It would be hard to find an organization that didn’t want to save resources or increase revenue by better understanding their data. From customer behaviour to energy use, leaders across the world know that they may be missing out on critical insights.
Skilled individuals who can harness the power of data, by creating visualizations and dashboards for deep dives into trends and outliers, are in high demand across sectors.
BCIT Computing Flexible Learning recently expanded its suite of data visualization offerings to help uncover meaning in what can be an overwhelming amount of data.
New: COMP 3156 and 3157 build out BCIT Computing’s MS Power BI offerings
Data Visualization skills: Nights or online
Building on a long history of teaching MS Excel and reporting tools, BCIT Computing expanded its data visualization suite ten years ago.
“We started offering COMP 2256: Introduction to Visual Analytics with Tableau in 2013, and we’ve had over 1000 students complete this course,” explains Kevin Cudihee, Program Head of Computing Flexible Learning. “From data professionals, to those working in tech, finance, and government, we’ve seen great interest.”
“In order to satisfy demand, we’ve recruited new instructors, who work in a related industry by day, to teach at night and online,” says Kevin.
Together they redeveloped COMP 2156: Introduction to Microsoft Power BI, a 6-week course, to test the waters. This foundational course teaches students to build and deploy visual data models. There’s been so much interest that Kevin and his team have added two more six-week courses to help professionals learn to display data from multiple sources as interactive dashboards and reports:
- COMP 3156 MS Power BI Optimization provides skills in more advanced optimized data modelling and cloud service administration, focusing on improving report performance and security
- COMP 3157 MS Power BI Advanced Data Visualization explores more advanced dashboards, with an introduction to UX/UI in a Guided Analytics Approach, covering story telling, as well as how to avoid common dashboard mistakes
All three courses can be completed nights or online in just 12 weeks.
Bringing industry experience to the classroom: Meet Wouter and Ahmad
BCIT instructors Wouter De Raeve and Ahmad Chamy are subject matter experts in MS Power BI who also have consulting practices in data technologies.
Wouter De Raeve provides solutions on data governance, analytics, and integration in his day job. As Managing Partner for Canadian operations of a global consulting firm, he focuses on Business Intelligence.
“It’s so rewarding to see data turned into facts, to help close the gap between Business and IT,” explains Wouter. “I like to think of technology as a toolbox, with business analysis the key success factor.” Wouter teaches COMP 2156 at night.
Ahmad Chamy works with healthcare organizations to create dashboards using MS PowerBI.
“I’m passionate about educating professionals to help them translate data into better data-driven decision making,” says Ahmad.
He formed his own healthcare analytics firm based in Vancouver, and works with public and private organizations around Canada. He’s brought these skills to the class through teaching all three Power BI courses.
Feature photo: Applied Data Analytics Certificate graduate Lluvia Meneses created these dashboards Power BI
Learn more about Data Analytics and Business Intelligence offerings at BCIT Computing Flexible Learning