I’ve put together an extensive (and continually updated) list of books that I think will help you become a better QlikView / Qlik Sense developer or consultant. The books on this list do not only cover QlikView and Qlik Sense, but also peripheral methods, skills and technologies that I believe make for a well-rounded professional.
Click on any of the subjects below to show the associated books.
QlikView / Qlik Sense
While a few years ago there weren’t any books on QlikView, nowadays there is a fair amount of them on the market. Below I have listed the books that I found the most useful. One of these books I co-authored (QlikView 11 for Developers) and I did the technical review for a few others. In my opinion all of these are a solid buy.
Big data
While the name “Big Data” may be somewhat overused in my opinion, Big Data and NoSQL environments are getting more and more common within Qlik projects. The books listed below offer both a good introduction to these environments, as well as information on more specific functionalities.
Data quality / Quality management
Unfortunately, data quality is by no means a “sexy” subject. However, in my opinion it is a big part of your project’s (and organization’s) success. The books listed below offer good advice for making the business case for data quality and, in the broader sense, quality management, as well as practical methods and techniques for dealing with it.
Data science / data mining / statistics
Like Big Data, Data Science is a hot topic at this moment. While in my experience there are very few Qlik projects that incorporate advanced/predictive analytics at this moment, I expect this to be a more common requirement in the coming years. Better be prepared! The books listed below offer both good introductions to data science, its business value and practical methods and techniques to apply it.
Data visualization
You can invest a lot of time in an awesome data model and excellent expressions, if you don’t use proper visualization techniques in your QlikView or Qlik Sense project your application might still be met with a lackluster reception by business users. The following books will help you get additional insights and inspiration to present your data in its most optimal format.
Data warehousing, design and modeling
Up to a few years ago, the typical QlikView sales pitch was that you do not need a data warehouse when using QlikView. In my experience, unless you have a very simple environment, this is simply not true. When QlikView environments get more complex you might think that you do not have a data warehouse, but in reality in many cases you are simply building (the equivalent of) a data warehouse in QlikView or Qlik Sense.
Fortunately, many of the techniques, methods and principles that were perfected in the field of data warehousing translate very well into QlikView implementations. Whether your organization has a data architecture based on QVD layers and QlikMarts, or decides to move some of these data layers upstream into a ‘real’ data warehouse, being familiar with data warehousing practices is a good investment for any Qlik developer and consultant.
Databases
The ability to extract data from a database is a basic requirement for any QlikView developer. Developers and consultants that want to stand out a little more should also acquire skills in effectively pushing some of the workload back to the database, for example by creating their own (materialized) views and stored procedures. While you do not need to be an expert on every database system, it certainly does not hurt to be familiar (if only on a high level) with the system(s) used within your organization or at your clients.
Excel
Can’t live with it, can’t live without it. Excel skills are still an essential skill in my opinion and these books are excellent references for anyone wanting to do a little more than the usual.
Other BI & Data Discovery solutions
It is (nearly) impossible to become an expert in every leading BI and Data Discovery solution on the market. In my opinion however, the best Qlik consultants are those that are also aware of what other tools are out there and know what the relative strengths and weaknesses of these tools are. From an employability perspective, being at least moderately proficient in one or two alternative solutions is also a very good idea. The books listed below are good introductory texts to some of the major players on the market today.
Programming
Having programming experience is in my opinion a huge leg up for any QlikView developer or consultant. While there are many interesting programming languages out there, when working with QlikView or Qlik Sense I would mostly focus on C# (for anything having to do with the server) and JavaScript (for extension development). Additionally, I think it is a good idea to have experience in at least one general purpose (“swiss army knife”) language, for which my preference is Python. The list below offers some good books to get started with these languages, as well as some more foundational work.
Project management and time management
In the past years, I have seen BI (and QlikView) projects move from more ‘traditional’ project management methodologies (e.g. Prince2 or PMBOK) to more agile ones like Scrum. I certainly believe that QlikView and Qlik Sense development and deployment is greatly benefited by using Scrum, and that this methodology is a much better fit for the products than traditional waterfall methods. The books listed below will give you a good introduction to Scrum. I have also included books on personal time management (“Getting Things Done”) and some wisdom on software engineering projects in general, which also very much applies to QlikView and Qlik Sense projects (“The Mythical Man-Month”).
Various
This section lists books that I found useful, interesting or inspirational. As this list expands I will probably move clusters of these books into new subject areas.
Please note that all books are ordered in alphabetical order, the order is not ranked. If you have any book suggestions then please feel free to contact me.
