Tips for Alteryz Designer

[Sboorey]

Hi everyone, I am new to Alteryz and learning how to use the program for a class in college. We recently learned about UI Path and both of the programs seem to be set up similarly when you first open the programs, but Alteryz Designer seems easier to use and understand from what I have learned so far. I was wondering how long takes to get a hang of the program and figure out how all of the tools work.

Thanks!

[cmcclellan]

Alteryx and UIPath are designed to do completely different things though.  Both are great tools, but you need to know where to use each one.  Same as you wouldn't use Excel when you're writing and essay and you wouldn't use a screwdriver to get a nail into some wood.  Knowing when to use each application is important. 

Within Alteryx, learning each tool takes time as well.  I've been using Alteryx for over 7 years and I haven't used every single tool - simply because I don't need to.  I "sorta" know what each one does, I use Alteryx at least 3 days a week and I've done some MAGIC stuff with it, but some tools are just not required ..... for what I'm using it for.

[TheOC]

hey @Sboorey ,

I hope you're enjoying Alteryx so far! Great to hear you're enjoying getting up and running with it. 

Speed to progress is quicker with Alteryx than any other platform I've seen. I would recommend looking at the Core certification, and aiming for that once you are more comfortable with the platform.

Be sure to have a look around the community - its really a fantastic place for learning. A couple of resources I would especially recommend knowing about are:

• Alteryx Designer Discussions - A place where users can ask questions about specific Designer workflows they are working on, and receive help from members on the community. Typical response time (from what I've seen) is under 10 minutes for someone to reply with a potential solution, so its a very quick resource for bespoke information. Additionally, you can search using the search function at the top right for specific issues if you happen to run into any that may have been faced by other users before.
• Alteryx User Groups - When I first got into Alteryx, I didn't join User Groups as I thought they would be very technical and that I would need plenty of experience before diving in. However, they really aren't. User groups are an incredibly friendly environment to discuss workflows, what's going on in the Alteryx World, and a great place to network with people in the community. Even better, with the world still being very much virtual at the moment, most of the User Groups (including the North East UK User Group, which I am currently a leader of) are hosting virtual events so they are easy to join.
• The Alteryx Academy - Easily the best place to learn about Alteryx and how to use it. I would especially recommend the learning paths which include short snippets of learning specific topics, including Alteryx for Excel users, which helped me translate a lot of my Excel knowledge over to Alteryx. There are also the weekly challenges, which are challenges delivered by Alteryx on a weekly basis, based around real-life situations and community submitted problems. They are a fantastic way to learn practical uses of Designer, and also its really interesting to see the many different approaches to answering the same problem. Once you have progressed with learning Alteryx, I would definitely recommend the Alteryx Certifications. They are free to do (Core and Advanced), and provide a useful benchmark for your knowledge. You can also just take them again in 7 days, in the case that you don't pass, so don't feel any pressure to know everything before you give them a go!

I hope you find Alteryx to be easy to learn, and intuitive to use. Do remember that almost every tool has an example workflow and help documentation if you right click the tool in the tool palette:

("Help" for the tool documentation, "Open Example" for the example workflow). 

And be sure to search for/ask for help on the community if you get stuck. Alternatively, feel free to drop me a message here on the community!

Cheers,
TheOC