 10 years.

104:02So I've worked at over 50 companies

104:04answering the same old question

104:06of how do you get data from A to B in a way

104:09that answers the question.

104:10And the context about that is that when you

104:12're learning Tableau,

104:14I think it's very easy to get caught up on

104:16what I do on my channel,

104:17learning about the technical capabilities.

104:19But there's a softer side to things.

104:21There's a more subtle explanation to the

104:23way things work with data,

104:25the way data is handled,

104:27the way you build conversations

104:31and you build teams that enable data

104:34products to be successful.

104:36And that's a very nuanced kind of thing.

104:38And YouTube is good for that kind of

104:39content,

104:41but my channel is in that place.

104:42It's not really suitable.

104:44And the kind of investment and time I need

104:45to make into that

104:47makes that sort of a really difficult thing

104:48.

104:49The other thing is if I wanted to do

104:50something like that on YouTube,

104:52to put, let's say, 40 hours of content on

104:54YouTube,

104:55no one would ever be able to watch all 40

104:56hours

104:57without YouTube putting MrBeast in at least

105:00half of those people's timelines.

105:02So you just get distracted all the time.

105:04So there is a value to making a dedicated

105:06learning platform of your own

105:08that you control, that you can then get

105:10people to go to.

105:11So that's essentially what datumbites.io is

105:13.

105:14Now, I'm going to click on this link,

105:17and I guarantee you this is not going to

105:18work exactly.

105:19Yes, this was never going to work.

105:21I knew it wasn't going to work because the

105:23website is still being built.

105:25And I think the version of the website I

105:28have in my mind

105:30is actually a back-end login for something

105:32else

105:33that I shouldn't really be showing you.

105:35But datumbites.io is something you've

105:38probably already seen.

105:40So if you see here my other channels, we do

105:42have a YouTube channel set up.

105:45And so what I'm going to be doing next year

105:46,

105:47when I said earlier on that I'm only going

105:49to be spending half my time

105:50on the YouTube channel.

105:52The other half is going to be spent on this

105:53YouTube channel.

105:55So I'm not leaving YouTube, but I'm going

105:57to be pushing all my,

106:00let's call this help-style content, general

106:03explainers,

106:05how-to explainers, for Tableau towards this

106:08channel.

106:09And it's not going to start at the

106:10beginning of the year.

106:11But the focus on datumbites.io will

106:13actually be about

106:14putting this in context of learning about

106:15other tools as well.

106:17So we'll be talking about Tableau, we'll

106:19talk about Snowflake,

106:20we'll talk about Altrix, we'll talk about

106:22the tools

106:22that I've used in my career.

106:24I'm doing this with a business partner.

106:26His name is Andre.

106:28So Andre and I have teamed up to get this

106:30platform set up.

106:32He's a very talented developer.

106:34For the level of capability I have in

106:38making videos,

106:40Andre is about 5x that when it comes to

106:42development.

106:43He's just on another level.

106:45So he's able to think about platforms,

106:47think about how these platforms come

106:48together.

106:49And he's also worked in consulting just

106:51like me

106:52with the same skills around Tableau, Altrix

106:54, Snowflake,

106:55DBT and all these other things.

106:57And he has a job in a company that builds

107:00tools

107:00that are focused around data as well.

107:03So he understands it from lots of different

107:04angles.

107:05And I think it's super important to have an

107:08analytics learning platform

107:09built by two people who've worked in the

107:11industry for so long.

107:12And I've actually got to the point where

107:14they've not just worked in it,

107:16they've not just sort of done it, they've

107:18not just delivered it,

107:20but Andre and I have both done tons and

107:22tons of training.

107:24Andre probably has trained more people in

107:26person

107:27than I have in person at all.

107:30So between the two of us, we've got this

107:31incredible capability

107:33to bring sort of what I think is almost

107:36going to be 20 years of insight

107:38into how we teach content.

107:40So my plan, at least for next year,

107:44is to make Date & Bytes the single best

107:46place to learn Tableau.

107:48And you're probably thinking, "Oh, it's

107:49going to be a paid platform."

107:50Yes, it will be a typical course platform

107:53where you'll be able to go and get your Ud

107:55emy-like content,

107:56but there is a philosophical thing about

107:58this,

107:59which is Andre and I came to Tableau from a

108:01place

108:02where we learned what we needed to from the

108:04internet.

108:05It was freely available.

108:07So we're working to try and make sure that

108:10we can keep the core

108:12of what we make always available.

108:14So let's say, as a very simple example,

108:17let's say we put like a Tableau master

108:20course, 50 hours of Tableau.

108:23A thing you'd get on Udemy is, "Here's a

108:25flash sale.

108:26Access this now. 30 pounds for the whole

108:28thing.

108:29Download and keep for lifetime."

108:31The problem with those is you download them

108:32, you don't watch them.

108:35What we're thinking of doing, and it's just

108:37an idea,

108:38nothing's confirmed at this point.

108:40We're going to try and make sure that when

108:42you sign up to something like that,

108:43you actually commit a bit to the time.

108:45So if you're going to do a 50-hour course,

108:47we're going to ask you,

108:48"Hey, how much time do you have a week?"

108:50And we're going to spread that out over

108:51time,

108:52and we're going to say, "Hey, this course

108:54will take you

108:54roughly this amount of time." So let's

108:56spread that out.

108:56And let's say you don't want to pay for it,

108:59or coming across the funds to pay for a

109:01course is somewhat difficult.

109:04We might be able to find a way of bashing

109:06the content

109:07into even smaller chunks so that our

109:09hosting and bandwidth costs

109:11can allow for that to work.

109:13We've also thought of things like if you

109:15get a membership,

109:17you always get what is equivalent of a gym

109:18pass for a friend

109:20for at least one month.

109:21So every month, you'll be able to give

109:22someone access to the platform

109:24to learn alongside you because we think

109:25learning is social.

109:27We've got lots of these great ideas sitting

109:29there

109:30that are waiting to be deployed.

109:32Next year, we're going to be sort of

109:33standing this up.

109:34There's not going to be a big launch day.

109:36It's going to be something that's going to

109:38slowly build up.

109:40But once we get the page up and running,

109:43we'll get a sign-out page for people who

109:44are interested.

109:45We'll be inviting people to help us with

109:47beta testing

109:47and everything like that.

109:49And going back to that certification piece,

109:52I want to solve that certification piece

109:54in a more interesting and fun way.

109:57And, dare I say it, AI is also making

110:00learning

110:01a very, very interesting thing.

110:02Something LinkedIn is doing at the moment

110:04is they've launched a search feature

110:07where when you ask or search for something,

110:09it can actually answer the question based

110:11on the videos

110:11that it's got on LinkedIn Learning.

110:13So it can actually get the answer out of

110:14LinkedIn Learning,

110:15respond to you, and then show you the video

110:17it's referenced.

110:18Super interesting stuff.

110:19So I'm super excited about this.

110:22We kind of played around with the names of

110:25the logo.

110:26The logo is actually...

110:27It started off as a creation by a designer

110:31that we got off Fiverr, actually,

110:33and then I ended up enhancing it myself

110:36because I wasn't quite happy with the

110:37design.

110:38So the logo is actually a little bit of a

110:40riff

110:41on something that we got from a designer.

110:43I completely took it and sort of redid it

110:45along with Andre's support over in Figma.

110:49So that was pretty fun.

110:50So, yeah.

110:51So let's look back at the comments.

110:56A few more comments.

110:59"Consulting, big companies you get work,

111:01cool toys."

111:02That's good to know.

111:03"Platforms, yeah.

111:04Over the years and experience in the BI

111:05type of space,

111:06how much of pipeline is building versus

111:07data retrieval do you do?"

111:09I'll come to this in a second.

111:10We're actually about to get to the AMA.

111:12That is very much the next thing.

111:13So I'll call this sort of done.

111:15I'll strike this through,

111:17and now we'll sort of answer some of these

111:19questions.

111:20So let me add this to the broadcast.

111:24So let's start with this one.

111:26"Over the years, in your experience in the

111:28BI Tableau space,

111:29how much of pipelines building versus data

111:32retrieval do you do?"

111:35I, in my entire...

111:38I actually have some data to back this up.

111:40It's not in a format I could show you now,

111:42but I will clean it up and show it to you

111:44one time.

111:45Typically, in a consulting job that

111:48involves Tableau,

111:50I will spend 80 to 90% of my time not in

111:53Tableau.

111:55That is because I think in my first year of

111:58Tableau,

111:59I spent 90% of my time in Tableau.

112:01Then I realized that most of the problems

112:03could be solved

112:04by solving the data problems.

112:06And then when I started solving the data

112:07problems,

112:08I realized I needed to spend less time in

112:09Tableau

112:10because I was architecturing the data

112:12to work really, really well inside of Table

112:14au.

112:15So I spent most of my time in actually

112:16another tool called Altrix,

112:18and that is what I've spent a lot of my

112:19time in.

112:20Whenever Altrix has been available, that's

112:22what I've used.

112:23More recently, DBT, sometimes SQL.

112:26But truly speaking and strictly speaking,

112:28if you're thinking about your skills for

112:29the future,

112:30don't learn Tableau or BI tool

112:32without learning a data prep or data

112:34modeling tool.

112:36I think those two are super important.

112:38You can't go out and build analytical

112:40pipelines

112:41unless you intimately understand where the

112:43data is coming from,

112:45how you're going to bring it together.

112:47Can you even bring it together?

112:49So often that's a sort of a misunderstood

112:50concept.

112:51People just think I have data there and I

112:53have data there.

112:54Smash it up. Well, there might be the wrong

112:56levels of detail

112:57to be able to bring them together.

112:59You might not be able to have a common

113:00relation between those two.

113:02Has it been captured correctly?

113:03All of these things, we could go on for

113:05days.

113:06That kind of work is fundamental.

113:09And that's the kind of work that's not

113:10going to really replace my AI.

113:11So going forward, if you still want to be

113:12working with Tableau,

113:14just make sure you have decent data prep,

113:17data engineering skills.

113:19And I think you'll be in good stead

113:21because I think that will be a requirement

113:23for Tableau work going forward.

113:24Gym pass for online learning is a great

113:28idea.

113:30Thank you, Brent.

113:31Yeah, we're going to try and sort of riff

113:34on that a little bit.

113:36I think learning is a social thing always.

113:39Very rarely do you get people who are just,

113:42you know,

113:43just watching or learning something and

113:45then what they go do.

113:47They go and shaft those skills and then you

113:48see those skills

113:49and you think, "Oh, wow, how did that

113:50person learn that skill?"

113:52And yeah, I think why not make that social?

113:55That should just be a general part of all

113:56platforms.

113:57But anyway, we'll try it out.

113:59Gym buddy pass.

114:01I love that. That's a great idea.

114:04I'll bear that in mind as well.

114:06Thank you.

114:09But yeah, we're now into the sort of AMA

114:11part of it.

114:12Someone asked earlier on about Tableau jobs

114:14and Outlook.

114:15Let me do this, actually.

114:17We don't need to screen share anymore.

114:19Let's do this.

114:20So let me rearrange a few things, actually,

114:25now that we're almost towards the end and

114:28doing AMAs.

114:30Let me move this onto the screen. Let me

114:31cough.

114:32Earlier on, someone asked about sort of the

114:37Tableau Outlook

114:38and everything else.

114:40Now, I think the tough thing with Tableau

114:44jobs

114:45is it's difficult to know.

114:47I don't think Tableau jobs is the thing to

114:48track.

114:49I think the thing to track is the industry

114:51that Tableau's in.

114:52So if you're worried about whether your

114:55Tableau role

114:56is going to be around in the future,

114:58I think you've got a lot more transferable

115:01skills

115:02than you realize to be just worrying about

115:04Tableau jobs.

115:05I think the bigger thing to worry about

115:07is where is the industry moving?

115:09And you have skills in that direction.

115:12In my opinion, these things kind of go

115:15around in cycles.

115:18I think there is a big shift going on in

115:20the analytics and BI space.

115:23I'm not sure where it's going,

115:26but I do know that AI is part of that

115:28narrative.

115:30I know that data engineering is part of

115:32that narrative.

115:33And I know that building dashboards less

115:35is also part of that narrative.

115:37Those three things I'm absolutely certain

115:38about.

115:39And so if you kind of piece those three

115:41things together,

115:43what you realize is that things are not

115:45going to change.

115:46Now building data sources is better.

115:48Understanding how to bring those data

115:50sources

115:51in the more modern places.

115:53So by modern places, I'm not talking about

115:55databases.

115:56I'm talking about newer databases, cloud

115:58databases,

115:59like Databricks, Snowflake,

116:01and using technologies like DBT if you need

116:03them,

116:04or Ortrix if you're used to Dataprep.

116:06Those are going to be pretty sort of

116:08important things to understand.

116:09And every platform does them differently.

116:11So learn the one that's relevant to your

116:14industry specifically.

116:16I think you'll be in a really good space

116:18and you won't be worried about jobs at all.

116:20I always find YouTube, I'm one of these

116:26people,

116:27so I'm actually critiquing myself.

116:30I find analytics consecrators super

116:32frustrating

116:33because they, we, I should say, we show you

116:37videos

116:38on how to do things technically and we're

116:40like,

116:40"Hey, I'm going to show you in 10 minutes

116:42how to do one, two, three."

116:44And so we show you how to do one, two,

116:45three, and we get it done.

116:47And at the end of it, you walk away as a

116:48viewer going,

116:49"Oh, now I know how to use one, two, three

116:50."

116:51And so you go to your job and you do it

116:53once,

116:54you do it twice and it's worked and you're

116:56super happy.

116:57I learnt that thing great. Perfect.

117:00But then three months later, you're stuck

117:02on something else.

117:03You go learn that, you learn that, learn

117:04that.

117:05Now, all of these sort of little things,

117:07they're things that I think you would have

117:09learned anyway.

117:10You would have come across them some other

117:12way,

117:12you just wouldn't have come across them as

117:14soon as you did maybe

117:15because you looked online and you found the

117:17stuff.

117:18But the skills that are really hard to

117:20teach,

117:21the things you don't really easily see are

117:23what we do behind the scenes,

117:24like our charisma, our personalities, our

117:26communication skills,

117:28our project management skills, all of these

117:30things that people take for granted.

117:32In consulting, it's how to handle the

117:33clients,

117:34how to manage the projects, how to get

117:36things across the finish line,

117:38how to deal with difficult clients.

117:40So many different things that I just don't

117:41see alongside the technical piece.

117:44And the skill is marrying them together in

117:47a way that almost seems seamless

117:50to the person who's on the receiving end of

117:51them.

117:52So as a consultant, that will be the client

117:53.

117:54As a data analyst, it will be your

117:55colleagues in the business.

117:57So there are not many courses on that,

118:00and it's not very easy to find the videos.

118:02And if you find the videos, they can be

118:05very difficult to relate to

118:07because the industries are different.

118:09Being an analyst in fast-moving consumer

118:12goods,

118:13it's just completely different to being an

118:14analyst in manufacturing.

118:17It's a completely different industry.

118:19And so you have different norms and

118:20different ways of working.

118:22Same set of technical skills, same set of

118:25maybe knowledge skills,

118:27but soft skills are entirely different.

118:29So I always say to people,

118:32"Gravitate in the direction that you know

118:34is working in your industry.

118:37Look at the commonalities of the industry

118:40and the tools in those industries and learn

118:42those skill sets,

118:44and that way you'll always be moving

118:46yourself in a direction

118:47that's pretty much where the wind is

118:49blowing."

118:50Okay.

118:52Currently use--this is Maciej.

118:59YouTube names are awful.

119:01I think the names people type sometimes.

119:04I wish it just sort of showed you a

119:07nickname.

119:08You know, like Reddit has sometimes, right?

119:11It has a nickname.

119:12I think it would be sort of a little bit

119:13easy.

119:14But anyway, let me try and read this

119:16comment.

119:17"I currently use Tableau Prep in my job,

119:20but I heard a lot about Alteryx.

119:22Is it possible to learn/test it without

119:24some kind of template version?"

119:26Unfortunately not.

119:28But, man, I've been playing around with the

119:31idea--

119:32I've been using Alteryx for nine years.

119:34This is crazy.

119:35Like, not many people know this, but I am

119:37probably--

119:38I spend more time in Alteryx than I have in

119:40Tableau in the last nine years.

119:42Without a shadow of a doubt, I can tell you

119:44that out of the gate.

119:46I don't make videos about it because they

119:49've not shown that they have--

119:53How do I say this?

119:57They've not landed their cloud product,

120:00and that has really stopped me suggesting

120:02it to people

120:04as something to go to in respect of, you

120:11know--

120:15Let me rephrase that.

120:18Alteryx, I think, has thrown away an

120:20opportunity over the years

120:22to be the leader that it was with the

120:24innovative interface it had.

120:26And so I've used it as a Swiss Army knife,

120:30and a Swiss Army knife is great,

120:32until you realize when you get dedicated

120:33tools for everything

120:35that the dedicated tools are always better

120:37than a Swiss Army knife,

120:38and that's sort of the point I'm trying to

120:39make.

120:40Alteryx can do so many things.

120:43I'm here forever making videos about how to

120:45solve tons of little small problems.

120:47Broadly what it is, it's in the same sort

120:51of high-level group as DBT.

120:53It's the same high-level group as, I don't

120:56know, Tableau Prep,

120:57writing your SQL statements to do data

121:00modeling and stuff like that.

121:02Is it more powerful than Tableau Prep?

121:05300% yes.

121:07Like, Alteryx wipes the floor compared to

121:10Tableau Prep completely.

121:12Just wins everything.

121:13If I could only take one tool,

121:15if you said to me, "Right, for the next

121:17five years, Tim,

121:18you can only use one analytics tool in your

121:22entire setup."

121:23You can never touch anything else.

121:24You can only take one piece of software

121:26with you for the next five years

121:29to do any job in analytics.

121:31It would be Alteryx Designer.

121:33Simple as that.

121:34To do analytics, build charts, I'd still

121:37use Alteryx Designer.

121:39Why?

121:40Because Alteryx Designer allows me to model

121:42the data

121:43exactly how I want it to get the answer

121:45that I want.

121:46I can do that every single time.

121:48And the ability to then repeat that process

121:51very quickly,

121:52it's very easy to learn, in my opinion.

121:55Yeah.

121:56So to the question about, you know, is

121:59there a demo version?

122:00Well, yes, if you get in touch with Alteryx

122:02.

122:03It's 14 days.

122:05I think if you can't get some value out of

122:08Alteryx within five days,

122:10it's probably not the right tool for you.

122:12So I think 14 days is more than generous.

122:14Get your Tableau prep flow, get some Altery

122:17x training ahead of time,

122:19activate your trial after the training, and

122:21then get going, basically.

122:23And that's how I think you should approach

122:25that.

122:26But Alteryx is a fantastic tool.

122:28Everyone should consider it.

122:30Right, Peter.

122:31Let's look at this one.

122:33So how does data prep in Python, pandas, or

122:36similar

122:36fit in the analytics role today?

122:38How do you see the distinction between data

122:40engineering,

122:41data science, and data analytics in this

122:43moment?

122:44Oh, that's such a tough question.

122:46Man, there's a lot there.

122:49Right.

122:50First, let's start with my perspective.

122:53I don't do data prep in Python at all.

122:57I rarely have to, because the clients I

123:00would tend to work with

123:01don't want to do data prep in Python.

123:02They tend to have their data prep done in a

123:04database,

123:06or they tend to have their data modeled for

123:09them,

123:10or you tend to write a request and have

123:12that done.

123:13So maybe someone in the organization is

123:14using Python to get that done,

123:16but it's just not the sort of typical thing

123:19that I do.

123:20And most of my clients wouldn't do this

123:21either,

123:22because they work in setups where they need

123:25highly repeatable types of analysis.

123:28And at least for many of the organizations

123:31that I've worked with,

123:32Python hasn't been seen as the way to do

123:34that quickly.

123:36It's been more Altrix, it's been more Table

123:38au prep,

123:39it's been maybe more DBT, or just SQL,

123:43basically,

123:43to get the remainder of that stuff done,

123:45because they can hire for those things very

123:47, very quickly.

123:48That said, if you're in a younger, much

123:49smaller company,

123:50then, yeah, you definitely will be using

123:53Python.

123:54Have I used Python this year to do some

123:55data wrangling and stuff?

123:58Yes, but it's just not the most common

124:00thing I see.

124:01Now, when we talk about its importance in

124:05analytics roles,

124:07I'll go back to what I said earlier,

124:09which is whatever you're doing, whatever

124:11data prep you're doing,

124:13the tool doesn't matter.

124:15In my opinion, the tool frankly doesn't

124:17matter.

124:18What matters more is the actual techniques

124:20you're using.

124:22I know it sounds so basic,

124:23but things like doing a join or a VLOOKUP

124:26in Excel,

124:27things like unions, things like cleaning up

124:31data,

124:32things like aligning things, splitting

124:34things,

124:35all of those little things, they seem small

124:38,

124:38but in a cumulative sense, when you pair

124:40them up

124:41in the right order at the right time in the

124:43right place

124:44and they achieve a certain outcome,

124:46that is really what data prep

124:48and potentially data modeling is about,

124:50really extracting what you need from what

124:52can be unstructured

124:53or structured data

124:55and getting it to where you need it to be

124:57to do the analysis.

124:59Everything you do in between those steps

125:02is a transferable skills.

125:04It doesn't matter what you're doing it in.

125:06It doesn't matter how you do it.

125:08What matters is that you can do it.

125:10So it is 110% vital for the analytics role

125:14today.

125:15Now, in the industry and context you work

125:16in,

125:17if Python is a tool that everyone's using,

125:19then you've got to be good at Python.

125:21In my industry, it tends to be Alteryx,

125:23it tends to be Tableau Prep, it tends to be

125:25SQL,

125:25it tends to be DBT.

125:26So those are the things I have to be ready

125:28to use.

125:29Okay, so that's sort of some context there.

125:32Now, the second half of your question,

125:34I'll put the question up again,

125:37how do you see the distinction between data

125:39engineering,

125:40data science, and data analytics in this

125:41moment?

125:42Now, that is a super tough question.

125:45I'll split it into what I think is the

125:49picture.

125:51Let me start by tackling data engineering.

125:55I hate the term data engineering

125:57because I think it's always existed.

125:59It's always been something that people have

126:00done.

126:01It's just that the need for it has grown so

126:04much

126:04that it's become a specialist.

126:07It was a specialist thing

126:09when it first sort of emerged in the

126:10industry,

126:11and now it's become like a pretty big role.

126:13So there are lots of data engineers today.

126:17I think personally, data engineering is

126:22essentially a role

126:23that focuses on the piping of data from one

126:27place to another,

126:28but not storing it and not visualizing it.

126:32So it's sort of data engineering to me as a

126:34middle piece.

126:35Think of data engineering as the conductor

126:36of an orchestra.

126:38They don't play the instrument,

126:40but they tell all the instruments what to

126:42do and when

126:43so that the audience can enjoy the music.

126:48So data engineering to me is the conductor

126:51of an orchestra.

126:53Data science are the people playing the

126:55instruments

126:56to get the data to do what it needs to do

126:58to capture the data and extract what it

127:00needs to do

127:01at the right time to get the right notes

127:03out of the instruments.

127:04And data analytics is the audience that's

127:07actually consuming that,

127:09so listening to that and hearing the things

127:11.

127:11"Oh, did you hear that? Did you hear that?

127:13Did that crescendo make you feel the same

127:14way as I felt it?"

127:15That to me is analytics.

127:17So sorry to use like an orchestral analogy,

127:20but to me that's sort of how I sort of

127:23separate the three.

127:26And moving forward, I think every

127:28organization kind of merges

127:32some aspects of that.

127:34So you maybe get people who are both data

127:37engineers

127:38and data analysts at the same time.

127:41You maybe get data scientists who dabble a

127:43bit in data engineering.

127:45I think it's unlikely to only be doing one

127:47of these things in your role,

127:49regardless of whether you're an engineer,

127:51science or analytics.

127:53And then the final thing is data analytics,

127:57I think, is changing.

127:58The approach to data analytics is changing.

128:00I think the practice isn't changing.

128:02The outcome isn't changing.

128:04But the approach to analytics is changing

128:06in the current moment.

128:07It's a bit like what I said earlier on

128:08there.

128:09I think what is happening is that we are in

128:14a place where

128:16the way in which analytics is delivered in

128:20an organization

128:21needs to change.

128:23AI, some other capabilities,

128:26and a little bit of that data engineering

128:28piece

128:29are all changing the mix of how that comes

128:32together.

128:34And over the next few years, that will sort

128:36of play out.

128:37But it's really difficult to sit here and

128:39be a prophet about it

128:40because I don't know.

128:42I just do the work and I get it done.

128:45As someone who's super interested in Table

128:46au,

128:47I just read the tea leaves for Tableau's

128:49perspective

128:50and I just try and get as much as I can

128:52from that.

128:53But nonetheless, I think in this current

128:56moment,

128:57all three of those are super interesting

128:59sort of tools,

129:02sorry, areas to be interested in.

129:05I would just get good at one.

129:07I don't think you can be a good data

129:08engineer

129:09and a good data scientist simultaneously.

129:11I think to be really good at...

129:13You have to pick a niche in many ways, in

129:15most roles.

129:16You can't be a generalist forever.

129:18So yes, when you start out, do a bit of

129:20everything,

129:21understand what you're passionate about.

129:22But as you get more and more experience,

129:24you have to sort of choose a path.

129:26I chose analytics.

129:28I don't profess to know a lot about data

129:29engineering.

129:30I don't profess to know a lot about data

129:31science,

129:32but I can talk to data scientists and

129:33engineers

129:34in the terms that they know

129:36and bring them together to achieve an

129:37outcome.

129:38That's about as much as I know,

129:40but I don't need to know much more than

129:41that.

129:42When it comes to analytics,

129:43I'd like to think I have a deep knowledge

129:44in that

129:45and I can go all the way through,

129:47maybe technical, maybe non-technical as

129:50well.

129:51Have I ever used DBT?

129:56Yes, I have.

129:57My opinion is it's fantastic. It's really

130:00good.

130:01I was scared of using it actually ages ago.

130:05I was really kind of annoyed, this whole

130:07thing of writing.

130:09DBT, for everyone's benefit, is like,

130:13I think of it as a layer on top of SQL.

130:15So instead of writing really long,

130:17complicated SQL statements,

130:18you can write slightly shorter SQL-like

130:20statements in DBT.

130:22I know that's a bad paraphrasing,

130:24but what that then allows you to do is to

130:27treat your SQL more like code.

130:29And you can treat your SQL more like code,

130:31you can take advantage of all the benefits

130:33of things like version control,

130:36all the benefits of borrowing code from

130:38over there

130:39and putting it over here.

130:41Things like lineage suddenly becomes easier

130:43because if everything is just essentially a

130:46form of code,

130:48you can track a metric all the way through

130:50the different iterations

130:51of it being transformed, pivoted,

130:53calculations being done,

130:55all the way through to the analytics use

130:57case at the end.

130:59And so DBT by default gives you a little

131:02bit more visibility of that

131:03and allows teams at scale to do that very

131:06quickly,

131:07but still be writing what is supposed to be

131:09a good SQL

131:10because DBT takes care of running that in

131:12the background.

131:14So if you're using Tableau Prep and you're

131:17kind of thinking,

131:18well, what tool should I go use next?

131:21Altrix is one, DBT is way more accessible.

131:23You can definitely get a free trial of that

131:24, so go check that out.

131:27And I think you'll find a very interesting

131:29approach

131:30and I think there are merits to it as well.

131:33So in the Tableau space, it's not used as

131:34much

131:35because Tableau and DBT haven't really

131:37built the tight integration

131:38you'd want to see, but some people have got

131:39it to work

131:40and they're getting it to work nicely,

131:42so definitely worth checking that out.

131:46As a matter of priority, will you be

131:47publishing the order of content releases

131:50you mentioned perhaps by quarter?

131:52Um, APEX Smart, that is the kind of thing I

131:58'd do

131:59if I was a full-time content creator.

132:01I can't publish a content release plan

132:03because I'm not a full-time content creator

132:05.

132:05So I make videos when I can, how I can,

132:08essentially.

132:10I've thought about publishing a, like, here

132:14's a list of videos I'm working on.

132:15But what you would see would be an absolute

132:18mess

132:19and I think what people see now is that

132:21they just see the videos

132:22as they come out and I tell people they're

132:23coming out

132:24and you get what you get, essentially.

132:27And I think people are happy and they find

132:29that content useful.

132:31Majority of people actually don't find that

132:32content when I share it.

132:34Most people, 80% of people, get it from

132:36search.

132:37So they're searching for it and they find

132:39it.

132:40So because that's been sort of the most

132:42predominant method,

132:44I don't think I need to publish a timeline.

132:46That said, that said, I can.

132:50And I don't see what's wrong with it.

132:52Maybe I should, in all honesty.

132:54If I'm moving to less videos but higher

132:57quantity and quality,

132:59maybe I can show you the next five videos

133:00that I'm working on

133:02so you know what's coming and you can sort

133:04of plan your thing around that.

133:06I guess I'm just scared of committing to

133:07something

133:08and that's really my problem.

133:09But media companies commit to stuff all the

133:10time, right?

133:12That's why they have trailers for it.

133:15So maybe I need to just get with the

133:16program