Tableau Certification

I got my very first  Tableau desktop certification in 2017. Since this certification from Tableau is valid only for 2 years, I renewed it again in 2019.
Below are the steps that I recommend in the given order to pass the Certification exam.
Title: Tableau certified associate : Desktop

Cost: $250

Time Limit: 2 hours

Question Format: Multiple choice, multiple response, true/false, hands-on
Number of Questions: 36
Passing Score:75%
Recommendation - At least 5 months of hands on experience before attempting the certification

    Makeover Monday / Workout Wednesday in lieu of hands on experience

1. Free bite sized videos provided by Tableau   ~ 10 hours
https://www.tableau.com/learn/training

2. Sample certification on Tableau site

https://mkt.tableau.com/files/DesktopCA_ExamGuide.pdf

3. Lukas Halim course – Udemy ~ 5 hours

https://www.udemy.com/tableau-accelerate-your-career-and-get-certified

4. Solve the two full-length Tableau Certified Associate Certification included with the Lukas Halim course on Udemy
5. More practice questions https://learningtableau.com/qualified-associate-quiz-1/
6. In addition to hands on questions there are quite a few knowledge based questions involving data sources, extract ,spatial files , newly released features during the exam ,

although use of google search is allowed it can be a big drain on the 2 hour time limit, especially if you are a first timer or have less experience using the tool
https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/gettingstarted_overview.htm

7. In the  2019 exam there were a lot of questions on statistics (features available in analytics pane) ,so any time invested in understanding concepts like

Reference band ,cluster , trend ,forecasting , regression will be well worth

8. Congratulations ! You are now exam ready and you can register for the exam

 

Major frustration : You are not allowed to extend your display beyond your own screen. so, practice by taking the full length practice tests with only one monitor.

The virtual machine is running Windows, so expect lag.

Good to know: Although you take the exam from the comfort of your home, you are monitored for the entire 2 hours.(webcam)
You will have to demonstrate that you are alone in the room with no help like books ,cellphones, calculators or notes.

Mommy, Who do you love more ?

“Mommy , who do you love more? Kashvi or me ? “ enquired my 7 year old Son.

I knew that “I love you both EQUALLY” was not going to fly with him anymore.
So I told him “Obviously I love you more my dear Ady” while I continued to roll the chapattis.

As expected he countered “Why me? “  
“Ummm…because I have spent more time with you , I love you more” I blabbered .

His face lit up on hearing my response and he teased his little sister in his classic tune “Mommy loves me more , she loves you less na na na na boo boo” . The little 1.5 year old sister on seeing her brother happy and excited joined along in the celebration clapping her hands. (Happiness is contagious!)
 I breathed a sigh of relief and felt proud of myself for giving an answer so perfect that both the kids were happy. Now, I thought I could complete cooking dinner peacefully.

After a few minutes another question popped...” Mommy whom do you love more? Daddy or me? " Now this is tricky I thought.  Before I could say anything, he responded “Obviously, you love daddy more because you have lived 10 years with him and only 7 years with me”.  

“Exactly!!” I replied as I breathed another sigh of relief.
This time I was more proud of myself as I discovered that I had just invented a fool proof no fail answer to the most tricky “whom do u love more ?” question.

But my happiness was short-lived …My little genius asked next “Whom do you love more? Your mom or my dad? “  I was stumped.  He insisted that I reply sooooon. I tried to redirect him but he didn’t budge, he was looking into my eyes waiting for a reply. I was in trouble I thought , he kept insisting and in the moment of pressure it slipped from my mouth " I love daddy more."

He was flabbergasted.
His eyes opened wide and mouth even wider (an entire burrito could fit in). “How can you love anyone more than your mom?"  he demanded an explanation . I tried to explain,  it didn't work. Then I almost denied that I ever made such a statement. I even tried to withdraw the answer,but the damage had been done. He told me he was going to call grandma and tell on me.

And so he did ….Luckily , Grandma told him that she wanted mom to love daddy more. (Aren't Moms life savers?)

And all was well I thought when he asked …”So when are you going to ask me to love my wife more than you ? “   ( I almost fainted!!)

Did my little one just grow up ?

Ady was the star student this week at his school. As part of the project ,he was required to fill in a "Tell - us - about -yourself " questionnaire and take a few pictures to show to the class.
Thanks to the digital world we live in , I hardly had any prints of his pictures. I somehow managed to locate 2 printed pictures and asked him to take them to school. The below being one of them...

I did notice an uncomfortable look on his face on seeing the picture . He kept looking at the picture for a long time as if trying to make his mind over something.
Finally he came to me and muttered "Ma,  I do not want to take THIS picture to school".  I was both suprised and worried. Worried,  because I didnt have any more pictures for him to take
( we were out of time ) and surprised, because he never is choosy about stuff.
I began persuading him on how great the picture was and how it validated his answer "Mom" to one of the questions on the questionnaire  " The person you admire the most - Mom".

He very softly replied  "My friends will laugh at me for kissing my Mommy!!" .
I tried to reason with him saying "You are my baby it's ok for you to kiss me", "Dont you love me ?" "Dont you kiss me everyday before going to school? " , "You dont have to care about them"

Apparently he had made up his mind, he didnt want to be a laughing stock in front of his friends.
He firmly told me that he will not take that picture. The Mommy in me even tried to emotionally black mail him , but fortunately I gathered my senses and decided to give in , to respect his wishes.

I will be honest, that night I had a little trouble sleeping , was this incident a window into the future?
I knew this was coming but didnt know it would be so quick , like NOW!!
Do children really grow up so quick.... like in less than 6 years?

 

What Women Need

We have had a Film, couple of books,dozens of jokes and hundreds of Men ruminating over the Question “What Women “Want” “?
While I agree that it is a million dollar question but has anyone ever wondered what women “need”?
I guess I found the answer to this one...Read on to know…:-)

Ok, so here is the flash back…

Last year around this time I was attending a 5 hour class on defensive driving, a mandate for obtaining drivers license in the state of NY.
There was a break of 20 minutes in between the class.
It was frigid outside and I didn’t have company so I decided to stay back in the class.But the teacher wouldn’t allow anyone to remain in the classroom during the break.

So I walked up to the supermarket in the next block to idle away my time browsing stuff.As I entered the store I saw a man smiling at me.
“American culture- You smile at strangers” I thought and returned the smile.
I went to the Indian grocery aisle and was looking at some stuff…when that “smiling” Man came over and asked-“Anything I can help you with, Mam”
I replied “NO thanks” and continued looking at the items on the shelf.
He then asked “Are you married?”… Now I was dazed.
I gave him a stern look and said “Sorry?”
He went ahead and remarked “You are beautiful”
What followed was a gush of adrenaline…I flee from that scene. Yes, it was the “flight hormone”. But the man kept repeating “excuse me- tell me are you married”
I immediately called husband and told him to come over to this place ASAP.

Later when I reached home I was contemplating over what had happened.
I always though I was independent and self sufficient.
But that day I felt like I wasn’t and my immediate response to the situation calling for husband proved that I was so much dependent.

It wasn’t that something like this never happened to me before,
(For that matter almost every women faces this kind of situation at some point in time, intensity varies)
So what was different this time….it was the first time in USA and also after a long time which got me all flustered.
When I discussed this with Pamela, my friend from college- she told me that it has happened to her in the USA many a times. She also added that reason it had happened to me the first time was because probably it was the first time I was alone, without husband near by. And I realized it was so true.
So what was preventing me from being completely independent, I pondered?
what was it that was lacking ?

It was then I found the answer to the Question “What women need”
“A karate course and pepper spray” !!

Life is short....Live, Love, Be Happy!

I was all excited about the long weekend (Labor day)-had reservations for Lasvegas,I had been researching and planning meticulously for one week for "the trip" -Had an hour by hour itenary to visit "the vegas strip" ...but as fate would have it it turned to be a heartbreaking weekend.

I got the news on friday that my uncle(father's first cousion) expired.He was 43, survived by his wife (38) and 3 sons ,the youngest is only in the 8th grade.
Apparently he was all well and after having dinner had gone to bed,at night, at around 11 he complained of chest pain and got all sweaty,he was taken to the hospital immediately and he passed away while he was talkin at around 11:20...jus 20 minutes...and he was no more.

I couldnt believe my ears when i heard the dreadful news,I asked again to reconfirm and yes that was a reality-mannu uncle(as we fondly called him) was no more:((

He was such a lovely person, always cheerful, spreading his infectious smile, even his employees were in tears when they heard the news and told that he always treated them with respect and care.

Every morning when I wake up I so much wish that it be a bad dream...but it just not is. :((

The one question which keeps haunting me....
why has life got to be so unpredictable?!...when he would have risen on that fateful day he wouldnt have known that it was going to be his last!

Someone has truly said,begin each day as it is goin to be your last,One day you are going to be so darn right!!

So go ahead... say I love you more often to your spouse,care enough for your children,make your parents feel special,patch up with your relative who hasnt been good to you,call up an old friend and most importantly smile more often and laugh really hard...because ,"kya pata,kal ho na ho"
Life is short and I guess we shouldnt waste it frowing and getting troubled over petty things. Instead we should do enough good and spread enough cheer so that when we are no more people remember us fondly!

By unkown...
"When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so that when you die, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying."

Recession-Job loss- Furloughs

All of us have been reading about millions of job cuts across the globe, and the word “financial meltdown” is sure become a cliché . We feel awful about the recession and its repercussions when we read and hear about it, but we don’t feel the heat of it unless we have a close encounter with the downturn ourselves.

Yup u guessed it right…Vishal’s office announced that all its employees take a 5 day unpaid leave. (Did I hear the word leave-Hurrah!!Yes, I am so worked up by his long work hours-thanks to the blackberry and a 2 bedroom apt one of which is his "home office" as he calls it...and I say "home office" that's not even a word...oh yes,its an oxymoron i'd say)
Being an optimistic that Vishal is, he says that the furlough is something that the company needs to impose in order to survive and that he needs a break himself.

Even the salary hike wasn’t great this year in spite of him being a star performer.
On confrontation, the management told that they had two options
1. To terminate low performing employees or
2. To give a low to moderate hike to everyone in the organization.

And everyone vouched for the second option, Vishal and I vouch for it too, at this hour of distress we need to be sensitive and empathize with all those we can.

MindSet

I recd this a few weeks ago as a forward with the subject "Mindset"...
before continuing to read ,Click on the picture above to view it clearly!!
(Click the back browser button to return to this screen)

I was more amazed at the mindset of the trainers (than the elephants) who think that the elephants would never try to break free from the rope??Just to give an interestig twist to the story...
What if one day an elephant out of the blue(or may be after reading this story;-) LOL) breaks open and runs causing a chaos?? Then what would the moral of this story be?? Never take the opposite party lightly :P or any other suggestions??;)