How to prepare for Tableau Interviews

A common question I get is how to prepare for Tableau Interviews? If you are new to Tableau or starting a career in IT, preparing for interviews can be a daunting task.

In this blog I will share some tips that will help you.

Before starting, I will encourage you to read my tips on Telephonic interview 101.

Attending Interviews, is an art irrespective of the field and you will learn by practicing and by taking mock interviews.

How to prepare for Tableau Interviews

For Tableau interviews, it is needless to say that you should have a good knowledge of Tableau and how to create visualizations in Tableau.

If you go for an interview, there is a chance that companies will talk to multiple candidates before deciding on the right candidate. More than likely, all these candidates will know Tableau, so you should try to stand apart from the rest.

Tips on Tableau Interviews

  1. Focus on the concepts. What is Tableau and how it works. What are behind-the-scene concepts. How calculations work or how a query is processed when a visualization is created.
  2. You should know about Dimensions and Facts because that is one of the important concept on which Tableau charts are created. You should be able to explain the concept of dimensions and facts by drawing.
  3. Acquire a good knowledge about the best practices of creating dashboards and visualizations.
  4. Gain knowledge of discrete and continuous data elements and how they affect your visualizations.
  5. Explain why you like Tableau. You should know how Tableau differs from other similar tools like QlikView or IBM Cognos. Knowledge of Tableau itself is not enough, since you are in the BI field, you should know little bit about other applications as well. If you want to learn about QlikView, visit What is QlikView.
  6. Talk about the charts you like or dislike in Tableau.
  7. In which scenarios you will use Live connection or Data extract in Tableau.
  8. How dashboards are deployed on the Server.
  9. What was the maximum amount of data you have handled in Tableau. If you are learning Tableau, while practicing, check the size of your visualization or the TDE file.
  10. How colors work in Tableau. How you can give consistent colors to all your visualizations.
  11. If you are learning Tableau and working on a trial version, download your visualizations in pdf format. It will come handy if your prospective client wants to see a sample of your work.
  12. Talk in terms of business requirement
  13. How you will take requirements before creating a dashboarding application.
  14. What was your development methodology. Did you work in a waterfall methodology or agile.
  15. How data was prepared for the dashboarding application.
  16. How much time it takes you to create a dashboard.

Hope these questions helped you. For more questions related to Tableau visit, Tableau Questions

Are you ready to take the Tableau quiz

If you want to have a mock-up interview session with me, please leave a comment below or email me. We will setup a time and I will work with you. 

Please don’t make it a learning session but more of a mock-up interview session.

6 thoughts on “How to prepare for Tableau Interviews

  • dammy Oyepeju says:

    Thanks for sharing these questions, i want mock-up interview session.

  • I would like to take mockup interview, please get back to me

  • Hi Chandraish ,
    Thank you for sharing these questions.
    I would like to have a Mock interview session.

  • I have knowledge of SQL server and Tableau Desktop. Could you please arrange for a mock interview session for me.

  • vinod Kumar says:

    Thanks for sharing these questions, i want mock-up interview session.

    • Chandraish Sinha says:

      Vinod:
      What is your location. We can have a phone call or a WEBEX session tomorrow/Monday – USA EST time.

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