Hi Stranger.
How do I get started with Power BI? What can I actually do with it? How can Power Automate help me and the business I’m working for? And where could this all take my career? These questions have been on my mind for years. So, this post is like the beginning of a journal—a guide to Power BI for those who have no clue where to begin.
The first time I heard about BI was in 2021. I decided to feed some Excel data into Power BI just to see what would happen. And, well, magic happened. Even though I had little to no idea what I was doing, I managed to create some stunning visuals. When I shared them with my colleagues at the time, it blew their minds. However, because management wasn’t exactly interested in me progressing in my career, I wasn’t encouraged to develop my skills further.
The next time Power BI appeared in my professional life was during a transition from using Sage 2000 exclusively to integrating Sage CRM. I was tasked with gathering historical data and combining it with current data. At the time, I suspected our accountant had access to a plugin linking Sage directly to Power BI, but they weren’t keen to involve me. Nevertheless, I was given some Excel files and managed to fill in the gaps, presenting the data to the relevant team. I even created an interactive map, as the data related to international business in specific locations. It was cool stuff, but once again, I was just tinkering in the software with very little understanding of what I was doing (not much has changed there, to be fair).
Now, things are different. In my current role, I’m being actively encouraged to explore BI further. A passionate colleague recently reignited my interest in the tool. The way he spoke about Power BI was inspiring, and I could tell he’d be the ideal person to approach for guidance. So, just before Christmas, I messaged him on Teams to ask for advice. I genuinely believe teaching and mentoring is one of the best ways to learn, and I had a feeling he shared that perspective. Knowing how busy he is, I kept my request simple: where should I start, and could I check in with him occasionally to stay accountable?
His response was incredible. He recommended checking out learn.microsoft.com—our organisation’s 365 account gives free access to it—and even gave me a detailed overview of the resources available there. He also shared some of the dashboards he’d developed himself, which absolutely blew me away. Despite his packed schedule, he offered to set up regular calls to help me along the way. Honestly, what a legend.
Since then, I’ve been making progress. I started with the “Get Started Building with Power BI” introductory course, followed by “Discover Data Analysis.” Just today, I completed “Create Interactive Reports Using Copilot for Power BI” and earned a trophy for completing my first learning path.
It’s far too early to say I’ll become an analytics pro in the next six months, but I’ve always loved working with data, I’m good at Excel, and it feels great to be appreciated by my current organisation for developing new skills. I’ll do my best to learn as much as I can. My next step is to plan out a structured learning path, but I’ll save that for another post.
