Power BI Developer Skills: Do You Need to Code?

I recently got this when in discussions with an organisation that is considering Power BI. A concern was how technical is the tool and more specifically if it required any coding skills. So, let’s get into!

To Be Clear: Power BI is A User Friendly Tool!

I thinks it’s worth putting this out from the start, as the question we are answering is really exploring whether Power BI as a tool requires heavy technical skills to use it.

Power BI is a very easy-to-use tool. I’ve been working with it for many years now, so I may be slightly biased, but I’m also the first to acknowledge its limitations and call them out when needed.

Over the years, Microsoft have been making Power BI Desktop look and feel like various other MS Office products. To give some examples, the ribbon sections of Power BI Desktop have so many similarities with the ribbons in PowerPoint or Excel. Also, in Power BI we have something called on-object interaction, which is the way we can configure and interact with visuals on the canvas. This similar to what we have in Excel. One last example, while not everyone may agree, writing DAX does share some similarities with Excel formulas. DAX goes far beyond a simple formula language, but those Excel-like patterns are especially noticeable in basic calculations. I can keep going, but these features make Power BI more user-friendly. First-time users quickly recognise the MS Office familiarity, which boosts their comfort and confidence.

Power BI was Built For The End User, Not The Developer

Of course I should also say that from the start Power BI was very much a data visualisation tool for self-service purposes. It was built for the business users. Many core features were missing (talking back in 2016), which made Power BI far from an enterprise reporting tool.

Of course, this is far from reality now. Power BI is an enterprise reporting tool. However, it’s still has its deep roots as a self-service data visualisation tool for the business users, making it user friendly.

So, Anyone Can Be a Power BI Developer, No Learning To Get Skills You Need?

Everything I said above is true. However, that doesn’t mean you can ignore the core topics if you want to unlock Power BI’s full potential. Especially when building more enterprise-level, scalable solutions.

Now, of course it depends on the Power BI personas, so what each person needs to know will vary. We’ve got the Report Consumer, Report Author, Model Designer and MS Fabric Admin. I won’t break them all down here, but if you’re curious, have a look at our blog: What is Power BI Training, which explains them in more detail.

When I run Power BI training or Power BI coaching sessions, I always encourage people to go beyond the tool itself. Learn the core concepts! Start with data modelling basics and understand the difference between Kimball and Inmon approaches. I also stress the importance of knowing the fundamentals of data warehousing and ETL.

You can probably tell by now, some technical topics are definitely needed. But it all comes down to the persona (for example, Report Consumers and Authors usually don’t need to worry about this stuff) and your specific scenario. Are you building a quick ad-hoc report for yourself? Or is it a business-critical report that needs to be managed by the core reporting team?

One thing I really want to say, please don’t fall for anything online that claims you can master Power BI in a few months and land a senior role. It’s just not how it works. The topics I’ve mentioned so far are only scratching the surface. If you’re serious about learning and want a clear path, reach out! We’re happy to point you to free resources or guide you through our Power BI training and coaching.

What coding do we have in Power BI For Developing Data Models, Reports and Dashboards?

As mentioned above, Power BI is user-friendly and offers a drag-and-drop interface that appeals to business users, especially given its similarity to other Microsoft Office products.

That said, there are still elements within Power BI that can be considered a form of “coding.” Let’s explore those below.

Power Through DAX  (Data Analysis Expressions)

The first thing I’m going to start with is DAX (Data Analysis Expressions). If there’s one “coding” skill that defines a Power BI Developer, it’s this.

DAX is Power BI’s native formula language. While it may feel familiar to Excel users, it’s much more powerful. It's designed specifically for data modelling and analytics. It’s used to create measures, calculated columns and even calculated tables. These enable us to derive KPIs, time intelligence measures (like YoY growth), advanced conditional formatting and so much more. A quick bit of history, DAX didn’t originate with Power BI. It was actually introduced earlier with technologies like Power Pivot in Excel and Analysis Services Tabular Models, which I was using before Power BI even existed.

And the truth is - yes, to unlock the full power of Power BI, you do need to know DAX.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t start building without it. You can! In fact, with drag-and-drop visuals, some basic built-in aggregations and now with copilot, you can still create a clean data model and some really solid reports.

But when you start hearing questions like:

• Can we compare this year’s performance to the 3-year average?
• Can we calculate retention between campaign waves?
• Can we display rolling 12 Months based on a dynamic selection?

Well, at this point it’s DAX time.

One of my personal all-time favourite resources, and one we recommend to clients and learners at Metis BI, is Matt Allington’s “Supercharge Power BI”. It’s not just a book, it’s a clear and approachable way to understand DAX without all the heavy technical details. So, It’s great for beginners!

And if you’re currently learning DAX but find yourself scratching your head… I promise it starts to click the moment you understand Evaluation Context. Learn this, and you will thank us later! We’ve written a blog specifically to help with this, and honestly, it’s one of the most important reads for any Power BI developer. Understanding DAX Through The Power of Evaluation Context.

Also, we can’t talk about DAX, or any coding/query language, without mentioning AI due to the impact it has had. With tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and of course Microsoft Copilot, writing DAX has become so much easier. If you’re using Microsoft Fabric SKU, Copilot can even help you generate DAX directly within Power BI. How good is that? By the way, in FabCon 2025, it was announced that sometime in April 2025, Copilot will be available in all F-SKUs (F2 and above, previously F64 and above).

If you want to see all Power BI and MS Fabric licensing options, check out my blog Navigating Power BI & MS Fabric Licensing.

Power Query & M Language – For Everything Data Transformation

Before your visuals sparkle and your DAX measures start crunching numbers, your data often needs a bit of tidying up. That’s where Power Query comes in.

Power Query is Power BI’s component for data transformation and data shaping. It’s accessed by simply selecting “Transform data” in ribbon of Power BI Desktop. Think of it as the place where raw, messy data gets cleaned, filtered and combined, before it lands in your model. It’s where you’ll:

• Remove duplicate
• Rename columns
• Merge and Append tables
• Unpivot data
• Filter out the junk
• Group tables

Why is this relevant? Well, behind the scenes, all of this is powered by something called M Language, a functional, case-sensitive scripting language designed for data transformation. So, another type of coding in Power BI.

But here’s the good news, Power Query comes with an intuitive GUI, so it’s not common that you will need to write M code manually. Every step you apply thought the interface, whether it’s sorting rows or removing columns is automatically converted into M which you can see in the “applied steps” panel of power query. I promise, in many projects, you can get by without ever touching it.

From my own experience, I genuinely believe DAX should be higher on your list of things to learn as a Power BI developer - btw not knocking M!

That said, understanding M, at least at a surface level, does help when:

• You want to parameterise queries
• You’re building reusable templates
• You need to troubleshoot transformation steps
• You’re working with APIs or more advanced transformations

What about SQL I hear? Surely needed to become a Power BI Developer?

I will be honest, you don’t need to know SQL to be a Power BI developer. However, I would HIGHLY recommend you understand SQL to be a data professional.

That’s exactly why I’m adding it to the list. Do I write SQL every day now? No. But were there years in my career when that’s all I did? Absolutely. And the reality is, plenty of Power BI professionals I speak to use Power BI daily without ever touching SQL.

Why? Well, it depends. Some organisations have a dedicated data engineering team that handles all the SQL work, while the core reporting team, made up of Power BI developers and analysts, focus purely on reporting and requirment gathering. In other cases, the underlying data sources might not require SQL at all. Another reason, the semantic models may already be fully designed and maintained, so Power BI developers don’t need to write SQL themselves. The data is in the right structure and ready for reporting.

So, there are plenty of reasons why SQL might not be part of your day-to-day. That said, having SQL on your CV is always a plus and chances are, you’ll run into it at some point during your data journey.

To finish up with this, SQL is the language of databases and as a data professional you should feel comfortable with it.

The New Guy on the Block… TMDL!

As of 2024, Microsoft introduced the ability to save Power BI files (PBIX) as Power BI Project files (PBIP). This is quite a shift, as PBIP separates the data model from the report into two structured folders, plus a PBIT file that references them both.

But what’s more exciting, especially for those in the development or DevOps space, is the arrival of Tabular Model Definition Language (TMDL).

TMDL replaces the previous Tabular Model Scripting Language (TMSL), which also included the .bim file and breaks down your model into human-readable code for things like tables, relationships, measures, hierarchies and more. This makes it far easier for teams to collaborate on the same solution, use version control tools like Git and truly treat Power BI models like code.

So… do you need to know TMDL to be a Power BI developer?

Absolutely not!

You can build impactful, enterprise-ready Power BI reports without touching TMDL.

In fact, I believe (don't quote me on this) I heard Riu Romano, a Principal Program Manager, say this is more of a feature for super users and advanced developers. I agree with this! It’s a brilliant step forward for collaboration and long-term governance, but it’s not a barrier to getting started today or delivering real value with Power BI.

Still, since this blog is about the “coding” involved in Power BI, it’s worth knowing that the TMDL Editor exists inside Power BI Desktop. You can even write scripts directly to query or modify your model.

If you're early in your journey… you don’t need to worry about this yet. If you’re a seasoned developer, TMDL might just be your next rabbit hole (I know it is for me).

Conclusion: So, Do You Need Coding Skills to Use Power BI?

No, you don’t need to be a coder to start using Power BI or to deliver real value with it. Its user-friendly, drag-and-drop interface makes it accessible to business users from day one.

But if you’re aiming to become a true Power BI developer, building scalable, enterprise-ready solutions, then learning DAX is essential. A surface-level understanding of M language (Power Query) and SQL will take you even further. Tools like TMDL open new doors for advanced collaboration, but they’re not a requirement to get started.

Also, this blog focuses purely on Power BI, but if you’re working across the wider Microsoft Fabric experiences, depending on your persona type and work responsibility, you may also want to explore Python, KQL and R.

To finish, start simple, grow steadily and when you're ready to level up, we’re here to help.

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