4 Courses to Start Your Power BI Journey
Authored by Gordon Thomas, Edited by Gina Bremer, Image by Ethan Norgard
WHAT WE WANTED
Our task was simple enough; determine the best way to learn the basics of Microsoft Power BI. Rather than reinventing the wheel, we wanted to be able to leverage (and recommend) the numerous online data visualization learning resources available for beginners. We had new hires joining the team and we wanted them to be able to get up to speed with a foundational knowledge of the tools we use. In our preliminary research, we quickly discovered how difficult it is to differentiate between online courses and decide which one(s) to take. Is a $20 course twice as valuable as a $10 one? What about $100? Does a 4-hour course contain 25% more content or insight than a 3-hour course? Many of the courses claim to provide a foundation for using the program. Many of the courses have positive reviews above a 4.5 out of 5. So how do you choose?
We looked for articles that did the hard work of reviewing the courses for us; however, we found that many of the articles simply reiterated the information from the course website or were aggregated from other review articles that did the same. If we wanted a thorough analysis, we’d have to do it ourselves.
WHAT WE DID
Forging the path ahead, we started researching to get a comprehensive view of what online courses were available. It was important to us that the courses we chose were all comparable in cost, format, and rating. In the end, we decided on four introductory courses to evaluate. Our new cohort of data visualization interns, with no previous experience in Power BI, were each enrolled in one of the courses with the intention of gaining a foundational knowledge in the tool.
Note that at the time of this analysis, we paid $10-$20 for each of the courses chosen. On Udemy and Coursera, the list prices go up to $100 but there are frequent sales. If the course isn’t on sale now, be sure to check out the sale schedule before you buy.
WHAT WE FOUND
With our strategy, we needed a way to make the course evaluations objective so we developed a data-driven rubric for each course. Included in our rubric was a 51-point checklist of features that we felt comprised a true “foundational knowledge”. These features fell under three super-categories: data preparation, data modeling and calculations, and data visualization. We also made sure to factor in additional qualitative measures such as the format of the course, pacing of the lectures, and the lecturer’s ability to communicate the material. Then, we took the courses.
The completed rubric for each course evaluated can be found at the end of this post.
Microsoft Power BI - A Complete Introduction
Platform: Udemy | Lectures: 10 hours | Cost: $100
VOTED “BEST INTRODUCTION TO POWER BI”
This course is ideal for any beginner looking for a serious introduction into Power BI. At 10 hours in length not including the assignments, this was the most comprehensive course we took. There were videos on theory, previews and reviews of each section, and a self-assessment after each of the three modules. In our subjective opinion, we found the pacing and transition to new features and concepts was smooth and followed a logical progression.
This course covered 50 / 51 of the features we included in our rubric and was by far the most thorough. It devoted significantly more time to each topic than the other courses. For those responsible for end-to-end report creation, this was the only course with a heavy emphasis on data preparation in the Power Query Editor.
POWER BI - ZERO TO DASHBOARD IN A DAY
Platform: Udemy | Lectures: 1.5 hours | List Cost: $20
VOTED “BEST REFRESHER COURSE”
This course would be great for someone wanting an overview of the full scope of Power BI and what it can do. We feel that a better title for this course would be, “What is Power BI?” Where this course really differentiated itself is the fact that it dedicated time to theory and the capabilities of Power BI.
For anyone already familiar with the program, this would be a great refresher course. For true beginners, we found the course to be slightly difficult to follow. This was the shortest course we took and it touched on 26 / 51 features. Without the time needed to be thorough, our newbies were often rewinding or re-watching portions of the lectures.
MICROSOFT POWER BI DESKTOP - DATA ANALYTICS WITH DASHBOARDS
Platform: Udemy | Lectures: 2.5 hours | Cost: $85
VOTED “BEST FOR DATA VISUALIZATION DESIGN FEATURES”
This would be a good course for someone wanting to focus on the visualization aspect of Power BI. Of all the courses we took, this course covered the most features on data visualization. Our reviewers felt the pacing was consistent and simple to follow along with.
This course is not bad, but it did rank low on our rubric due to a lack of coverage on data preparation features. It scored the lowest of any course in this category, covering only 10 of the 22 features. Another differentiator of this course was the lack of any built-in evaluation or assessments to track your progress. There is an option to submit a dashboard to the instructor for feedback, but we have yet to receive a response.
GETTING STARTED WITH POWER BI DESKTOP
Platform: Coursera | Lectures: 2 hours | Cost: $10
VOTED “LOWEST BARRIER TO ENTRY”
This course would benefit anyone looking for a minimal barrier to entry. While it presented a limited number of concepts available in Power BI, the value of this course is in its use of a virtual machine. You can take the course in a single tab without ever having to download Power BI.
At 2 hours in length, this course covered 23 / 51 features on our rubric, the fewest of any of our courses. The content was not overly dense as relatively little time was spent on each topic. We would not recommend this course to those looking to use any of the data modeling or calculation capabilities, as it only touched on 2 out of 11 concepts.
WHAT WE LEARNED
Courses with a similar title, cost, and reviews will likely be very different in their execution. Before investing in an online course, define your goals and expectations. The clearer you are about what you’re looking for, the greater the odds of finding a course that will give you the best return on your investment.
If you are looking for comprehensive foundational knowledge for end-to-end use of the tool, we recommend investing the time to complete the Microsoft Power BI - A Complete Introduction course on Udemy.
If you are looking to focus your learning on the visualization capabilities in Power BI, we recommend enrolling in the shorter Data Analytics with Dashboards course on Udemy.
If you are looking for a high-level overview or refresher of what Power BI is and what it is capable of, we recommend the quickest of these courses: Zero to Dashboard in a Day on Udemy.
Take one of these or another course for foundational learning? Let us know what you thought!
