# question about excel job



## joe2324 (Dec 25, 2012)

I'm about to interview for a data analyst position which requires advanced sql skills which I have and also advanced excel knowledge. My quesiton is I would consider my excel skills to be very strong except my excel vba knowledge is limited.  I would say i'm very strong with vlookups, index/match, array formuals, what if/scenarios, pivot tables, powerpivot, DAX formulas and other things, but my vba knowledge is not so great.  would those skill sets be considered advanced in the excel world without really knowing vba too well.
Honestly, I do a lot of stuff with excel, but I've only had to use vba once and that was code that someone else wrote and I jus stole from the internet for something I was doing at work. I'm just not sure what people mean by "advanced excel skills" I would say im confortable with many aspects of excel except vba b/c I never had a reason to use it or learn it.


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## BigC (Dec 26, 2012)

From my experience, "advanced excel skills" does not generally include VBA (most employers don't even know what VBA is!).

If VBA is a required skill for the role this will usually be specifically listed in the selection criteria.


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## MrKowz (Dec 26, 2012)

For most data analyst roles I've interviewed for, "Advanced" Excel knowledge is usually referring to a working knowledge of VLOOKUPs and PivotTables.

Given your description of your abilities, you are definitely considered "Advanced" for 99.9% of any office environment.  VBA is something that is usually asked for, specifically, if a job requires knowledge of it.


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## joe2324 (Dec 26, 2012)

Thank you for the replies. I just had the phone interview today and the position has absolutely no vba which is great. Your both right. The job consists of vlookups, powerpivot, pivot tables scenario manager and other things. It also consists of a lot of SQL work which is great. I was just worried they would need VBA knowledge for this position. The interview went well and I should be hearing something by next week.


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## T. Valko (Dec 26, 2012)

joe2324 said:


> Thank you for the replies. I just had the phone interview today and the position has absolutely no vba which is great. Your both right. The job consists of vlookups, powerpivot, pivot tables scenario manager and other things. It also consists of a lot of SQL work which is great. I was just worried they would need VBA knowledge for this position. The interview went well and I should be hearing something by next week.


Your skill set sounds a lot like mine (except for the SQL stuff).

In my opinion "advanced Excel skills" would include a strong knowledge of VBA. However, look where I've gotten without knowing much VBA!

In my old job we did tons of calculations (formulas) and never needed VBA to accomplish what we needed to accomplish.

I would love to know more VBA myself but I just can't get motivated to jump into it full bore. I have to go full bore or nothing.

Good luck!


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## Jon von der Heyden (Dec 27, 2012)

T. Valko said:


> In my old job we did tons of calculations (formulas) and never needed VBA to accomplish what we needed to accomplish.


I tend to use native methods (formulae) where possible rather than VBA.  But for me the value of VBA isn't so much for calculations but rather to create a stable and controlled environment so that users don't stuff up the model.  Also often for presentation...  The exception here is for those jobs where I have to tap into external systems...

In my opinion we need distinction between 'user' and 'developer'.  I don't think an advanced user needs much/any VBA knowledge.  As a user I tend not to spend much time coding and my models tend to be formula-based.  A developer on the other hand should have sufficient knowledge of VBA and the Excel Object Model...


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## easy2understandexcel (Dec 28, 2012)

Hope this helps: Microsoft's own Excel Expert Certification (from browsing quickly) includes macros but not VBA specifically.  Here is a link you can check it out:  Excel 2010 Expert


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## T. Valko (Dec 28, 2012)

easy2understandexcel said:


> Hope this helps: Microsoft's own Excel Expert Certification (from browsing quickly) includes macros but not VBA specifically. Here is a link you can check it out: Excel 2010 Expert


Macros and VBA are one and the same (unless you're using an ancient version of Excel).

In modern versions of Excel macros are application instructions written in VBA.


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## T. Valko (Dec 28, 2012)

Jon von der Heyden said:


> I tend to use native methods (formulae) where possible rather than VBA. But for me the value of VBA isn't so much for calculations but rather to create a stable and controlled environment so that users don't stuff up the model. Also often for presentation... The exception here is for those jobs where I have to tap into external systems...
> 
> In my opinion we need distinction between 'user' and 'developer'. I don't think an advanced user needs much/any VBA knowledge. As a user I tend not to spend much time coding and my models tend to be formula-based. A developer on the other hand should have sufficient knowledge of VBA and the Excel Object Model...


That there is some excellent insight from someone with advanced Excel knowledge.


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## easy2understandexcel (Dec 28, 2012)

T. Valko said:


> Macros and VBA are one and the same (unless you're using an ancient version of Excel).
> 
> In modern versions of Excel macros are application instructions written in VBA.


I realize that, but the distinction I would make is actually knowing the VBA language as a programmer, or knowing it functionally to work in excel (getting code from the macro recorder, etc).  For example, I can write some VBA to calculate some cell values, but I could not write code to make the next version of windows solitaire.


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## T. Valko (Dec 28, 2012)

easy2understandexcel said:


> I realize that, but the distinction I would make is actually knowing the VBA language as a programmer, or knowing it functionally to work in excel (getting code from the macro recorder, etc). For example, I can write some VBA to calculate some cell values, but I could not write code to make the next version of windows solitaire.


Well, I couldn't do either!


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## easy2understandexcel (Dec 28, 2012)

I wouldn't bother knowing excel if I could... id be rich and working for Microsoft!


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## Jon von der Heyden (Dec 29, 2012)

easy2understandexcel said:


> I wouldn't bother knowing excel if I could... id be rich and working for Microsoft!


I don't think Microsoft pay VBA developers a big enough wage to be 'rich'...


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## easy2understandexcel (Dec 29, 2012)

Jon von der Heyden said:


> I don't think Microsoft pay VBA developers a big enough wage to be 'rich'...


I'm sure that's true.  I meant they would have bought me and my awesome new solitaire program out...


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