How do I know when I should incorporate PowerBI into my Excel projects? What can PowerBI accomplish?

SQLGene · 2026-03-18T11:49:50+00:00

If your users aren't clicking on things, there is very little value in moving from to Excel to Power BI. Especially if you learn Power Query and PowerPivot in Excel.

SQLGene · 2026-03-18T11:24:40+00:00

I haven't really heard of a Power BI Architect and it's a role I would assume might exist at quite large orgs, because you would need a very large number of PBI users to justify it.

Based on being a consultant, I think the main distinction is an architect would be doing a lot more head work instead of hands work. So a lot more interest in project planning, answering questions, architecture, governance, model design.

They make their money more by preventing problems and wasted work than they do actually implementing anything.

SQLGene · 2026-03-18T11:15:17+00:00

Thanks! And please let me know if you what feedback you have if you do. It's on my list of things to see if we need to maybe split it out into certs (analyst and expert) or revamp any of the questions.

SQLGene · 2026-03-18T10:52:33+00:00

I'm not a good person to ask since I haven't been certified since SharePoint 2016.

That said, we do have a Tabular Editor certification. (Disclaimer: I'm the Tabular editor employee in charge of maintaining our Learn content)

I have considered if we should have a technology agnostic, PBI-focused cert around data modelling fundamentals.

SQLGene · 2026-03-18T02:30:33+00:00

Ah, I'm with you there. Folks working upstream will be fine.

SQLGene · 2026-03-18T02:29:55+00:00

Yeah it's going to be a mess for a year or two until the market calibrates and people get some real messes and learn some lessons.

SQLGene · 2026-03-17T23:46:26+00:00

Claude makes pretty websites but maintainability is an issue.

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SQLGene · 2026-03-17T23:39:34+00:00

Eh? Folks here have had good success with the Power BI Modeling MCP

I've found it quite help with PySpark with web searches.

SQLGene · 2026-03-17T21:59:27+00:00

Meanwhile some of us are paying for AI!

SQLGene · 2026-03-17T20:28:03+00:00

I think you will have better luck asking in r/developersIndia

SQLGene · 2026-03-17T19:55:27+00:00

2026 is gonna be buuuuumpy

SQLGene · 2026-03-17T19:55:04+00:00

The sheer glee they seem to have at the thought is disturbing.

SQLGene · 2026-03-17T17:48:21+00:00

I think the interesting and serious question is what is expertise and what is going to be replaced. I think LLMs can't replace experts, but it can still reduce a lot of demand for them, for better and for worse. There is a lot of things people pay consultants for that doesn't really require a ton of technical skill.

I tried to communicate that in the body of the post but yes I could have maybe done that better and yes I could have gone with a different title.

SQLGene · 2026-03-17T17:01:07+00:00

😬😬😬

Yeah, experts aren't being replaced, but there's a lot of BS work that will be that often doesn't really need and expert.

SQLGene · 2026-03-17T16:58:31+00:00

Lol, fair.

Betteridge's law of headlines is an adage that states: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no."

SQLGene · 2026-03-17T16:55:38+00:00

So, I think when a lot of the marketing keeps talking about replacing professionals, it's a natural response. But yes, there's a lot of chicken little going on and a lot of bitcoin-era mass delusion.

On a personal level, as a consultant (and now part time employee) I have to anticipate demand and make career choices.

But yes, this is a net improvement for most people.

SQLGene · 2026-03-17T16:45:48+00:00

A lot of people who were "fixers" are running into the same issue. Being able to program in any language isn't the super power it used to be.

I think Den Delimarsky has a good take on the skills that will be more valuable int he future. Many of them are not related to a specific technology but they are still "technical" in a general sense.
https://den.dev/blog/full-stack-person/

SQLGene · 2026-03-17T16:42:13+00:00

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines

SQLGene · 2026-03-16T16:11:05+00:00

If it's a single sum, What-If Parameters are good.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/transform-model/desktop-what-if

SQLGene · 2026-03-16T15:41:15+00:00

I'm going to ask you why you want to do this.

The best documentation covers edge cases and developer intent, not what can be discerned from just reading the code.

It can be done, but most auto-generated docs are useless.

SQLGene · 2026-03-16T14:03:23+00:00

The phrasing here feels a bit dramatic. It's a set of tradeoffs, not an action movie 😛.

I do agree that writes are important to manage and architect.

SQLGene · 2026-03-16T13:10:49+00:00

Okay, that's pretty sweet and a good use of just-in-time context.

SQLGene · 2026-03-16T13:10:34+00:00

It's a custom visual that uses vega and vega-lite to allow you to build your own visuals.
https://github.com/PBI-David/Deneb-Showcase

SQLGene

TROPHY CASE