Research shows that by 2021, organizations will increase the number of jobs requiring data analysis skills. As an institution that prides itself on staying ahead of the curve, IT Career Lab is ready to help people gain these skills, so they stay relevant and ready in the workforce. But, why is data the new bacon? Everyone loves it and it’s being used across an array of recipes and industries.

Why did IT Career Lab decide to offer a Power BI certification?

At IT Career Lab, we only choose to create or expand our certification offerings if they lead to high-demand credentials, or if the current-state training system in a specific area of the IT industry isn’t producing a sufficient pipeline of talent for local businesses. Because we supply area IT firms with skilled talent, we regularly speak with a wide array of companies about their hiring needs along with the various tech trends they’re seeing within their industry-view.

In addition, we also host twice-yearly meetings with a rotating group of employers to formally solicit feedback about our training and program direction. It was in one of these meetings where many IT hiring managers talked about the need for workers with BI tools experience and training. After engaging in additional exploration with other industry contacts, we found that the feedback we were receiving was spot-on about the high-growth nature of data analytics skills – in addition to the fact that the business need wasn’t adequately being addressed by the area’s current training infrastructure.

Why did IT Career Lab pursue Power BI vs. Tableau?

After again consulting with a myriad of area businesses and industry consultants, we found that Microsoft’s Power BI tools tended to have relatively wide adoption among enterprise level companies and their subsidiaries. This, combined with Microsoft’s high-quality instructional materials and certification recognition made Power BI a good choice to start with. We fully intend to offer both Qlik and Tableau modules as a part of our data analytics training in the months ahead in order to give our job seekers the best and most well-rounded data analytics training available.

What would you tell a job seeker who is on the fence about whether to pursue a Power BI cert?

I would ask them to look at the current-state job market as well as growth projections for both business and data analysts in the Chicago metro area. The need for individuals with BI tools experience and certifications is increasing at such a rapid pace that the educational supply side can’t keep up with the demand for trained human capital. There are many job seekers who possess highly transferable skills from their previous work which pairs very nicely with what’s required of workers in the area of data analytics.

Questions?

Feel free to reach out to IT Career Lab at: info@itcareerlab.org!