How I Accidentally Became a BI Engineer as a Web Designer

Self-Introduction

Formerly a web designer and data consultant.
After leaving my job, I now find myself working as a freelance BI engineer.

I managed to teach myself everything from scratch—web design, data consulting, and now BI engineering.
I would like to use Zenn as a place to keep a log of my learning journey.

Career Background

I feel like my career has spanned quite a wide range across the web industry.

New Graduate: Non-experienced liberal arts graduate in an SES role in a rural area

I was involved in business system modifications and data analysis for a major automotive manufacturer.
I was responsible for updating sales volume KPI data that was presented worldwide.

2nd Job: Career change to a Tokyo startup as a non-experienced web designer

I was hired by a startup based on potential, despite having no experience.
Drowning in the fast-paced environment typical of startups, I worked as a web designer—or rather, a coder—producing and operating fan sites.

3rd Job: Career change to a listed company as a web designer and two internal transfers

Although I joined as a web designer, I was hired as a coder due to my skill suitability.
At first, I worked on BtoB site production and corporate site coding, but a year and a half later, a major event occurred: a sudden notice of "transferring to the data department in three days."

First transfer and meeting Tableau

Although I had done some data analysis as a new graduate, it was my first time working with GA4 and GTM, so I repeatedly taught myself through hands-on experience.

After nearly a year in the data department, I became accustomed to the work. When we started using Tableau for a large-scale project, I was entrusted with technical verification, which was my introduction to BI.

From organizing documentation—such as creating flowcharts for connecting Tableau with Snowflake and BigQuery to visualize data—to actually transferring data from Snowflake to Tableau, I felt a deep sense of accomplishment when I deployed an ELT process using Tableau Prep to optimize performance and successfully visualized the data for both internal and external stakeholders.

Returning to Web Designer

Just as I began to feel rewarded after my work was recognized and I joined Tableau and Looker Studio projects, I was suddenly ordered to transfer back to being a web designer due to company circumstances. Because this move was also sudden, there was no handover period, forcing me to juggle design work and Tableau projects (which were large-scale at the time) for over half a year.

A transfer that helped me realize I could balance data and design

Although data visualization and web design represent different things, I believe they share the same roots. Data visualization is about making numbers visible, while web design is about organizing and visualizing information. While they are similar yet different, both were meaningful to me.

I used the client interviewing and visualization skills I gained in the data department to further enhance the design work—which I had improved as a form of expression in the design department.

These two transfers helped me realize that this is the type of work where I can maximize my existing repertoire of skills.

Why I became a freelancer

To put it bluntly, the moment that pushed me to make the decision was when my design department manager told me, "Choose whether to quit, take a break, or transfer back to the data department."

I had originally set a goal to become a freelancer by the time I reached this age, but I was so incredibly busy at work that I had half-given up on it. That specific comment gave me the nudge I needed.

How one interprets that remark depends on the individual, but I am grateful to the manager because it gave me the courage to act on what could have been interpreted as a recommendation to resign.

When I returned from the data department to the design department, I thought:

I will use the client interviewing and visualization skills I gained in the data department to further enhance the design work I cultivated in the design department.

I resigned with a positive mindset, deciding to test this hypothesis on my own.

Current life as a freelance BI engineer

Since leaving, I have been working as a freelance BI engineer on a contract basis. That said, my work involves things like performing quality management and numerical verification by comparing data output from Tableau with "source of truth" data, and managing data in BigQuery.

While working in a laid-back manner with my current client isn't bad, I wanted to expand my skills and increase my rates. When I was chatting with the trending AI, Claude, I learned that "learning dbt and Python is the path to reaching the next level."

I searched for "dbt...?" and found only difficult-sounding terminology. I figured I would start on Zenn to leave a log, articulating these concepts in a way that someone starting from zero experience in the data field like me could understand.

Conclusion

It has been a long story, but this is where I am now and where I am headed. I would be happy if you could follow my future posts to see what I learn as someone who somehow ended up becoming a BI engineer.

I look forward to this journey.