Think Like a Champion: Kat & Nicole, Ready to Answer your Grand Prix Questions!

[NicoleJohnson]

Hello Alteryx Community!!

We are @kat and @NicoleJohnson! Back in 2018, we took the Grand Prix by storm and made it the year for women solvers, taking the Grand Prix Champion title home at both Inspire Europe and Inspire North America!! We are excited to answer any questions you have today around our Grand Prix experiences: how we prepared for the race, what the competition was like, our favorite tools to use, best songs on our playlists that got us pumped up... whatever you want to know!!

And if you’re interested in competing in the Alteryx Grand Prix (you should!!), check out this blog post about registering for Grand Prix 2021!

We’ll be online for the next hour (10-11am PST) to answer alllll your questions - just leave a comment below! Ready... Set... Go!

Cheers!

Kat & Nicole 

 PHOTO: Kat & Nicole after Kat's Grand Prix victory in London (along with pit crew extraordinaire, Dan Hare!)

[NicoleJohnson]

@Thableaus - "Do you think preparing for a Grand Prix helped you on passing the Alteryx Expert Certification? Even though the format is totally different."

That's a great question! Yes & no - the Expert exam challenges you to know very particular things about some of the more advanced tools & concepts in Alteryx, so in that sense, being able to quickly get done with the things you do know how to do so that you can focus on tweaking the things you aren't as familiar with was definitely a Grand Prix type skill... but there are distinctly fewer people cheering you on while you're taking the Expert exam, which is really a shame 🙂

I do think that any time you can challenge yourself to think through a problem in your mind, start to finish, and to plan ahead/always be thinking about the downstream steps, you'll be setting yourself up for success, whether that is in a Grand Prix or while taking an Expert exam!

[carlosteixeira]

What is the technique that you use to quickly resolve a workflow? Do you prefer a beautiful workflow or one that solves?
On a daily basis, in our jobs we have more time to think about solutions, let's say more elegant. hahahaha

[kat]

Thank you @carlosteixeira ! 🙂

I'd suggest just doing any and all weekly challenges left to do and doing them all properly, - i.e. giving it a proper shot before looking at the solution. Would also recommend just familiarising yourself with every tool available - you never know what crazy question they'll come up with!

Hope we'll see you on stage this year @carlosteixeira 😁

[NicoleJohnson]

Bit random, but I remember spending a lot of time putting my playlist together for the Grand Prix - I wanted to make sure it was upbeat and motivational, to keep the adrenaline going. However, I only remember 2 songs - the first one that played when I first put my headphones on, which was Justin Timberlake and Chris Stapleton singing "Say Something"... and then I remember I was getting close to the answer on Round 1, I KNEW I had it, and then AJR's "Burn the House Down" came on, and I legit remember starting to dance a bit on stage. Don't remember any of the other songs, but to this day when I hear one of those songs, it brings me back on stage!! 

@kat - did you have a song or two that got you in the right frame of mind??

[Thableaus]

Question to @NicoleJohnson 

Do you think preparing for a Grand Prix helped you on passing the Alteryx Expert Certification? Even though the format is totally different.

Thanks,

[carlosteixeira]

Hi girls, congratulations on the grand prix.
You are amazing.

What are the suggestions for the people who are starting now to prepare for the next ones?

[NicoleJohnson]

@tsilva4 - "did you have any favorite training Alteryx or prep exercises you used to prepare you for the Grand Prix?"

I guessed that Predictive would be my weak point (I was correct haha), so I do remember spending a bit of time doing the Predictive weekly challenges to prepare... but as there weren't a ton of them to choose from, I also spent some time dissecting the examples that were available in the tools themselves, and the sample workflows and tutorials in the Help menu. It was good to just get familiar with the tools & some of the ways to configure them, and it was helpful to see some structured examples rather than "just winging it," which is typically how I was approaching the Weekly Challenges 🙂 

I will also add that there are SO MANY MORE resources available on the Community now than there were back in 2018... between the plethora of Knowledge Base and Tool Mastery articles, the interactive lessons, the enormous library of videos... this is a gold mine. Focus on your weak spots with the Academy resources, but then also make sure that you are really confident in the things you do know - if you can take care of the data prep & blend super fast because you're a wizard at the favorite tools, you'll have more time to tackle the harder tools to figure them out!

[kat]

Hi @tsilva4, my number one prep was just doing all the weekly challenges. And adding to that, I never looked at the solution before solving it myself, even if it took a really long time (Challenge 100.... 👀). That helps train you to think about the solution yourself and not just recognize a good solution.

I also made sure I was aware of what each tool did so that there wouldn't be any surprises.

Doing the Exam is probably good too, as that is a real-life, under pressure, time-sensitive scenario, really putting you through your paces and highlighting any week spots.

Good luck!!

[tsilva4]

Hi Kat and Nicole, did you have any favorite training Alteryx or prep exercises you used to prepare you for the Grand Prix?

[kat]

Haha yay! Great memories! 🙂