2021 was weird man. I remember in 2020 hoping that 2021 was going to be the antidote to the craziness of COVID and everything else, but…it wasn’t. I don’t think it was as crazy as 2020, but boy was it weird. In the midst of all that craziness I moved houses, added a child to the family, and saw the company I work for grow tremendously and merge with another company. Even with all the awesome things that happened to me this year, the new COVID era we’re living in definitely makes the successes harder to enjoy.

One of the silver linings to this year was my rekindled connection to a passion/hobby of mine from my childhood, the guitar. Growing up I spent hours playing guitar, and since COVID and kids have kept me at home more it’s been a great way to do something productive and fun without leaving the house. My wife has grown sick of me playing Bold As Love and Catfish Blues, but I digress…

My year was also full of more data community involvement! I helped started a Power BI edition of #WorkoutWednesday, I got another Tableau Public Viz of the Day (15x now), and got to teach a Power BI class at the University of Cincinnati (twice!). Here is a run down of some of the things I was involved in this year.

Tableau

I did stay active in the Tableau community (despite some belief that I’m a full on Power BI convert 😉) – although I was much less active than I have been in recent years in terms of blogging. Here are some contributions I made to the overall community:

• Continued to co-run the community initiative #SportsVizSunday
  • Contributed 14 #SportVizSunday weekly round blogs
  • I am stepping down from this initiative at the end of the year, you can read more about it here.
• Blogged 5 times this year about Tableau
  • Dynamic Rows & Columns in Tableau
  • Creating YTD Calculations in Tableau
  • Forecasting Inventory in Tableau Using Relationships
  • 3 Fun Tips for Containers in Tableau
  • Geospatial Analysis in Tableau
• Spoke at 2 Tableau User Groups (Nashville & Boston)
• Awarded 1 Tableau Public Viz of the Day
  • The Land Where the Blues Began
• Nominated for 6 Vizzies
  • I thought my career had peaked last year when I was nominated for 5. Turns out – I’m just getting started!

Power BI

I also managed to stay involved in the Power BI community this year. Here’s a few things I did to contribute to the community:

• Helped co-found the Power BI branch of the #WorkoutWednesday community intiative
  • Created 13 weekly challenge posts and YouTube solution videos
• Blogged 4 times about Power BI
  • Import v Direct Query: What You Need to Know
  • Creating YTD Calculations in Power BI
  • The CALCULATE() Function in Power BI
  • Understanding the Basics of Power BI Service
• Taught an online blast class at the University of Cincinnati’s Center for Business Analytics called Applied Power BI – and I got to teach it twice this year!
• Held 2 webinars about building Power BI reports
  • Power BI Power Hour: Building Effective Reports
  • Power BI Power Hour: Building 3-Tiered Business Reports

Other Contributions

There were several other things that I was able to do this year that were not directly related to a specific tool.

• Blogged 3 times about various consulting topics
  • Interview Questions for Power BI and Tableau Interviews
  • OKViz Blog – Power BI for Tableau Developers: Tables
  • Consulting 101: What to Do With No Data

In May of this year, I was able to present at an Analytics Summit held by the University of Cincinnati Center for Business Analytics. During the presentation, I discussed various aspects of Power BI and Tableau as well as some factors you may want to consider if you need to choose between the two. It was a blast! You can check it out on YouTube below.

Thanks to everyone!

The last thing I wanted to say is thank you to everyone who has been supportive of me this year, both in the data community and outside of it. I would not be where I am without the support and the opportunities that you all have given me. I truly believe that the ability to see your hard work pay off is a privilege, and believe me, the opportunity to do so is not lost on me. Thanks to all of those who have supported me, given me feedback, made me laugh, pushed me to do better, and told me to shut up when I needed to.

With that, see ya’ll in 2022 ✌