Learn the popular data software for $10

TL;DR: This engaging online class on the popular data visualization software Tableau usually retails for $199.99, but you can enroll for only $9.99 during this sale.

To a certain degree, we’re all visual learners: Research has shown that humans are instinctively drawn to things we find aesthetically pleasing because they’re easier for our brains to process. 

That’s a very abbreviated version of modern philosophical and psychological notions of beauty, mind you, but you get the gist: If you’re able to present information in a way that people find fun to look at, they tend to better understand it. 

That alone is a testament to the importance of good data visualization, which hasn’t been lost on the modern workplace. At present, the business intelligence market is jam-packed with different tools and software programs that promise easily made and attractive data viz, which is both good and bad. It’s good because the discipline is more accessible than ever, and bad because there are almost too many options from which to choose. From our perspective, however, there’s a clear winner: Tableau. 

Recently acquired by Salesforce in a multi-billion-dollar deal, Tableau is a popular data viz software program that makes it fast and easy to transform numbers and statistics into clean infographics that tell compelling visual stories about the overall health of a business. At 16 years old, it’s one of the most experienced and advanced technologies of its kind, yet it’s remarkably intuitive and user-friendly — which is exactly why it’s one of three Editor’s Choice winners in PCMag’s data viz category and why we use it at Mashable to study various performance metrics.

Headlines and accolades aside, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the fact that Tableau’s learning curve is quite steep; if you’re not a data science specialist, it can seem overly complicated and intimidating upon first use. 

As such, we recommend enrolling in Tableau 10 A-Z, a 90,000-student-strong online training course from Udemy that’s designed to help beginners better navigate the program’s latest update. It spans more than seven hours of on-demand video with two companion articles, first establishing a foundational knowledge of Tableau’s functionality, then building upon it by teaching you how to spot trends in your data, make accurate forecasts, utilize aggregations, join/blend data from multiple sources, and produce charts, maps, and graphs. All that’s required from you is basic computer knowledge; Udemy’s experienced instructor will handle the rest. 

Using these skills, you’ll be able to use Tableau to glean insights about customer purchase behavior, sales trends, production bottlenecks, and other aspects of company viability  — all without outside help from an IT specialist. 

Tableau 10 A-Z typically costs $199.99, but you can enroll for just $9.99 during this sale at the PCMag Shop. (After you sign up, they’ll send you an email for access; check your Trash and Spam folders if you don’t see it in your inbox within two hours.)

Note: Mashable and PCMag are both part of Ziff Media Group.