# Clip Replay: Are Tableau Certifications a Vendor side hustle ? - 2023 in Review

> This is content from just-tim, the data-and-analytics channel by Tim Ngwena (formerly 'Tableau Tim'). Tim has 12+ years of hands-on BI experience and covers Tableau most of all, plus Power BI, Looker, Hex, SQL and data modelling, the analytics industry, and the craft of doing the job — always tool-agnostic and honest about the trade-offs.

- **Author:** Tim Ngwena (just-tim, https://just-tim.com/about)
- **Published:** 2024-01-03
- **Format:** Video · 4 min watch · transcript available
- **Topics:** Certification, Industry trends, Career
- **Tools:** Alteryx; Tableau
- **Canonical:** https://just-tim.com/posts/clip-replay-are-tableau-certifications-a-vendor-side-hustle----2023-in-review
- **Watch:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nKxZsRtF6Y

I share my honest take on Tableau certifications, arguing that analytics vendors have turned accreditation into a kind of customer side hustle. I compare Tableau's pricing to Alteryx's free entry-level exams, explain why I've stopped renewing my own certs, and dig into the Tableau Business Intelligence Analyst Professional Certificate on Coursera.

## Key takeaways

- Tableau certifications carry steep exam costs, usually borne by your employer or consultancy, and the revenue flows back to the vendor.
- Alteryx offers its first two exams free, lowering the barrier so anyone can prove foundational competence and have something to show for it.
- Annual recertification becomes tedious, and impending platform changes like Tableau Pulse and new AI features make it worth waiting for things to settle before certifying.
- Tableau offers a Business Intelligence Analyst Professional Certificate on Coursera, an eight-course series running roughly eight months at ten hours a week, with the first three courses being fairly generic BI content.

Watch the full video, read the transcript and use chapter deep-links on the page: https://just-tim.com/posts/clip-replay-are-tableau-certifications-a-vendor-side-hustle----2023-in-review

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just-tim — Data and analytics, with a point of view. · https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7HYxRWmaNlJux-X7rNLZyw · https://twitter.com/TableauTim · https://www.linkedin.com/in/timngwena