Although tied to a specific firm’s data platform, the training may satisfy the workforce thirst to alleviate the analytics talent crunch.
In a year when making decisions based on data has become more imperative than ever, the demand for data skills continues to grow as organizations face unprecedented challenges and look to empower a data-driven workforce.
LinkedIn has even named ‘Analytical Reasoning’ and ‘Business Analysis’ as two of the ‘Top Skills Companies Need Most in 2020’, further underlining the need for today’s employees to become data literate.
In its bid to further the cause, analytics platform Tableau Software has just introduced a free educational program focused on empowering everyone with the fundamental ability to explore, understand and communicate with data on the Tableau platform.
Its ‘Data Literacy for All’ program features seven e-learning modules designed to help anyone—from current students and recent graduates to longtime members of the workforce—reskill and establish a foundation of data literacy:
- Introduction to Data Literacy
- Recognizing Well-Structured Data
- Exploring Variables and Field Types
- Exploring Aggregation and Granularity
- Understanding Distributions
- Understanding Variation for Wise Comparisons
- Using Correlation and Regression to Examine Relationships
The initiative builds on the ongoing success of the Tableau Academic program that has enabled “more than 1.3 million students and educators” to actively use the firm’s visual analytics platform as an education resource for free.
Foundational skills, practical needs
Leveraging academia and industry expertise, the training modules were crafted to bridge both foundational skills and practical business needs, according to their spokesperson.
Expanding access to additional training curriculum helps fuel the talent pipeline with critical data skills, fostering the next generation of data workers and empowering a more data literate workforce. “Regardless of role or tenure, data skills are no longer a ‘nice to have.’ The events of this year have accelerated the need for organizations to adapt and evolve with timely, accurate decision-making rooted in data,” said Courtney Totten, Director of Tableau Academic Programs. “Whether preparing to join the workforce or reskilling, the journey towards building a more data-literate world begins with cultivating foundational data skills at every level.”
According to the firm’s head of Tableau Academic Programs (APJ), KJ Kim, data skills are now among the most in-demand skills in the Asia Pacific region. “However, despite a strong upskilling push from governments around the region, we are still seeing a skills gap in the workforce. Bridging this gap will require a collaborative approach with industry players and we are excited to contribute towards equipping both the current and future workforce with the skillsets the modern business landscape demands.”
