A couple of years ago, I started taking blacksmithing classes with my younger brother as a sibling bonding exercise. As a side effect, I found myself getting a master class in how to teach the truly new to work on a new skill with confidence from one of the most thoughtful teachers I’ve ever met. Ms. Caitlin’s teaching style combines infinite patience with a well thought out project structure of Concept, Demo, and Practice that is designed to help make a skill many find terrifying accessible and fun—something I now borrow from regularly when I teach fledgling data professionals in a variety of settings.

Every year, my family asks me what I want for Christmas and I give them some unhelpful answer like “World Peace” or “3-5 acres of arable land.” If you have a Business Intelligence and/or Data Engineering nerd in your life that is similarly annoying to shop for, here’s some ideas to get your started.

For everyone that loves a good fright, here’s a round-up of 13 common BI mistakes that make me scream in terror whenever I’m taking over and/or reworking a BI tool for a client.