As of 11:47AM on Saturday, June 28, 2025, I’m a Microsoft-Certified Power BI Analyst.
Crickets.
More crickets.
I’m glad it’s over. Six months of coursework is plenty for a single subject. It’s the application I now look forward to. Before the certification exam it’d begun percolating into my daily responsibilities as a technology consultant. With any luck, and a shameless addition to my LinkedIn profile, it will hopefully initiate further opportunities.
Why I got Certified
I first revealed my intentions in How Much Should We Automate? Ultimately that piece was about the ubiquity of automation and our proclivity to leverage it for undesirable tasks, allowing ample time to (ideally) pursue tasks of genuine interest. That conclusion, however, does not explain why I chose to pursue this certification. Power BI is one of many data analytics tools. We live in an increasingly data-driven world. The software I primarily consult on connects to Power BI. Those are the primary reasons.
Why I got Certified – Financial
There are deeper reasons. One of them stems from my previous financial markets education. The data collection needed to evaluate markets at a professional level is rigorous. An average aggregation of major monthly indicators took over an hour, then contextualizing them another hour or two, then leveraging them to select sectors and stocks a few more. Utilizing Power BI would’ve reduced the collection time by at least 50% because of the automated data cleaning and transformation. In simpler terms, not having to remove blank and ERROR cells and recreate custom columns. It’s also reasonable to assume the contextualization processes, as a result of better visualizations, would’ve been reduced by the same amount.
Saving one to two hours per week spread across 40 weeks throughout the year adds up. Given a conservative $50/hour rate equates to $2,000-4,000 in time saved.
At the onset of my education, I performed a similar exercise to determine the opportunity cost of learning to manage my own portfolio versus hiring a financial advisor. The evaluation was simple. I began with my portfolio’s AUM (Assets Under Management, aka it’s value) then added a set amount each year, assumed a 7% annualized rate of return, then reduced that amount by an annual 1% AUM fee taken by the advisor. In another column, I did not remove the fee. Over 40 years, it’d cost $790,486 – almost $20,000 per year.
Why I got Certified – Other Pursuits
To clarify, that opportunity cost exercise is not to dissuade people from hiring financial advisors. Investing in equities is one of the many services they perform. I’m also not a financial advisor, so don’t take anything in this piece as anything but conjecture. With that legality addressed, back to data.
Alongside the workflows, button clicks in simpler terms, a large portion of the certification was dedicated to the role of data analysts. Aside from being Power BI gurus, their primary responsibility is to intake massive amounts of classifications, dates, numbers, text strings, and other data points and present them in such a manner that they explain the business’ strengths and weaknesses. They are not the decision makers, though if they’re good they’ll likely become them. If the phrasing is altered to align with previous Becoming Polymathic pieces, analysts are experts at quantitative processes and also play a significant role in qualitative ones via report and dashboard creation. Combined with the experience of decision-makers, who may include yourself, and the result is a highly effective mechanism for physical, personal, and professional development.
What’s Next?
The eternal question. The immediate answer is to continue applying this knowledge and live up to the proficiency suggested by the certification. In doing so, the quantitative and qualitative framework will be further reinforced. It’s likely in the near future I’ll also take on another certification with a different data analytics platform as Power BI may not fully achieve what I need it to. Continuing with previous terminology, what’s next is the iteration phase.
Milestones always serve as natural reflection points. On the whiteboard next to my desk, I have my 2025 goals written in red marker. This certification is the first I’ve crossed out in green marker. Among the other goals are finishing Backward, the draft of which should’ve been completed at the beginning of June. It’s still in the works, as such that date is crossed off in black. There are also two related to Becoming Polymathic, both the website and Medium publication. August 27th of this year will be its two year anniversary. By then, there will be a catalog of 67 pieces, many of which I’m flabbergasted I allowed to be published. Previously I’ve speculated how it will change. I’m no longer playing that game. It will evolve as I do.
All I can state with certainty is in one form or another, it will be here for the foreseeable future, with the same message gleaning through the page, with the same wizard behind the curtain. That is all.
Be More.
Become Polymathic.
Quote of the Week: “The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.“ – Bill Gates