An inspirational and detailed recipe for rocketing your career from Tableau rookie to data rockstar. From starting out as a complete newbie, to gaining the skills & garnering recognition, to successfully working as a rockstar with data. Whether you plan to go out on your own, change employers, or evolve your career towards data work within your company: take this opportunity to storyboard your future & the steps you will take to get there. The key challenges, considerations, and process are all building blocks that we'll cover in a how-to guide for your journey from Rookie to Rockstar.

1. Keith V. Helfrich
Visualization & Analytics
Rookie to Rockstar!
@keithhelfrich

2. Themes For the Next Half Hour
Persistence, Pride, Inspiration, Ambition, Success, Fulfillment,
Defining Moments, Joy, Perseverance, Reward, Opportunity,
Dedication, Support, Carpe Diem, Example, Celebration,
Greatness, Accomplishment, Goals, Victory
.. and just a wee bit of data

3. #1: Commitment

4. “Rudy Ruettiger wants to play football at Notre Dame, but
has neither the money for tuition nor the grades to qualify
for a scholarship.

6. My Rudy Moment Looked Like This
- the context
- the conflict
- the resolution: become a data rockstar

7. Make it Personal. Make It Real.
- Maybe you’ve had your Rudy moment?
- But, if you’re lacking personal commitment ..
we can can manufacture a rudy moment here, now
Say it aloud: “I will become a data rockstar”

8. I own you.

9. #2: The Framework

10. How to Data Pivot Your Career
1. Talk to as many people as you can
2. If you’re unhappy in your current role, don’t wait
3. Expect some trade-offs
4. Find a sponsor / mentor
5. Give yourself credit where credit is due

11. All Careers Need an Elevator Pitch
especially a career in transition
Mine looked like this:

12. “You must be the person you never had the courage to be.
Gradually, you will discover that you are that person. But until
you can see this clearly, you must pretend & invent.”
– Paulo Coelho
Fake it until you Make it
the right way ..

13. Say What You Want
Not What You Do
– Bruce Kasanoff

14. Channel Your Failures
You’re new at this. You will make some mistakes.
And you will encounter setbacks.

15. There’s more to rockstar than
working with data
communication, empathy, sincerity
rockstars are good with people

16. On the Plinko Board of Life
You may need to swing from the rungs a bit.

17. Your Risks Might Include
- Changing departments within your company
- Stepping down from a managerial role to be "hands on" again
- Taking time off to learn and "retool"
- Using data to communicate & bring about politically sensitive change
- Any of a host of risks that, because of your passion, feel right to you

18. Play to Your Strengths
“Most Americans do not know what their
strengths are. When you ask them, they look at
you with a blank stare, or they respond in
terms of subject knowledge, which is the
wrong answer.”
– Peter Drucker

19. These are my strengths ..

20. ~ Be Weird ~
- As kids, we're taught to be normal. To just fit in. Pay attention in school &
don't draw too much attention.
Then we enter the real world to learn that normal is boring.
- Boring people are forgettable. To succeed as a person, business, or
brand: you cannot be normal.

21. Replacement Slide
Passion
Immediacy
“Weird”
Memorable

22. You need to stick out. You need to be different.
You need to be yourself.
Why Weirdos Outperform Normals
http://rhsd.io/Science-of-Weird

25. #3: First Steps

26. Where to Begin

27. Set Your Milestones
Start from your elevator pitch & work backwards
- Which milestones lie between here & there ?
Lay out the path you will follow
- No hard deadlines, simply a fervent desire to arrive

28. Drink from the Firehose
Meet-ups: TUGs, Data Science, Women in Data, ...
Social Networks: Follow the experts, participate
Feedly: Read the blogs
Amazon: Read the books
MOOCS: Take the courses
LinkedIn Groups: Tableau Enthusiasts, Tableau Software Fans and Friends, ...
Podcasts: Data Stories, Tableau Wannabe, …

29. Work with data you’re
interested in!

30. Manage your professional brand
- Integrate into the Twittersphere
- Design your business cards
- Start a data blog
- Polish your Internets
- Polish Delete your Resumé
And take it easy on yourself. Impossible to do everything at once!

31. Your body
language shapes
who you are.
http://rhsd.io/Amy-Cuddy

32. Starting a Data Blog
Write for your own edification: later it becomes an asset to your career
Choose Your Platform: ghost, make it responsive!
Define Yourself: be who you are
Find Your Voice: edit, edit, edit (+ more editing)

33. Red Headed Step Data

34. Data Blick

35. Keeping it Running
Cadence: one post a month works well
Tools: Bit.ly, Embed.ly, Add This, Google Analytics
Networks: Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, Google+
Track Your Writing: blend these stats with your site traffic data

36. Take This With You!
#1: You can totally data pivot your career!
#2: Success begins & ends with commitment
#3: Rockstars are good with people. Be yourself
#4: Take some risks & play to your strengths

37. Keith V. Helfrich
Visualization & Analytics
@keithhelfrich
http://rhsd.io

38. References
Slides
- http://rhsd.io/rookie-to-rockstar-slides
Say What You Want
- http://rhsd.io/say-what-you-want
Strengths Finder
- http://rhsd.io/strengths_finder
Why Weirdos Outperform Normals
- http://rhsd.io/Science-of-Weird
How to Become a Data Visualization Expert: A Recipe
- http://rhsd.io/visualization-expert-recipe
Getting Good at Tableau – the Screencast
- http://rhsd.io/getting-good-at-tableau
Your body language shapes who you are
- http://rhsd.io/Amy-Cuddy
Red Headed Step Data
- http://rhsd.io/SFBATUG-Talk
Data Blick
- http://rhsd.io/datablick