# How to become a pro in Excel ?



## jackdan (Apr 13, 2011)

Hi everyone,

I am new to this site...I need your kind advice....I have a little basic working experience in MS Excel like data sorting, Freeze windows, basic calculations,etc...

I want to become an expert in MS Excel...Can you please tell me is there a good career in MS Excel ? Is there any scope for growth as an MIS executive ? Is there any online course, book or CD which teaches Excel related MIS tasks ?

Currently I am not in a stable job..so was thinking about becoming expert in MS Excel to secure a long term career...

Guys please help a beginner in Excel like me .. 

Thanks,
JD


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## jackdan (Apr 18, 2011)

Not a single reply from anybody ??!?!?!?!!


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## xenou (Apr 18, 2011)

Excel and Access are useful tools in many jobs but overall its often part of a wider span of competence - financial analysis, operations management, accounting, engineering or science, bookkeeping, and so on.  My belief is that it's a big plus to be "intermediate to advanced" in Excel but it's not in itself a career (for most of us) - but if you can bring your talent plus your excel skill to the job interview you are of course in better shape (I see many job adverts that list knowledge of Office software and it's definitely something that is desireable).  As far as where to learn - best is to take something you're doing at work or home already and try out new ideas for making it better.  With real motivation and desire (e.g, entrepreneurial ability) I think you could aim for creating office solutions with Office programming or .NET tools.

Some tips on learning Excel recently posted:
http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/showthread.php?t=543017


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## Expiry (Apr 19, 2011)

I concur with xenou's post. to give it some context, I work for a Bank, in the Finance department. I'm not an accountant and never have been, I've never even worked in the finance industry or a finance department before this role and yet I'm the Excel expert for the company. Not because I'm so amazing, just that everyone else isn't.

Obviosuly these people have other skills that have got them to where they are. 

So, if you decided that a career in Finance was for you and you had some sort of Finance expertise, like my colleagues AND you were an Excel 'expert' like me, then you'd be king of the world. Well, this small world that I'm in, anyway.


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## jackdan (Apr 19, 2011)

Thanks guys for your helpful tips !!! 
have done research on some good bboks on Excel (like to have a book by side while practising it on laptop )...
I have narrowed down to these 2 books :
1).Microsoft Excel 2007 Inside Out by Mark Dodge & Craig Stinson.
2).Formulas and Functions :- Microsoft Excel 2007 by Paul McFedries.

I have chosen the 2007 edition as I have 2007 Excel in my laptop & the market which I assumed is still using the 2007 Excel.

Again thanks for your tips.

Regards,
Jack Dan


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## Derek Brown (Apr 19, 2011)

I would also recommend watching the MrExcel podcasts at:
http://learnmrexcel.wordpress.com/
or you can search YouTube.com for "MrExcel" to see the older podcasts.
There are also LiveLessons DVDs available at the MrExcel store or Amazon, but first check the content list to make sure it is what you want.


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## Expiry (Apr 19, 2011)

I would also say that, in my experience, most of the market is still on 2003. 

I suspect most of us will upgrade, at work, to 2007 around 2020.


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## RoryA (Apr 19, 2011)

An increasing number of firms, from what I've been hearing, intend to skip 2007 and move to 2010 directly due to 2007's notoriety (comparable to Vista). The firm I work for are planning a switch to Win7/Off2010 this year, which surprised me when I first hear it as they are not usually cutting edge...


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## condimentman (May 12, 2011)

Certainly this is the case with my firm - while the interface is noticeably different for Office 2010 it is apparently better for massive networks. The IT guys were not at all keen on 2007 or Vista as you mention.


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## leigao84 (May 13, 2011)

Being good at Excel is not a career! Rather you should have a career in things like analytics, finance, data mining, data processing, or report building with being good at Excel as one of the tools that helps you advance. Or you become an Office Programmer that programs in VB, .Net, and VBA.
Excel isn't intrisincly difficult (like SAS or even OLAP Cubes) and it takes me about three weeks to teach a new grad things like VLOOKUPS, INDEX, IFERROR, virtues of R1C1, OFFSET, basic pivotTable, data import, remove duplicates, etc. 
The only difficult part is the VBA programming, either you can do loops and functions in your sleep or you can't, and VBA programming is so situational that by itself is not really a marketable skill. You're much better off learning specialized fields like networking or database to get in to IT.


PS after working with 2007 & 2010 I'll NEVER go back to 2003, EVER!


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## jackdan (Apr 13, 2011)

Hi everyone,

I am new to this site...I need your kind advice....I have a little basic working experience in MS Excel like data sorting, Freeze windows, basic calculations,etc...

I want to become an expert in MS Excel...Can you please tell me is there a good career in MS Excel ? Is there any scope for growth as an MIS executive ? Is there any online course, book or CD which teaches Excel related MIS tasks ?

Currently I am not in a stable job..so was thinking about becoming expert in MS Excel to secure a long term career...

Guys please help a beginner in Excel like me .. 

Thanks,
JD


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## jaybee3 (May 19, 2011)

I work in a bank in the "VBA team" for this location. Only 3/4 of us, servicing the location, maintaining/upgrading...etc around 400 "User Defined Tools."

There's one pure dev in the team, he doesn't really understand the finance side of things and prefers just developing. The rest of us are a business/dev mix (Have had a knowledge of excel/access...etc in the past, but also understand the business side), and are using this team as a stepping stone into a BA (or another more analytical) role, since they want us to have some technical knowledge.

Me, I had had about a year's experience in an IT firm generating reports/dashboards and the ilk in Excel, the rest I just learnt by mucking about at home to find different solutions, and now I've just finished a year in this team and I'd say my knowledge of VBA has gone from very basic to intermediate (we don't need anything more advanced than loops/finds...etc)

I've known a few contractors that make a handsome career out of VBA, but none from Excel (that's all the permanent staff) 

We've just (January) upgraded to 2007, should be upgrading to Win7 later this year when we move to VDI.


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## XL&ME (May 20, 2011)

If you are still looking for books on learning Excel, I would highly recommend "Slaying Excel Dragons" by Mike Girvin. The book in printed form, Kindle ebook, or DVD and all are available on this website under the bookstore tab. The book is rated for beginners to immediate users of Excel. 

Even though the book is for Excel 2010, I would say that 99% of it can be applied to earlier versions of Excel. The author takes the time to show you what you need to do if you are using Excel 2007 and etc.

Mike Girvin also has a YouTube channel called "ExcelIsFun" with over 1400 videos. Mike also does podcast with MrExcel on Fridays.

Good luck to you!!!


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## mmmarks (Jun 4, 2011)

jackdan said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> I am new to this site...I need your kind advice....I have a little basic working experience in MS Excel like data sorting, Freeze windows, basic calculations,etc...
> 
> ...


Hi,

Well nice to hear that you wanna be Expert in MS-Excel.
I suggest you few thing which may help you a lot.

1) Read out all short keys. You should be perfect in Excel without using Mouse. It seems to others How much Perfect You are.

2) Do practice with all Functions with an example which has been provided in Excel-Help Its more than enough. 

3) And Being a MIS Executive, It's not so easy to get job by knowing only Excel. Most of the corporate offices are giving more preference to them who has know Advance Excel , VBA and Oracle. So It's better to have knowledge over on VBA and Oracle so that you can easily get the Job.

Mean while If you done SAP BI/BW. You will get good Job.


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## amerifax (Jun 13, 2011)

To be extremely capable with Excel you will have to sacrifice time. Time that could give you greater capabilities in other areas. I run a small company, Heather and I, and do most of the programming ourselves. This is the worst waste of time. My skill is developing new product, new ways to get our information to the market. I have been working with Excel for the last week. When I could've contacted hundreds of customers. But my problem is trying to find someone to work with on the Internet that has the overall skills I need. I have found people to work with Flash from as far as Spain to China. The problem is finding somebody that comes close to fitting your needs. Let me put that as simple as I can. And you will note a range of products and also the percentage of importance. Of course this is just the need for a small company deals with data processing, publishing and marketing.

Percentage is Skill Level

75% Flash & Script - Programmable Skill - WebSite Data Control
75% Act! (Sage) - Better than a Working Knowledge
75% Java - Programmable skill
70% Excel - Programmable skill
75% Access - Programmable skill
65% Dreamweaver - Skilled - WebSite Data Control
65% Ventura (Corel) - Programmable skill
40% Photoshop - Better than a Working Knowledge
40% MapInfo or XMap DeLorme - Better than a Working Knowledge
35% Adobe Premium - Better than a Working Knowledge
35% Sound Forge or 45%. In an equivalent found program
20% Dragon - Working Knowledge
20% Fireworks - Working Knowledge
50% Systems Window 2007 - Better than a Working Knowledge

We process all the building permits in the state of Wisconsin. We also specialize in extremely targeted prospect marketing since 1989. We are now getting ready to take it to the next level. This requires a skilled website that deals with data security and mapping. We are looking for people that are familiar with the products that we have used in the past. Anyone that we hire has to be able to program in such a way that we have half a chance to understand.

So as you can see one program is very far from the answer. Nor can the employer expect to fill all his needs with one person. So an employer has to be willing to work with somebody that comes close to filling his needs. The overall skill level of of some of his needs might be sacrificed if the job recipient has a greater overall knowledge. But by no means locked into one particular product

A greater overall knowledge can go a long way. If I had to put a label on my needs. I would say the following:
Processing Data -Security (Website Data) - Website Design - Contact Manager (Act!) - Marketing Skills - Publishing Skills (In House) - Photo Design - Video Processing - Sound Recording

So one program is far from the answer.

Bob


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