Post: #1

I read in a few places that being proficient with Microsoft Excel is helpful for your career. I came across the term pivot tables a lot. I would link to them, but it was several discussions in different places.

The reasons given are that a lot of senior management don't know it, so if you can put together data to present to them, you will be useful.

Also, it is apparently used a lot in corporate culture. I know a lot of people here are against being desk jockeys, but you could likely use these skills on a freelance consultant basis.

One argument given was that it is only useful if you have something to use it for. Most people who learned it or became good at it, did so because they had to do it for a particular project. And a lot of people who tried to learn it and did not have any way to apply it did not really find it useful.

There are a lot of resources online, just like programming, so I thought it would be another skill set someone could develop.

Are there people here who can comment on this?

Post: #2

Although I am not too knowledgeable with the importance of Excel, I can definitely agree that its understanding is desirable. I have yet to apply for a job in any field (finance, administrative, TV/Film) that did not require some knowledge of excel.

I'm sure other users can vouch for its specific importance, or its necessity in different professions, but I know for sure it's helpful to have on a resume. It's interesting, because whenever I hear "Excel" and "Powerpoint," I figure those programs would be outdated -- but knowledge of these programs is needed by moneymakers like i-bankers.

-R

Post: #3

I work in a company that is broadly pretty old and not heavily tech-savvy. As you alluded to, a lot of them should be working with Excel to crunch numbers but are barely able to put together a simple formula. Having someone senior ask you for help with something does definitely give the opportunity to earn a favor or positive exposure.

That said, it depends on your career path and what you want to do. Finance, accounting, operations, analytics, all areas where Excel is more of a requirement than a nice-to-have. Even marketing to an extent. But something like HR? (lol) Probably not worth your time or effort.

Post: #4

It's like being able to read and write. You have to know how to use it, at least the basics. The good news is that it's very intuitive and doesn't take much time to learn.

Post: #5

I heard on the internet there are zero benefits to being proficient with Excel.

Post: #6

If you don't know Excel, how are you going to calculate your expected after tax salary when you consider a new job offer? How about a mortgage? Car payments? Buy vs rent/lease decisions? If nothing else, the reason to learn how to use Excel is not to get fucked over by all kinds of financial parasites trying to take your money. I don't have anybody in my "social circle" who can't use Excel. Maybe a few random sluts I fucked here and there, but they don't count.

Post: #7

(05-05-2014 11:15 PM)Brodiaga Wrote:  If you don't know Excel, how are you going to calculate your expected after tax salary when you consider a new job offer? How about a mortgage? Car payments? Buy vs rent/lease decisions? If nothing else, the reason to learn how to use Excel is not to get fucked over by all kinds of financial parasites trying to take your money. I don't have anybody in my "social circle" who can't use Excel. Maybe a few random sluts I fucked here and there, but they don't count.

Thats basically just knowing how to use a calculator. You can use Google's search function for that(ie, type 10% of 50,000 for tax/salary into the search bar, or 3% of 500,000, or any kind of simple arithmetic equations)

For the rest, those just seem like simple compound interest problems. Im not sure how difficult Excel is, but you can just search for compound interest calculator.

Post: #8

Excel is a corporate communication tool. I can do any task I need to in python in about half the time and I can debug a script an order of magnitude faster than an Excel spreadsheet. The only reason to learn excel is if your corporate culture requires it.

Post: #9

knowledge of excel is good if your job uses it a lot. knowing key commands and such can help you do your work quicker, making you more productive, allowing you to work less, amongst other reasons.

Post: #10

Excel is useful to downright essential in most jobs. But it's rare that knowledge of Excel will actually GET you the job. It's like knowing how to read - necessary but not sufficient.

Post: #11

I've used Excel a lot in my job (military officer) and it is useful in the private sector according to my friends (Wall St., real estate, engineering), so definitely a useful skill to have in your repetoire. Excel can be programmed and used in some significant ways as I found out in my undergrad systems engineering classes and is really a tremendous tool if you have the add ons and know how to use them.

A useful resource to increase your understanding and speed of use for excel can be found on http://www.wallstreetoasis.com. It's a free site, similar to this forum, but for everything finance/banking related. If you sign up, they will send you 7 free excel files that walk you through how to do a lot of things related to investment banking. I've done the tutorials and they're very helpful, definitely something to set you apart in an interview, depending on the job. I'm transitioning out of the military in the next year and am busy polishing up my skills and resume.

Post: #12

I produce wonderful Excel sheets for almost any purpose and am good with it, as opposed to others whose tables end up clunky and unreadable. This has certainly secured my position in the workplace. However, I definitely did not get hired because of it. Excel is to a worker what loyalty is to a woman - it's valuable, but no one will want you just because of it. It's a side dish.

Post: #13

We used it in Engineering a lot. We would take lots of data when working in the semiconductor industry.
You can write useful little macros in Excel to process the data and organize it nicely into pretty little graphs.

If you know Visual Basic you can do some advanced stuff in Excel as well. It's kinda built in.

Post: #14

I think you're joking, but if not: yeah, you're going to need excel. All MS Office applications are part of cubicle life.

You're going to need the stuff if you work for yourself, because, besides productivity advantages, everyone you do business with uses MS Office also.

Post: #15

If Excel is relatively easy to learn, could you just bullshit and say, "Yeah, I know Excel," and then teach yourself over a weekend if you got hired?

I mean obviously you wouldn't want to lay it on too thick and pretend you were especially skilled with the program, but what are your thoughts on just saying yes and then getting up to speed?

It can't be that difficult to learn. And I bet a lot of people who claim in on their resume just know the basics and/or haven't used it in a long time.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #16

(05-06-2014 05:35 AM)Parlay44 Wrote:  We used it in Engineering a lot. We would take lots of data when working in the semiconductor industry.
You can write useful little macros in Excel to process the data and organize it nicely into pretty little graphs.

If you know Visual Basic you can do some advanced stuff in Excel as well. It's kinda built in.

Having fundamental knowledge of VBA will help distinguish you from the rest of the pack. Even just using the "record macro" button to repeat a process can be extremely helpful.

Post: #17

When I was in banking, we used it extensively. But I would say I was fast and proficient at the intermediate level. Other guys I worked with took the initiative to become quite advanced, but it wasn't always necessary. Depended on your position.

I would say strong basic understanding is essential today. Knowing all the keyboard shortcuts can make your job easier too. VBA/macros, I don't think, are essential for most jobs.

I have had interviews where employers wanted to know how I would use excel to basically solve logic problems.

Post: #18

(05-06-2014 05:58 AM)Beyond Borders Wrote:  If Excel is relatively easy to learn, could you just bullshit and say, "Yeah, I know Excel," and then teach yourself over a weekend if you got hired?

I mean obviously you wouldn't want to lay it on too thick and pretend you were especially skilled with the program, but what are your thoughts on just saying yes and then getting up to speed?

It can't be that difficult to learn. And I bet a lot of people who claim in on their resume just know the basics and/or haven't used it in a long time.

Definitely yes. You can learn the basics of Excel just before the interview. If you get the job, you can learn everything necessary from Excel before you start working.

Post: #19

^ Well, shit, problem solved then.

Just put it on your resumes, Boys.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #20

Excel is good for ad-hoc analysis, where developing stand alone applications is not required. Shouldn't really be used for daily or repetitive tasks though in practice in many small and medium sized companies they use large unwieldy spreadsheets for their day to day tasks.

Learning the basics is not hard, but if you intend to create your own spreadsheets and analysis you must be an analytical person with good math skills. Also some basics in programming so you can use functions to their full potential.

In some positions an advanced knowledge of excel will be required. e.g Many positions in Investment Banking. For the run of the mill office job you can probably fake it, but the more analytical the position gets the more you're going to be in keep trouble if you're faking.

Post: #21

Excel is a great entry level data analysis tool, particularity for ad hoc analyzes. There are better stuff out there, especially when you surpass 100k of records (SAS, R, Python), but Excel is the default in all corporations mainly because its pretty easy to pick up. There are many times when I talk about different methods i could use to analyze data and all people could answer was, "Yeah, but can you do that in Excel?".

So if you want to get ahead in the corporate world, excel is required along with the rest of the office suite. Even if you dont want to work the cubicle life, excel is a good tool to know. Pivot tables and lookups are the bread and butter of Excel which will allow you to make quick insightful analyses of your own companies and personal finances. It also allows you to quickly create projections with different revenue/cost scenarios and see how they impact your business. Then you argue your points by putting those numbers and graphs into powerpoint presentations to convince others to take action.

In my own company, we talk with investors and clients all the time, and really you need to be able to show them your plans and ideas in Excel and powerpoint. Even if the person is not the standard business person who is well versed in the MS office suite, a well put together powerpoint presentation with excel charts is quite persuasive.

Post: #22

Excel is a screwdriver (tool). You need a problem to solve with that tool for it to be useful.

With that being said, back in high school I hated drawing graphs by hand and using my TI calculator.

I would instead plug all of the numbers and formulas into excel and use the graph function. Absolutely amazing and my teachers loved how perfect my graphs looked.

Excel is stupid powerful. One of the most handy tools in your office toolbox.

Post: #23

Good advice here, just go in saying you can do v-lookups and pivot tables, you will be like 1 in 100 that can. Then of course watch a few youtube videos to learn how.

Post: #24

^ I use V-lookups but never heard of a pivot table. About to google it.

Excel is useful for all aspects of your life. I use it for just about everything, from my business accounts to personal development tracking. It's incredible how many mundane things you can use Excel for to speed work up.

Post: #25

Aha, I get pivot tables. I'd say that they and v-lookups are pretty basic compared to some of the techy stuff, particularly when you start incorporating macros.