How to hire Tableau Developer (2024)

With data increasing in volume and complexity daily, Tableau has become an essential tool for companies to make sense of data.

Tableau developers are experts who use Tableau tools to help businesses extract insight from raw data. They help business managers make data-driven decisions and play a crucial part in improving business processes.

However, hiring skillful Tableau developers is not always easy. Finding the top Tableau developers from the pool of applicants for the role is fraught with challenges.

This guide will cover everything you need to know to hire Tableau developers for your organization, from how to hire them, where to find them, the skills required for the screening process, the challenges of hiring Tableau developers, and how to overcome them.

What Does a Tableau Developer Do?

Tableau developers are data visualization experts who use the Tableau platform to analyze data and produce actionable visual reports. They manage the BI system of the organization and help them improve business procedures with data.

With many organizations moving towards a data-driven culture, Tableau developer has become a highly sought-after role in recent years. Their general responsibilities in an organization are as follows:

• Collect, refine, and prepare data for analysis.
• Develop, design, and maintain the Tableau dashboard.
• Use Tableau software to extract insights and patterns from data.
• Prepare reports using various data visualization methods and data modeling techniques.
• Manage the organization's database.
• Utilize algorithms and statistical methods to obtain answers from the data.
• Identify glitches in business processes and plan solutions to resolve them.
• Find key areas of automation for smoother business operation.
• Manage Tableau-related implementations, architecture, and administrations.

Steps for Hiring Tableau Developers

There are more than one million active users in the Tableau community, inspiring and supporting each other.

Despite the increasing number of Tableau professionals, recruiters often struggle to hire Tableau developers that best fit their organization, mainly because companies usually take the wrong approach to hiring.

Below is a step-to-step guide for recruiters to hire Tableau developers for their business:

1. Define the Job Requirement

The first step to hiring a Tableau developer is understanding the company's needs and defining the job requirements accordingly. This includes determining the required skills, experience, and qualifications for the position.

For a Tableau developer, this means experience with Tableau software, knowledge of data visualization best practices, and proficiency in SQL.

Then, create a job post based on the job requirements that clearly outline the role and expectations.

Ensure to include information about the company culture and benefits and details about the specific projects the Tableau Developer would be working on. Check out the Sample Tableau Developer Job Description to start with. 

2. Advertise the Job Post

Once the job post is created, promote it on job boards, social media, and other relevant websites and platforms like LinkedIn, Monster, Indeed, and more. You can also reach out to professional networks and industry associations to find potential candidates.

3. Screen Resumes

The next step is screening resumes that you are going to receive in your advertisements. Review the cover letter and resume to identify candidates with experience using Tableau software.

Look for candidates with experience using Tableau software, proficiency in SQL, and a portfolio of data visualization projects.

4. Assess Technical Skills

Shortlisting candidates solely based on resumes is never a good idea. Often candidates exaggerate their skills and tasks on their resumes.

Moreover, it has been observed that many candidates have started embracing artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT to rig interviews by directing it to write cover letters and resumes. So, the best way to assess their skills would be to conduct technical tests.

To assess a candidate's technical skills, ask them to complete a technical assessment such as building a Tableau dashboard or analyzing a data set using SQL. This way, you can screen only skillful candidates for the interview round.

5. Conduct the Interview

Interviews are a great way to assess the communication skills of candidates. Conduct phone, video, or in-person interviews to evaluate their soft skills and cultural fit.

Ask questions about their experience with Tableau software, their approach to data visualization, and their ability to work collaboratively with other team members. Pose similar open-ended questions to each candidate and compare their answers.

6. Determine the Salary Range

The salary structure for a Tableau developer depends on several factors, like experience, location, roles, and responsibilities.

To determine the salary, set a range of how much a candidate in that position should be paid. Then, factor in their experience, expectations, and cost of living in the location to reach an appropriate figure.

To attract and retain top talent, hiring managers should keep the salary range at par with other companies in the industry. However, they should also weigh the package against the company's budget and other factors.

Adding benefits such as job flexibility, health insurance, retirement saving options, and personal development opportunities is also a great way to bolster the compensation package without spending a lot on salary.

7. Choose Between Local and Remote Talent

Another important to consider while hiring Tableau Developers is whether to employ on-shore or remote talent. Hiring remote talent can be cost-saving for companies. But to make it work, the project specifications should be well aligned.

On the other hand, if you want the consultant to work in a similar time zone, hiring local talent is the best option. Many Tableau consulting firms are willing to offer dedicated developers to work hourly, monthly, on a project basis, or remotely.

8. Make a Job Offer

Once you have identified a suitable candidate, make a job offer including details about the salary, benefits, and start date.

Ensure to provide them with a proper onboarding by providing an overview of the company culture, introducing them to team members, and providing the necessary tools and resources to succeed in their new role.

Where Can You Source Tableau Developers?

This is the first question recruiters ask themselves, especially if they're hiring Tableau developers for the first time. Below are a few places where recruiters can source their next Tableau developers:

1. Freelancing Websites

There are several freelancing platforms, such as Upwork and Fiverr, where recruiters can find developers with varied skills. The freelance experts list their skills and set their prices.

Recruiters can check out their samples and ratings and hire a freelancer that meets their project requirements.

2. Tableau Community

Tableau communities or forums are excellent places to find top talent. These forums consist of thousands of active members who publicly share their work on data visualization, learnings, and challenges and help each other grow.

Spending some time on these forums can help recruiters find the best fit for their organization.

3. Tableau Consulting Firms

Another option is hiring a Tableau consulting firm rather than an independent developer. These firms often have greater expertise in Tableau and can recommend the right strategy for your project.

Once you provide the project specifications, they will dedicate an individual developer or a team of developers from their talent pool to kick-start the project.

With consulting firms, businesses can conveniently augment their development team or hire a short-term developer per their need.

How Can You Screen and Assess Tableau Developers?

A fast and convenient way to screen, assess and hire the best-fit Tableau developers is through skill assessment platforms like iMocha.

iMocha's Tableau Assessment Test enables efficient screening of skilled Tableau developers. Recruiters can choose from the extensive skill library of over 100,000 questions or request to create individualized ones per the requirement of the company.

This tool also provides comprehensive test report analytics to give a detailed overview of the candidate's performance in each section of the Tableau tests. With it, businesses can reduce the time-to-hire by up to 60%.

Here are some iMocha tools that recruiters can use to acquire and develop top talent:

1. Coding Simulators

Coding simulators are excellent tools for evaluating coding skills in technical candidates. Recruiters can test candidates in a real-life coding environment and assess the quality, correctness, and logical approach to coding.

2. Live Coding Interview

With live coding interviews, recruiters can assess candidates in various programming languages with real-time collaborative assessment experience.

It eliminates the need for multiple interview rounds while ensuring only the best coders are selected.

3. AI-Logic Box

This pseudo coding platform helps assess Tableau developer skills in Salesforce, SAP, AWS, Azure, GCP, DevOps, etc.

It allows candidates to answer coding questions more easily and quickly than through compilers, rather than writing complex codes from scratch.

Skills to Look for in a Tableau Developer

It can be challenging for recruiters to hire Tableau developers unless they're familiar with the skills they should be looking for in candidates. They also need this knowledge to prepare the right questions for the interview.

So here are a few essential skills required in a Tableau developer that hiring managers should assess:

1. Technical Skills

One of the primary responsibilities of a Tableau developer is to develop, design and maintain a Tableau dashboard.

They must possess the necessary technical skills to use Tableau tools. These include Tableau Desktop, Tableau Public, Tableau Online, Tableau Reader, Server, etc.

Designing a Tableau dashboard isn't possible without data collection, cleaning, and preparation. Hence, data analysis is another must-have Tableau developer skill. They must be able to analyze the relationship between various data fields.

Finally, they must be able to communicate data insights in an effective manner using various visualization techniques such as graphs, charts, plots, and maps.

Other technical skills required in a Tableau developer are:

• Coding skills.
• Knowledge of programming languages.
• Knowledge of SQL and extensive data sets.
• UI/UX knowledge.
• Business Intelligence.
• Mathematics and statistical skills.

2. Analytical Thinking Skills

Tableau developers are expected to make business processes smoother with their data insights. So, they need analytical skills to identify and solve business glitches.

For that, they need to dive into the depth of the problem and analyze it objectively from all angles. They must be able to examine information critically instead of taking everything at face value.

3. Verbal and Written Communication Skills

After analyzing data, Tableau developers must present their solutions to people across the organization.

Not everyone in the organization will be proficient in information technology. So, developers must possess excellent communication skills to explain their findings clearly.

Challenges in Hiring a Tableau Developer

As with all technical posts, hiring skilled Tableau developers is fraught with many challenges. Identifying these is the first step to finding a solution for them.

Here are some of the major pain points of hiring a Tableau developer:

• Insufficient technical evaluation, depriving organizations of the most deserving Tableau developers.
• Inefficient screening process resulting in longer time-to-hire.
• Lack of proficiency in the hiring team for evaluating Tableau developers.
• Difficulty in consistently engaging candidate.
• Difficulty in assessing coding/programming skills through live interviews.
• Limited bandwidth of internal tech team.
• Looking for candidates in the wrong places.
  
  

Ace Your Hiring Game with iMocha

iMocha's Tableau skill assessment serves as a robust solution to counter all the hiring challenges mentioned above. It contains questions on different aspects of Tableau development to help recruiters screen the best candidates for their company.

With iMocha’s intelligent analytics, companies no longer have to depend on their acquisition team to hire Tableau developers quickly and at scale. They can save the technical screening time by up to 80%, as done by previous customers.

Moreover, companies can customize the assessment based on their job requirement. They can set the difficulty level, add questions, or request a tailor-made test to ensure adequate screening.

FAQs

1. What is the best way to hire Tableau developers in the US?
Tableau developers in the US are available hourly, part-time, full-time, or on a contractual basis. They can be hired through freelancing websites, Tableau forums, or consulting firms.

2. What questions should I ask a Tableau developer?
Depending on the knowledge and expertise required, interviewers can always start with the fundamentals of Tableau and its workings.

These could include questions on Tableau calculations, query processing, Tableau visualization, Tableau dashboard, dimension, measures, etc.

3. What is the rate of Tableau developers per hour?
The rate of beginner or intermediate Tableau developers varies between $36 and $63 per hour. Advanced developers charge higher; their rates can go up to $150 per hour.

4. What is the salary of a Tableau developer freelancer?
As per ZipRecruiter, the average salary of a Tableau developer freelancer in the US is $108,146 per annum.