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what was your Excel learning curve?

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    what was your Excel learning curve?

    Hi!

    Id like to ask what was the way you have been taught excel. What learning order you suggest to others? and what you find more difficult? DAX/powerBI or VBA?

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    Re: what was your Excel learning curve?

    I learned Excel the hard way, by using it for the last 25 or so years (and Lotus 1-2-3 before that). Every time I ran up against a problem I would look stuff up or ask people (no Internet in the early days).

    I learned VBA when I took a college course in forecasting, using John Walkenbach's excellent book (Excel 2003 at the time). However, I am a software developer (computer science degree, over 30 years in the industry now) so I found VBA easy to learn, although I am still learning new details of the Excel object model all the time.

    I have never touched DAX/PowerBI. Barely know what it is.
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    Re: what was your Excel learning curve?

    My background is the opposite of 6StringJazzer's, but I've come to some similar conclusions. I don't have any background in tech, and I had never really used Excel prior to 2014, but I started reading one of John Walkenbach's books so that I could learn how to be better at my job. I worked through a couple books, then started the process of learning by doing - experimenting with new projects related to my work, then monitoring/attempting solutions to problems posted on this form. Slowly but surely, understanding grows.

    I've only recently upgraded from Excel 2010, so DAX and PowerBI are largely foreign to me.

    I found that learning the basics of VBA wasn't as difficult as I'd feared. At this point, I would consider myself functionally literate, if inexpert. My advice would be to develop the skills that most closely relate to your personal/business uses for Excel, then gradually expand outward; perceived relevance makes learning much easier.
    Last edited by CAntosh; 03-30-2018 at 10:45 AM. Reason: Added a paragraph break, because that's how I roll now.
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    Re: what was your Excel learning curve?

    Quote Originally Posted by CAntosh View Post
    My advice would be to develop the skills that most closely relate to your personal/business uses for Excel, then gradually expand outward; perceived relevance makes learning much easier.
    Well said. Wise words indeed.

    IMO no amount of Acme Widget examples from text books with given examples and methods are a substitute for just diving into your own data and trying to work out how to use Excel to address your specific requirements. Solve each of YOUR problems as you come across them and understand the various ways of doing things. With Excel there are often several ways.

    My experience was somewhat similar. Starting with Viscalc in the late 1970s the company I was with moved through the Multiplan era and settled on Lotus 1-2-3 which was really the only spreadsheet game in town and in which we invested a huge amount of time and energy. We used this intensly until the mid 1990s when Lotus started to lose its way in the world of Windows and we ended up somewhat reluctantly abandoning 123 and using Excel. Gradually, as VBA was introduced I dabbled with macros and programming the Excel App. The one thought that struck me even in the very early days was that with relatively little code it was reasonably easy to automate common tasks that were used throughout the business. Over time we then developed more sophisticated VBA applications but it's still the case that I reckon that with very little VBA code business efficiency can be increased out of all proportion to the amount invested in learning VBA. It's a classic demonstration of the Pareto principle.
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    Re: what was your Excel learning curve?

    Like the rest of my technical career: trial and error - reference books - understanding coworkers - and eventually, the internet. Mostly trial and error - I still do a lot of experimenting.

    I had a decent background in database management and C programming before coming across Excel. A lot of the knowledge learned there is transferable.

    I've taken a lot of the custom VB code I've written and re-wrote them so as to accept arguments and these are in modules in a library that I built. A lot of my development today is not from scratch. It's more like Dr. Frankenstein, I bolt and sew pieces together to create an application. It's a lot like the decks of punch cards I had rubber banded together for subroutines when I learned FORTRAN II back in 1966.
    One spreadsheet to rule them all. One spreadsheet to find them. One spreadsheet to bring them all and at corporate, bind them.

    A picture is worth a thousand words, but a sample spreadsheet is more likely to be worked on.

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    Re: what was your Excel learning curve?

    Hi Kubek,

    I took an Excel course in college but never found much use of it. The instructor was terrible and I had trouble following along. Fast forward a few years later - I joined a small company in my first accounting role. The company went from 6 salaried employees (easy payroll) to over 300 hourly employees in less than 5 months. I learned a lot of Excel pretty quickly mostly from trial and error and lots of Google-ing and YouTube videos. Now that I've learned just a fraction of what Excel can do and how much easier it can make my job, I take classes at least once per month to learn new tips/tricks and am always talking with others to learn how they use it and go about certain things.

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    Re: what was your Excel learning curve?

    Hello robremsk01, as I am a fellow newcomer to the wonders of Excel, would you share some youtube videos or tips as to what i should watch first to get a basic understanding. There are many outdated videos on youtube when i do some searches, perhaps you can share some golden youtube videos you've found along the way? Or even websites/ blogs ?

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    Re: what was your Excel learning curve?

    Quote Originally Posted by john132 View Post
    Hello robremsk01, as I am a fellow newcomer to the wonders of Excel, would you share some youtube videos or tips as to what i should watch first to get a basic understanding. There are many outdated videos on youtube when i do some searches, perhaps you can share some golden youtube videos you've found along the way? Or even websites/ blogs ?
    Forget VBA for now, as it might not be around by the time you master excel.
    My tip is watch all videos by "Excel is fun" IMO, he is the best teacher.

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    Re: what was your Excel learning curve?

    Quote Originally Posted by AB33 View Post
    Forget VBA for now, as it might not be around by the time you master excel.
    That might be true if we assume it takes 30 years+ to master Excel.

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    Re: what was your Excel learning curve?

    Quote Originally Posted by rorya View Post
    That might be true if we assume it takes 30 years+ to master Excel.
    Yes, in my case. I am still learning.

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    Re: what was your Excel learning curve?

    We are ALL still learning. There is not one person here who could genuinely claim to know it all.
    Ali


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    Re: what was your Excel learning curve?

    Quote Originally Posted by AliGW View Post
    We are ALL still learning. There is not one person here who could genuinely claim to know it all.
    Which is one reason why I frequent this board and take on projects: some of them force me to research areas I don't get to look into in my immediate work. However, I often find that "Hey, I can use that too!" after working on an issue.

    The main reason I frequent the board is payback. As Sir Issac Newton remarked, "I stand upon the shoulders of giants." There is a long list of people who have helped me out along the way.

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    Re: what was your Excel learning curve?

    Quote Originally Posted by AB33 View Post
    Forget VBA for now, as it might not be around by the time you master excel.
    You have been claiming this since you joined this forum.....
    How long will you continue ?



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    Re: what was your Excel learning curve?

    Quote Originally Posted by dflak View Post
    The main reason I frequent the board is payback. As Sir Issac Newton remarked, "I stand upon the shoulders of giants." There is a long list of people who have helped me out along the way.
    Hear, hear! And ditto.

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    Re: what was your Excel learning curve?

    Hi snb,
    I thought you are now in to "Python".
    VBA had been in vegetative condition before I even joined the forum. The life support has not been switched off as MS does not believe in "Euthanasia"

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    Re: what was your Excel learning curve?

    i have learned excel in my high school time, for me the best resource is online tutorial and short courses, also search on youtube.

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    Re: what was your Excel learning curve?

    I used 2020 a little bit, picked up Excel in later years and was mostly self taught until I took a week long Excel Power User seminar. Best investment in my future I ever made.
    I use Excel every day and after a 5 year disability retirement I am trying to scale the rust off my brain and relearn some things. I hadn't touched VBA in about 8 years until I took this position so I am remembering some stuff, some stuff my hands and brain just do it without telling me and some stuff I prevail on the good nature of the folks in this forum and one other.
    Bill

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    Re: what was your Excel learning curve?

    Practice, practice, practice. You can get really good at Excel, but only if you have a passion for it. When you don't just do the given task, but enjoy playing around with different ways of achieving the same goal. By enjoying the extra mile. I started with Excel at university and have been using it all my professional life. I have been "the Excel guy" in every place I've worked and only because I enjoyed finding solution to the problems. YouTube and Google can get you a long way.

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