Joining Tableau: My First Impressions and Journey with a Seattle-Based Analytics Startup Company

Joining Tableau: my Tableau bootcamp buddies, ready to conquer the world of analytics together
Joining Tableau: my Tableau bootcamp buddies, ready to conquer the world of analytics together

Joining Tableau has been an exhilarating step in my career. As a data enthusiast and very early adopter of Tableau, I was excited to join Tableau, a Seattle-based startup company that is coming up with the next level of self-service data analytics software – compared to classic BI software.

A New Chapter: Tableau’s Frankfurt Office

After my transition from academia to Capgemini, I joined Tableau’s newly opened Frankfurt Office. My first weeks have been nothing short of amazing, with an incredible opportunity to contribute to company building and be one of the first employees in Tableau’s new Frankfurt Office that was just recently opened to ramp up Tableau’s Europe business.

Being part of a startup company is an incredible experience, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work on such an innovative and disruptive product. It is a privilege to be involved in building a company from the ground up, especially in such an exciting industry as data analytics.

Tableau’s new Frankfurt Office has brought exciting opportunities, especially for me, who just earned my MBA degree. I have been able to apply my newfound knowledge to contribute to the growth of the company. I am honored to be part of the team that is bringing this new product to market and to be able to learn from some of the best minds in the business.

Bootcamp Experience: Learning the Culture

Tableau’s bootcamp in Seattle is nothing short of awesome. The three-week program is intense, but the wealth of knowledge and experience that I have gained from it has been invaluable. I have learned a lot about the company’s culture, the product, and the industry as a whole. The bootcamp has given me a great foundation for my work at Tableau and has helped me hit the ground running in my role as one of the first employees in Frankfurt, Europe’s hub for finance and technology.

Tableau is known for its unique company culture that encourages creativity, innovation, and collaboration. From weekly hackathons to Tableau’s famous Data Night Out events, there’s always something exciting happening at the company. As someone who is passionate about data and thrives in a collaborative environment, I couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part of this culture.

Career Opportunities: Why You Should Consider Joining Tableau

Being involved in company building is a great thing when you’re in a startup, and I am honored to be part of this exciting journey. I look forward to continuing to contribute to the growth of the company and to be part of a team that is making such a huge impact in the world of data analytics. If you’re looking for a challenging and rewarding career in data analytics, Tableau is definitely the place to be.

Interested in a career in data analytics like mine? Follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn to stay connected.

And yes, we all get these awesome DATA hoodies:

Joining Tableau: Awesome DATA Hoodies

IMF Global Data Explorer

How about some visual takeaways from the IMF’s World Economic Outlook? Recently I prepared two nifty data visualizations with Tableau that I like to share with you.

These visualizations allow you to explore plenty of economical data, including IMF staff estimates until 2020. Don’t forget to choose „Units“ after switching „Subject“ on the right-side bar. A detailed description on each subject is displayed below.

Tableau

Data Science Toolbox: How to use R with Tableau

Recently, Tableau released an exciting feature that enhances the capabilities of data analytics: R integration via RServe. By bringing together Tableau and R, data scientists and analysts can now enjoy a more comprehensive and powerful data science toolbox. Whether you’re an experienced data scientist or just starting your journey in data analytics, this tutorial will guide you through the process of integrating R with Tableau.

Step by Step: Integrating R in Tableau

1. Install and start R and RServe

You can download base R from r-project.org. Next, invoke R from the terminal to install and run the RServe package:

> install.packages("Rserve")
> library(Rserve)
> Rserve()

To ensure RServe is running, you can try Telnet to connect to it:

Telnet

Protip: If you prefer an IDE for R, I can highly recommend you to install RStudio.

2. Connecting Tableau to RServe

Now let’s open Tableau and set up the connection:

Tableau 10 Help menu
Tableau 10 External Service Connection

3. Adding R code to a Calculated Field

You can invoke R scripts in Tableau’s Calculated Fields, such as k-means clustering controlled by an interactive parameter slider:

SCRIPT_INT('
kmeans(data.frame(.arg1,.arg2,.arg3),' + STR([Cluster Amount]) + ')$cluster;
',
SUM([Sales]), SUM([Profit]), SUM([Quantity]))
Calculated Field in Tableau 10

4. Use Calculated Field in Tableau

You can now use your R calculation as an alternate Calculated Field in your Tableau worksheet:

Tableau 10 showing k-means clustering

Feel free to download the Tableau Packaged Workbook (twbx) here.

Connect and Stay Updated

Stay on top of the latest in data science and analytics by following me on Twitter and LinkedIn. I frequently share tips, tricks, and insights into the world of data analytics, machine learning, and beyond. Join the conversation, and let’s explore the possibilities together!

Blog post updates:

Gartner Positions Tableau as a Leader for the First Time in BI Magic Quadrant

Screenshot of Tableau's 2013 February Newsletter featuring: "Gartner Positions Tableau as a Leader in 2013 Magic Quadrant"
Screenshot of Tableau’s 2013 February Newsletter featuring: „Gartner Positions Tableau as a Leader in 2013 Magic Quadrant“

One of the most highly anticipated and highly regarded reviews of the business intelligence market was published a couple of days ago. Gartner released its 2013 iteration of the famous Magic Quadrant for BI and Analytics Platform (aka. Gartner BI MQ) – and Tableau was cited as a „Leader“ for the first time.

Congraulations team Tableau!

Analyzing High Energy Physics Data with Tableau at CERN

Screenshot of Tableau 4.0 analyzing High Energy Physics Data at CERN
Screenshot of Tableau 4.0 analyzing High Energy Physics Data at CERN

About a year ago, I had a first try with Tableau and some survey data for a university project. Last week, I finally found time to test Tableau with High Energy Physics (HEP) data from CERN’s Proton Synchrotron (PS). Tableau enjoys a stellar reputation among the data visualization community, while the HEP community heavily uses Gnuplot and Python.

Tableau 4.0: Connect to Data
Tableau 4.0: Connect to Data

I was using an ordinary CSV file as data source for this quick visualization. Furthermore, Tableau can connect to other file types such as Excel, as well as to databases like Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, and Postgres.

I’m also quite impressed by the ease and speed with which insightful analysis seems to appear out of bland data. Even though your analysis toolchain is script-based (as usual at CERN where batch processing is mandatory), I highly recommend using Tableau for prototyping and for ad-hoc data exploration.