An Update on My Journey to Power BI

It is time for another update on my Power BI Journey which you will soon see has taken a few turns. 

1. My wife.  I want to thank my wife for giving me extra time at night and on the weekends to learn, study, and prepare for the demonstrations that I would be delivering.  She even lets me practice! Mollie definitely had no idea she would be unofficially enrolled in so many Power BI classes, haha.  She is a great student who gives me fantastic feedback that I then use when trying to make my demonstrations better.

2. My incredible bosses.  Brian and Devin Knight always provide support daily.  They know how overwhelming it can be to take a deep dive into material that you have never worked with before.  They have been there every step of the way to answer my questions no matter how trivial they may be.  It is a stark contrast compared to what I know some educators have experienced in their working environment. Often times teachers are just looking for a dash of positive praise, but despite working miracles, get an email saying "you didn't have the entire standard written on the board."  That is the opposite of what I have experienced along my new journey here where support and trust can produce a message saying, "here is a new initiative that I think you should take over."
3. My fellow trainers. I have been able to shadow, interact, learn, and ask numerous questions of the trainers at my work.  I have borrowed -well let’s be honest- stolen many of their anecdotes, tips, and tricks to use in my private training with clients.  They have provided a great perspective, work ethic, and road map of what I need to do to be successful in this business. 

Okay, so here is the update:  I have officially delivered two, full-week trainings on Power BI... completely solo without having the safety net of another trainer in the room!  Of course, by in the room, I mean on the other side of a computer screen in a Teams meeting.  I’m not going to lie, I was so nervous the night before my first day of being solo.  I went over my notes and demos countless times.  I continuously asked my wife to pray for me through the night and all through the next workday. 

The first day had a few hiccups, but I did it!  I successfully conveyed the course material, answered questions, and even had a little fun once I got over the nerves.  And no one popped in to see if my computer screen had the "proper board configuration" (any teachers out there reading this will get that joke!) and no one even knew I threw up in the bathroom 5 minutes before it was about to start!

At the end of my first week of training, I made a list of what I wanted to improve upon for the next training.  I spent the next weekend doing some deeper research and learning even more.  With the start of my 2nd, week-long training I still had the nerves.  However, thankfully I was much more confident.  It showed in the class too, I believe.  I will continue to learn more and make each subsequent training session better than the one before.

One of the things I was most hesitant about in switching careers is missing the interaction with my middle school students.  I knew that I thrived and fed off the energy of them and loved it when I could see the light bulb turn on.  Luckily, I found that wonderful feeling again with the adults I train now.  I didn’t know that I could get the same gratification as I had previously in the past 16 years, but it turns out it feels just as good coming from adults. I've learned that teaching is really just a form of serving--and in an ironic twist-- it so often benefits the server more so than the student. I am beyond grateful to find this again so early in my journey. 

Well, it is about time to wrap this up.  Oh yeah, I mentioned that my training has taken a few turns.  Well, that big turn is that a month and a half ago I was tasked to learn all about Power Apps and to prepare to hold future trainings over Power Apps and Power BI.  Needless to say, it threw me for a loop as I was still learning the intricacies of Power BI.  

But, after I went to the bathroom to throw up got over my nerves again, I fell in love with the new program.  I look forward to sharing some future blogs about Power Apps.  

Wait!  Do I need to change the name of my blog now…?!?!

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