Most Power BI developers have no idea how good they actually are.

You can build a report… but is that junior or senior? You know some DAX… but is it enough to get paid more? There’s no map. So I built one.

I broke Power BI down into 6 levels and 36 skills — from “I just opened Power BI” all the way to “I design the data platform and lead the team.” Watch the full breakdown here, then scroll down and score yourself:

First, an honest disclaimer

These 6 levels (A1 → C2) are my own framework — a simple way to show how Power BI skills build up in complexity and what employers actually expect at each stage. They are not an official Microsoft classification or certification. Think of it as a map, not a rulebook.

The 6 Levels (and the 36 skills)

🟥 A1 — Newbie (you’ve opened Power BI)
Get Data · Core Visuals · Filters & Slicers · Basic Power Query · Publish to the Service · Dashboards vs Reports

🟧 A2 — Learner (you can shape data)
Power Query transforms · Data cleaning · Relationships · Basic DAX · Report design · Q&A & Smart Narrative

🟨 B1 — Analyst (you can model & tell stories)
Star schema · Date table & time intelligence · CALCULATE/FILTER/ALL · Drill-through & bookmarks · AI visuals · Copilot basics

🟨 B2 — Developer (enterprise-ready & Fabric-aware)
Advanced DAX · Time intelligence · Advanced Power Query · Row-Level Security · Microsoft Fabric fundamentals · Copilot for development

🟩 C1 — Expert (you optimise & engineer at scale)
Performance tuning · DAX Studio · Calc groups & field parameters · Enterprise refresh · Fabric engineering · AI-ready semantic models

🟩 C2 — Architect (you design the platform & lead)
Tabular Editor & TMDL · Git & CI/CD · Semantic model governance · MCP & AI agents · Azure AI / AI Foundry · Solution architecture & leadership

Now score yourself — out of 36

Give yourself 1 point per skill — but only if you’ve actually done it in a real report (not just watched a tutorial). Then find your rank:

  • 1–6 → Newbie

  • 7–12 → Learner

  • 13–18 → Analyst

  • 19–24 → Developer

  • 25–30 → Expert

  • 31–36 → Architect

The uncomfortable truth

Most people plateau at B1 (Analyst) and stay there for years — because they can build a report, so they assume they’ve made it. But the jump from Analyst to Developer/Architect isn’t luck or years served. It’s a specific, learnable set of skills. That gap is your roadmap.

And here’s the part nobody’s talking about: levels 4–6 are the people who build the AI — the ones who make a model Copilot can actually read, and wire it up with Fabric and MCP. As AI eats the boring parts of analytics, that’s the work that stays valuable.

Get the free checklist

I turned all 36 skills into a free checklist so you can score yourself properly and track your progress level by level:

Get your free PDFs here.

Watch the full video

The video walks through every level with examples and the exact skill that gets you to the next one:

If this gave you a clearer path, subscribe — this newsletter (and my channel) is your Power BI + data-career roadmap, with a focus on breaking into data here in Australia 🇦🇺.

So — reply and tell me your score /36 and the one skill you’re learning next. I read every reply.

See you in the next one,
Analytical Guy