Microsoft has launched several, free, self-paced courses on Data Analysis using its Power BI suite.

In Microsoft Goes All Out On Educating Developers we explained why Microsoft has recently pumped up its educational facilities:

What better way to lure devs into the platform than to provide clear how-to instructions and deep educational material?

A few examples were self-paced projects like

• Microsoft's Cybersecurity For Beginners
• Microsoft's Generative AI for Beginners
• Microsoft's Artificial Intelligence for Beginners
• Web Development for Beginners

and of course a vast range of material on its flagship product, the .NET framework.

It's now time for showcasing another product, Power BI, by means of four free and self-paced courses which are part of the Microsoft Data Analyst Associate certification. So without further ado let's take a look at what's on offer. Take note that the courses should be attended in the order in which are presented here.

1. Get started with Microsoft data analytics
This introductory course explains why businesses need data analysis more than ever. You will learn about the life and journey of a data analyst, the skills, tasks, and processes they go through in order to tell a story with data so trusted business decisions can be made. Of course you'll need the appropriate tooling, Power BI.

2. Prepare data for analysis with Power BI
Here you'll learn how to collect data from a variety of sources, such as files, relational data sources,NoSQL databases and online services from within Power BI. Then you'll learn how to clean it up to start creating dynamic reports based on it. 

3. Model data with Power BI
This course goes through an essential part of the data analyst's job, that is modeling data - model structure, star schema design basics, analytics queries, and report visual configuration.
It is the largest course of them all and the most demanding. Fear not though as the concepts are explained clearly.

4. Build Power BI visuals and reports
Design requirements involve identifying your audience, determining the suitable report types, and defining their interface and experience requirements. As such you'll learn how to:

• Select the most appropriate visual type to meet your design and report layout requirements.
• Filter BI reports, performing analytics and creating paginated reports.

As said earlier, upon completion you can opt to take the Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Associate Certificate so that you can "demonstrate methods and best practices that align with business and technical requirements for modeling, visualizing, and analyzing data with Microsoft Power BI". This credential would be helpful when approaching potential new employers or use the newly obtained knowhow at your current position. This will set you back approximately 165 USD though, but it looks worth it.

To sum it up, this is really a win-win situation since you both learn how to use Power BI which is a powerful suite (and free as well) and the fundamentals of data analysis, as such pumping up your CV.

More Information

Microsoft Certified: Power BI Data Analyst Associate

Get started with Microsoft data analytics

Prepare data for analysis with Power BI

Model data with Power BI

Build Power BI visuals and reports

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Microsoft Goes All Out On Educating Developers

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