An analyst's journey from intern to Tableau Visionary

Jonathan’s Tableau journey started at university, when he took an internship for his Master’s degree. Looking back, he claims that a Tableau dashboard helped land him the opportunity. Fast forward to today—Jonathan is an elite Tableau user, working on high-profile projects for Synaltic Group and creating influential vizzes for the Tableau Public community. Even after Jonathan became a Tableau Visionary in 2015, he says that he continues to learn new Tableau skills every day.

Tableau: How did you get started with Tableau? Jonathan Trajkovic, Data Analyst, Synaltic Group: Tableau allowed me to land my first position; in fact, it’s quite a funny story. When I did my Master's, I wanted to do Chemistry and Project Management at the same time. It was kind of my goal; I came from a background of "pure research" chemistry, and I wanted to join a company. I couldn’t find any internships in the Paris region or anywhere else in France. It was rather difficult, a rather tight market. When I did my project report, I submitted my first dashboard (made with Tableau), and my then boss, who was also a professor at the time, told me, "If you are interested, we can find an internship for you here." I thought it over for a long time and two to three weeks before the start of the internship I wound up going to see him and having the interview. I began the internship with them in February, and in August I signed my permanent employment contract. So, it went quite well, and I believe that it is thanks to Tableau that I was given that opportunity.

Tableau: You’ve done a lot of Tableau projects for clients. Which projects were the most impactful for you? Jonathan: The client that left the biggest mark on me was the French Red Cross, the first client that I supported. That was where I learned the most: how to do SQL queries, how a database is structured, and my first large dashboards; that was also with that client. I continue to learn from them because we still support them, and we are on other types of projects. The second client that I could cite is La Poste Courrier, because that is where I made the biggest developments. It currently involves applications that are quite technically complicated and, at the same time, it has been a huge professional challenge. Tableau: As an elite Tableau user, are you still able to learn new things in Tableau? Jonathan: With Tableau, I am always learning, every day, with all the clients I meet and all the people I work with. It is a tool with which I am beginning to become quite conversant, and, at the same time, I am always learning, because there is always something to discover. There are interesting cases with clients where I can learn little details that I had not seen in the last four years, and that can make life easier. At the same time, that also enables me to progress. That is one of the strengths of the tool, that I have not yet found any limits to it. That is something that I appreciate quite a lot: that it continues, actually, I continue to progress. Tableau: How did you become a Tableau Visionary in 2015? Jonathan: So, I have become a Tableau "Tableau Visionary," I think, with the work in the community, which I have achieved on Tableau Public. As a reminder, it is an appointment, so the work has been quite long, and, at the same time, it was not sought out. That’s the surprising thing; it wasn’t one of my goals. I was fortunate enough to be appointed somewhere, and that involves always staying active in the community. To continue to do things that matter to people, that interest them, and that also help them: that is one of the goals. I believe that it’s one of the goals that pleases me the most. It means providing help to those who are looking for answers on Tableau and continuing to do visualizations that I believe are relevant to those who are going to read them.