Alteryx core in a week

Last week we had our first look at Alteryx and were already tasked to pass the core examination by Friday. With this test dangling over our heads like the sword of Damocles we started exploring Alteryx. After a first look it is easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of different tools Alteryx has to offer (200+).

This feeling did not last long. All got a pretty quick understanding of the basic tools. We already knew how they worked based on our previous Experiences in Tableau Prep and Power Query.

During the week I discovered a lot of differences between the programs, with Alteryx becoming my favorite. One of the best things: Alteryx enables the user to disable parts of the flow through boxes named “Tool Container”, so it is possible to work on enormous flows and have big parts of it not running while troubleshooting. This is further improved by the ability to grab a Cache of the Data in any point of the flow and let it run from there, so previous steps don’t need to be calculated again.

As a nice gift, the workflow view is clearer and easier to document. The fundamental difference lays in the fact that Alteryx only starts to calculate the flow when you command it to, and not every time you change something in a tool or add a new one. If you are using Tool Container and sort everything on the canvas, the resulting flow looks super organized. Some can Border to Art Pieces or even be Art Pieces, like recreating the Mona Lisa:
https://community.alteryx.com/t5/General-Discussions/Has-anyone-done-Art-with-Alteryx-before/td-p/1263028

But there are also downsides to Alteryx. Date can only be recognized as “yyyy-mm-dd”, so every other Date field has to be changed through a tool. The Input and Output tool has more functions, but that implies you also have to configure them a bit more even if u just want to output an Excel Worksheet.

After three days of Training we all had a good grasp on Alteryx. We got let loose on doing some weekly challenges, more on them in another blog, and preparing for the 2,5h core exam.
On Friday the Sword missed us and we passed our Core Exams, first badge secured, more to follow 🥳

PS: I am pretty hyped for next week. Its our first Client Project Week. We can work with real data and hopefully create good insights for our client.
See you then likely with a Blog on that

Author:
Thomas Hoefer
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