Where should I target my Excel development?

[Richard Schollar]

I unfortunately find myself in the position of needing to find a new job (company has been taken over by a competitor who is unlikely to retain all staff, and certainly not in my current location). Hence, I need to ensure my skills (Excel and otherwise) are honed. So the question is: where do I target my development? I'm pretty comfortable with most of excel (charts apart - I have literally never used them before) and fairly comfortable with VBA.

I figure that in my position and likely roles as an accountant, becoming (even more) comfortable with ADO and connections to external databases would be a good move.

Also, ADO connections to text data sources could be useful.

Maybe brushing up on my SQL? Access programming?

It's an open field - what do you guys recommend?

Thanks

Richard

 

[Andrew Fergus]

Hi Richard
You have MrExcel mail.
Andrew

 

[Richard Schollar]

Cheers Andrew

So do you!

Richard

 

[absquatulation]

Oww, don't keep us in suspense, what's the suggestions so far?

I also work for a company in which my future is not in anyway safe. I started out as a Production Engineer, and now I've been shoved sideways into what one could call a data analyst - anything to do with excel is given to me.

I as well would like to expand my talents, but I'm a little stuck as to where to go. I don't want to stay in manufacturing, since this pool is getting smaller and smaller, so will someone point me in the right direction - any direction(?)

 

[Andrew Fergus]

The basic thrust was to expand the skill set beyond Excel, given Richard would already be considered a 'beyond power user' by the average recruiter / prospect. Such skills might include commonly used databases, thereby opening positions in project management, or systems support etc. Whilst databases built in Access may not be the best solution, it is a very common solution that oftentimes requires plenty of support. But knowledge and experience gained with one database is transferrable to a number of other database products (e.g. data structures, normalisation, GUI / form and report design etc). I forgot to mention that gaining experience with a data warehouse product always looks good on the CV too.

Andrew

 

[Richard Schollar]

I'll get around to posting the specific suggestions made by Andrew - they're all good!

Learning wise, if you've mastered the basics of excel and are comfortable with most of the formulas, then I think VBA is the next place to get comfortable with. I would also make sure that you can use Excel to link to exernal data sources (ie use MSQuery and ADO to connect to databases such as Access and maybe SQL Server). This then naturally leads on to developing SQL skills which are probably one of the most universal skills you can learn and have application virtually wherever you go.

Richard

 

[MarkAndrews]

Richard, Suggestion if I may


At my old firm we used a team of consultants (who charged a small fortune!!) this could be one option?

The company in question was RCP (Reid xx & xx - dont remember the complete name)

Mark

 

[Richard Schollar]

Mark, consultancy of some kind is certainly a possible future career option - a little way down the line though, I think. I feel I could do with more hands on experience and deeper knowledge before I consider going that route.

That said, I do remember attending an introductory VBA course (1 day's worth) a while ago when I worked for a bank. Introductory was right - the person giving the course was about as clueless as the rest of us were! I would hope they had more experienced and knowledgeable instructors for the Intermediate/Advanced courses!

 

[MarkAndrews]

Maybe you could become a trainer?

 

[Richard Schollar]

For good or ill, I suspect I'm stuck with accountancy for the timebeing...