The third edition of the Mastering DAX video course is now available!

The world has changed a lot since the release of the second edition. While the foundational concepts of DAX have not changed, DAX has evolved as a language, incorporating user-defined functions, calendar-based time intelligence, and visual calculations over time.

In the meantime, Power BI is now part of the larger Microsoft Fabric ecosystem, and the adoption of Power BI and DAX keeps increasingly steadily. LLMs have arrived – whether they are ready to write DAX or not is a big “it depends”, but it is inevitable that more and 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, in this case too, several reasons, the same that guided the writing of the third edition of The Definitive Guide to DAX book which we 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, to 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, definitive, and detailed. The video course is more conversational, where we take the time needed to explain what is going on, often by writing the code step by step. Some will prefer the book, some will choose the video course, and others will use both! However, we start with the basics and introduce the theoretical concepts of the DAX language more gradually, in turn enabling newbies to write simple DAX formulas after the first two modules, rather than overwhelming students with all the theory before writing real-world measures. We know you want to jump into writing code ASAP!

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 our classrooms courses 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 were an existing student with an active license for the second edition at the time we released the third edition, you will clearly see the differences because you now 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 in 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 key metrics about the third edition:

  • >30 hours of recorded video lectures. This is double 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.

As mentioned above, all students with an active license for the second edition of the Mastering DAX video course automatically received access to the third edition, with the same expiration date.

If you do not have access to the Mastering DAX video course yet, or if you want to extend your current expiration date, take full advantage of our launch offer with a 20% discount valid until April 3, 2026. Moreover, to celebrate the 10- year anniversary of Power BI and of our video course, we are extending the 20% discount to all video courses offered by SQLBI! Hurry and make sure to take advantage of this offer now, or else you’ll have to wait for Black Friday!

If this is your first time enrolling in the Mastering DAX video course, we recommend you just follow the lectures in the proposed order and make sure you gain some experience by practicing your newfound skills on the exercises provided along the way.

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 professionals who were early adopters of Power BI and have already written thousands of DAX measures. Everyone will be able to level up with this new video course.

Enjoy DAX!