We are proud to announce that the third edition of the Mastering DAX video course is now online!

The world has changed so much since the release of the second edition. While DAX still has the same foundational concepts, it has evolved as a language, adding user-defined functions, calendar-based time intelligence, and visual calculations.

In the meantime, Power BI is now part of the larger Microsoft Fabric ecosystem, and the adoption of Power BI and DAX has constantly increased. LLMs arrived, whether they are ready to write DAX is a big “it depends”, but it is inevitable that always more DAX code will be written by LLMs in the years to come.

Therefore, why bother to learn DAX? Several reasons.

First, because DAX could be way shorter than the prompt required to generate it. Second, to validate the code generated by the machine. Third, because it is fun. Well, we are biased here!

Why a third edition of the video course, then? Well, also in this case, several reasons, the same that guided the writing of the third edition of The Definitive Guide to DAX book released in November 2025.

First, new features: window functions, visual calculations, calendar-based time intelligence, and user-defined functions simply did not exist when we produced the second edition.

Second, provide a smoother learning path. We completely rewrote the book first, then used it as the screenplay for the video course: same structure, same examples, different delivery. The book is precise, accurate, and detailed. The video course is more conversational, and we take time to explain what is going on, often writing the code step by step. Someone prefers the book, someone else chooses the video course, and others use both! However, we start with the basics and introduce the theoretical concepts of the DAX language more gradually, enabling newbies to write simple DAX formulas after the first two chapters, rather than overwhelming students with all the theory before writing real-world measures.

We added many original illustrations to the book that we also use in the video course, using a digital whiteboard to illustrate abstract concepts more visually. We experimented with this teaching technique in classes and in certain YouTube videos; the feedback we received confirmed it was a good idea, and we applied it to the video course, too.

Thus, this is a completely new video course. If you are a former student with an active account, you will clearly see the differences because you will have access to both video courses: the second and the third edition. If you are a new student, you will just enjoy the new approach!

One note about the exercises: they are not ready yet, we will add them during April 2026, starting from the first modules. We already included all the sample files that you can use to follow the demos in the lectures, and you can play with them, too. Expect proper exercises to assess your knowledge after each module in the coming weeks.

Now, a few numbers about the third edition:

  • >30 hours of recorded video lectures. This doubled the duration of the content available in the second edition.
  • Full coverage of any and all DAX features released all the way until December 2025.
  • Professionally reviewed English subtitles. Automatic translations to Arabic, Chinese (Standard), Chinese (Traditional), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish, Ukrainian.

We already mentioned that all students with active access to the second edition of the Mastering DAX video course automatically received access to the third edition, with the same expiration date as the current one.

If you do not have access to the Mastering DAX video course yet, or you want to extend your current expiration date, we have a launch offer with a 20% discount valid until April 3, 2026. Moreover, to celebrate 10 years of Power BI and our video course, we extended the 20% discount to all video courses offered by SQLBI! Hurry up and take advantage of the offer without waiting for Black Friday!

If you enroll in the Mastering DAX video course for the first time, just follow the lectures in the proposed order and make sure you gain practice with the exercises provided along your path.

As we often say, DAX is simple, but it is not easy. We worked hard to make sure this third edition will be enjoyed by both newbies starting from zero knowledge of DAX and DAX experts who started early with Power BI and have already written thousands of DAX measures. Everyone should be able to level up with this new video course.

Enjoy DAX!