Excel-based job, some unclear terminology

[Jaymond Flurrie]

So I'm applying for a job that has the following description as a part of the advertisement:

The candidate we are looking for has to have excellent skills in Excel.
- Your Excel skills are excellent (function programming know-how is a must)
- Skills in Visual Basic are considered a big merit

What means "function programming"? I know how to program with VBA classes, subs and functions (inculuding UDFs), but is it the thing this is now implying here? How about Visual Basic, if I know how to program with VBA, does that mean the same thing when the job is about Excel?

 

[Norie]

Can't say I've heard the phrase before.

It think it might just mean proficient in formulas/functions on worksheets.

The 2nd part sort of bears that out since it specifically mentions VBA.

Whatever, I've got a feeling the person who wrote the specification might not be to familiar with Excel - could be wrong though.

 

[Jaymond Flurrie]

Can't say I've heard the phrase before.

It think it might just mean proficient in formulas/functions on worksheets.

The 2nd part sort of bears that out since it specifically mentions VBA.

Whatever, I've got a feeling the person who wrote the specification might not be to familiar with Excel - could be wrong though.

Does it mention VBA there? I mean, I got contacted by an agent today telling that another job (Access programmer) looks for someone who knows Visual Basic, and I had to ask "what kind of Visual Basic?". My teacher for example says Visual Basic when he means VBA and also there's this VB.NET which is totally different language - but Visual Basic anyway. You can (and it's nothing new) to program Excel with Visual Basic or VB.NET.

That same job was looking for someone who knows ASP and naturally the same question comes there - what do you mean with ASP? Can we assume just like this that when a job asks for Visual Basic when looking for Excel or Access programmer they mean VBA and can I assume when someone asks for ASP that they mean ASP.NET, or is it a fair question to ask "what do you mean?"?

 

[Norie]

I didn't notice that it specifically said 'Visual Basic'.

What's the job title?

 

[Jaymond Flurrie]

I didn't notice that it specifically said 'Visual Basic'.

What's the job title?

For this Access-based job it is "Programmer/Designer (Visual Basic)" and for this Excel-based job it is "Junior System Specialist"

 

[Richard Schollar]

I would ask them to explain the scope of their requirement (ie is it VBA, VB, VB.NET or something else). Then explain to them what the differences are (eg VBA inherent to Excel, VB.NET and VB both standalone). Makes you look good if you ask me.

 

[Jaymond Flurrie]

I would ask them to explain the scope of their requirement (ie is it VBA, VB, VB.NET or something else). Then explain to them what the differences are (eg VBA inherent to Excel, VB.NET and VB both standalone). Makes you look good if you ask me.

This is actually what I did, but I was wondering if it makes you look like a smartass or otherwise arrogant that you begin to tell them that their job advertisement is bad (even if you say it indirectly).

Is this common around the world? Have others here ran into this "we-look-for-VB-when-we-mean-VBA" issue? I do understand that it might be confusing.

 

[Richard Schollar]

That's a really quite technical distinction, and if the advert/spec wasn't written by someone who knows the difference it's no surprise that this sort of thing happens.

 

[Jaymond Flurrie]

That's a really quite technical distinction, and if the advert/spec wasn't written by someone who knows the difference it's no surprise that this sort of thing happens.

Yeah, I totally agree with that. How about then, has any of you applied / seen an advertisement, say, within the last five years that someone is hiring for and Excel specialist who can program Excel with Visual Basic? And I mean Visual Basic, not VBA.

Or has any of you seen a job advertisement lately where they are looking for ASP programmer (not ASP.net)? Did they write just "ASP" or "Classic ASP", or how?

 

[DragonWood]

I know it's been almost 6 months since this was replied to, but I couldn't resist.

I was looking for a job recently too and I noticed that most of the advertisements for companies looking for a programmer don't say exactly what they're looking for. Most of them have the Personnel Department write up the ad and they usually have no clue what is really needed.

This in turn is what makes it so hard to find a job, because the Personnel Department is also who receives and reviews the applications for the job and unless you say you can do EXACTLY what they put in the ad then they don't even look at you.

Most of the time, if you know how to write Visual Basic programs, you can code in VBA because they are so similar. However if the Personnel Department is looking for an Excel VBA coder, they aren't going to even look at you even if you're an Expert Visual Basic programmer because to them, it's not the same thing.