About Me

Hi! I'm Martyn, a Senior Power BI Consultant with 8 years of business intelligence experience under my belt, living in sunny Wales.

My career has has spanned multiple industries through projects and roles in fintech, wealth management, government, law, mining, telecoms & defence.

Currently working in the award winning consultancy FSP, helping clients implement & make the most of Power BI & Fabric in their organisations.

You can find out more and connect with me on LinkedIn

How did I get in to Power BI?

My career started off as a young techie, working as an IT engineer, getting my hands dirty with networking, building & repairing servers and fixing everybody's tech problems.

But at 6"1' tall, there was only so much crawling under desks to fix desktop PC's that I could take. I bashed my head one too many times and decided enough was enough!

A good friend of mine was earning double what I was at the time, by working in something called Dynamics CRM, that got me intrigued!

I did some research and was blown away by the software and it's career potential, sending me down a completely different path in life.

After studying non-stop and getting my Microsoft certifications, I talked my way into my first Dynamics CRM job as a CRM & Data Specialist for a Microsoft Gold Partner & Distributor.

I loved that role, and it was here that I first discovered my true passion, Power BI, in 2017.

It was perfect, it allowed me to combine my love of numbers and exploring data but also allowed me to be creative and innovative with UI/UX design.

The more I learned, the more I was hooked, and I've been going down the rabbit hole, constantly learning and evolving, ever since.

Why "Not Just a Pretty Dashboard"?

One thing that has always stuck with me from early on in my career was something a toxic ex-manager of mine said while introducing me to someone else in the business.

He said...

"This is Martyn, he makes pretty dashboards".

I thought, what a ridiculous thing to say, reducing my entire career down to making pretty dashboards!

What about the years of studying how to build performant data models? The endless hours mastering DAX, SQL, M and all the rest of it? Learning data visualisation best practices and data storytelling? The Microsoft certifications, the conferences, books, user groups and webinars? All that just to be someone who makes pretty dashboards? How insulting!

Luckily my managers and mentors have all been amazing since this one bad egg, and have got me to where I am today. Now I feel like it's my turn to give something back.

This is a blog where I can share lots of useful knowledge I've picked up over the years. Niche tips and hacks from problems I've faced, and resources I've built to help save me time and effort.

If it helps one person solve a problem they've been struggling with, then it's all worth it.

So the name is a nod to anybody who has been looked down on as someone that "just makes pretty dashboards" and isn't recognised as the true business intelligence professional they are.

To all the under-appreciated BI developers, analysts, engineers & data people out there, I salute you 🫡