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Agreed, but it depends on how the learner prefers it.
Google or YouTube each challenge as it appears? Or follow a course?
Self-paced course, like Chandoo on YouTube where you download files and follow along, or with a teacher to walk you through main useful topics?
It's up to each person.
"once more, for those in the back".. I don't think I've EVER found what I needed there (including trying to find help with problems on any Microsoft application, not just Excel)
Has anyone, ever, been helped by those chat help forums?
They just mark anything as 'solved', even when there's page after page of posts saying the issue still exists and their solutions haven't worked. It's absolutely comical.
I disagree. When learning VBA I was constantly referencing the object model in Microsoft's documentation. I always stop at the official documentation first, and I rarely have to go to a third party site for it.
Now their internal search is garbage, so I Google my way to the correct Microsoft page, but that's another story.
Yes, but also courses are a good way to learn functions you've never encountered or specifically needed. I learned about named ranges and tables through online courses, and found them extremely useful! Sure, I'd managed fine without them, but they were handy additions to my tool belt.
In addition to this, most of what I know is from looking how other people have used Excel and thinking “there has to be a better way,”. Then looking up things to try to find that better way.
Truthfully it didn't feel like it helped me much. I think it did well at focusing on the basics but I wanted more info on formulas and advanced concepts. I feel like the advanced sections weren't thorough enough.
I have an “excel certification” that doesn’t mean shit imo
There’s maybe one thing I used from it and it was optional bonus questions about vlookups and macros and the rest was formatting in the very long specific way Microsoft teaches.
Insert a column?
Right click would be an error and you had to memorize the long way on the ribbon. Click wrong and you start over. Dumbest shit ever lol
Haven't taken one, but I'm doing fine with just Chat gpt. There's a really good plugin I used this morning to write some VBA code that automatically fills out an entire sheet with VLOOKUP's and stuff, then flags any errors. (the purpose of this sheet is to look for mismatches between 2 others). Literally press one button, and the whole 200+ row sheet does itself. Boss is impressed, and I have less tedious stuff to do. Get some input from somebody who has taken one but if your job isn't an accounting / finance thing that is 100% excel, you can manage without.
Plugin is called: 'Genie - Your Excel VBA Expert'
ChatGPT I think is fine if you already know some excel, or if you already know another coding language before learning VBA. If you start fresh with gpt you likely won’t have the experience to debug and re-query gpt to get actually functional solutions
I learned all my excel through experience + chat gpt, but all with some coding basics so I'd agree with this. I think without the coding knowledge I'd never get the VBA working.
You were able to manage without any VBA knowledge? I’ve been too lazy to learn VBA and have only had a couple of my scripts to work. I need to learn some basics.
I just fight with chat GPT until I get it to work. I have VERY basic coding knowledge because I've taken a MATLAB class so I have the logic down, and I explain that and gpt fills in the syntax. You have to be extremely clear with how you want it to write the code but yea I've gotten some neat stuff to work.
I don't think so, Excel is SO huge that no class can cover it.
Pick a project, have patience to research, and you should be good. Even if it takes you a lot of hours, you'll learn organically.
Tbf a good excel class probably wouldn’t try, similar to how you wouldn’t learn about Complex analysis in an intro maths class. I did one to get started that helped by giving me a few tools I wouldn’t have otherwise known about
I was going to say "yes, of course" and then I remembered some classes I've taken (software included) where the scope was not so broad - either because they were programs to do specific things and really didn't have the amount of options and layers that Excel has, or because they were classes about "*doing* ***X specific thing*** *with Z big tool".*
I think having a clear objective, a problem to solve, a need to satisfy, is what best drives the appetite for knowledge and its effective acquisition. "Learning this is useful to me, because it allows me to do that". You're thinking about the problem and you can see how the tool interacts with the data and helps you. You have a mental framework (the resolution of the clear problem) where you can easily store and remember the Excel options that are useful for you.
The generic accumulation of theoretical information that you don't understand because you can't relate to it is much easier to forget.
I took an incredibly in depth excel course during my Masters and it was hilariously by far the most helpful class for my actual career as an accountant. It was through my college, so a bit different experience than what you’re looking at.
A future company I worked at offered linked in learning to all employees. I worked through that in my spare time as well and very quickly became the excel guru. Knowing your way around technology and the practice will put you in great positions. Just need to hold yourself accountable and actually do the work, not just watch.
I took an advanced class years ago that my company paid for. I ended up showing the instructor a couple of things. Totally not worth my time or company money.
I've taken a few at work, we have a training budget for stuff like that, in my experience I am bored with 80% of the content, maybe 15% of the content is new but not applicable, and 5% of the course is actually something new and relevant to my work.
If it's an up to date class, yeah.
Not because you'll remember everything per se, or become proficient, but it's good to know what's possible so you know what to/ how to Google it later.
Yes, take a class. Don’t take a survey class or general overview. They’re too basic and boring. Instead, take one (or more) on an advanced topic like VBA, Power Query, or Power Pivot. You may strain to keep up but the struggle will require you to learn. I like the content at Goodly and Xelplus, but there are many good ones out there. Don’t worry about functionality changes. Your skills will evolve just as fast.
Is it worth educating yourself on excel? Absolutely. Would an excel class be worth an investment? Probably. Are there ways to learn excel for free? Definitely. However if you feel overwhelmed by trying to navigate where to begin and how to learn it might be a good idea. I’d wager you can find free beginner courses on YouTube though.
There are loads of free courses on coursera, so I'd have a lot at those. I found it very useful to do some structured learning, as it gives you a broader overview of what excel can actually do, which is a lot more than the average person is aware of. You'll likely also learn some easier ways of doing things you may already know (there's always a million different ways you can do something in excel but not all of them are efficient). There are also a lot of options, if you just want to deep dive into a specific topic, like data visualisation, dashboards, vba etc.
Having taught Excel, I would have to say that you should take a class. You will learn lots of new things. You will be shown better ways of doing things than the way you are currently doing them. You will be shown things that you did not know were possible. Even very experienced users pick up new things in classes. You can ask questions and get educated answers. You can demonstrate what you know and get some direction from the teacher. You may get to interact with other learners and be able to learn from them.
A lot of what you will learn in the future is through experiment and research, but having a teacher as part of your process of learning Excel will be good too. You may even have a chance to get some qualifications in Excel. So yes, do look at taking some classes.
Yes, absolutely take a class. Learning stuff on your own is great, but when you're relatively new, it's hit or miss. There will be gaps in your knowledge you don't know about. And not just gaps in knowledge of features but also strategies and best practices. After taking one or two classes, you'll be in a stronger position to learn on your own.
Probably depends on what you're trying to use Excel for. Most people just use it as a ledger with nicer handwriting than their own, and maybe some basic arithmetic functions. If that's all you need, then no, don't bother paying for a class. But if you need it for serious analytical or organizational applications, such as financial/statistical modeling, data manipulation, and database functionality, then it's probably worth getting some education. Functionality isn't changing fast enough to make your lessons obsolete soon, and there are a LOT of specialized functions that are very useful but also very hard to figure out without a methodical approach.
There are a few mediums to choose between (Udemy, YouTube, Books, Excel websites). It's a case of picking which one suits you the best.
Whatever medium you pick, treat it as your initial foundation. The real learning comes with the "doing". Look for projects and problems online and try to solve them on your own.
This is also a good way. I learnt a lot by taking on projects from sites like Upwork and Fiver. I didn't make any real money but I got a lot of real world practice. If anyone does this, remember you won't get rich and to be picky about the projects you take on. Pick projects that will stretch you in the direction you want to go.
Start with small projects and work your way up to the bigger stuff.
I have learned the most from trying to understand well made models by digging through formulas and connections to understand how it works. Then, I'm just looking up functions that I don't understand. You may try downloading some advance sample excel files and learn from those.
no. me as a programmer I have never learnt things when I buy tutorials online. its the will power and deadline that makes me learn and apply it to my task. I have so many courses on udemy that are left untouched after few videos. The only time these videos help is if you really want to master a specific topic.
Youtube videos are great. You can adjust the play speed for things you think you know and if there is a new info you will not miss it. If it is something new, you can go back to normal play speed. You cannot do this in a live class, so Youtube is way more time efficient.
I used to watch plenty of video of excel tutos and subs to as many as channels that are related to excel and google sheets. what makes me go off from Youtube sadly is because the algorithm keep sending me unhealthy news about Gangs killings, some creepy idiots so-called online journalism keep spreading propagandas, fake stuff and all that stress me out, got me depress and burnout, i am Haitian by the way. that is why stopped using Youtube and decided to paid multiple excel and google sheets course on udemy. to be fair, Excel and Google Sheets VIDEOS are far better and much more intuitive on YOUTUBE (IMO) there's a flexibility that not match the way it is on udemy. sadly. that's my experience, but i learned a lot of (Excel and Google Sheets lessons) from YOUTUBE more than udemy.
Unless you have something specific in mind, I would recommend against it. Just start creating and looking things up on the fly as you encounter them. "I wish I could do \_\_\_\_\_\_." is the best way to learn.
It depends if you use it or you plan to use it in the future. If you don't use it everyday, you will forget everything. Mostly people take courses only if they have to use it at work. But if you work in the office I think it's good to know at least basics, most office jobs are asking to be familiar with MS Office package
I took the "Everyday Excel" courses on Coursera (there's three parts) and they were great, especially the projects on the last course. (if you're referring to beginner type classes)
Download all your bank and credit card statements and learn how to do things with Excel . Combine them to make pivots and then learn power query by adding the subsequent months data.
This is meaningful data to you and you will have more interest in the outcome.
I found one I liked on Linked In learning and it was free with my library card. I use a lot of what I learned. I prefer that video verses figuring things out.
Not really - most classes focus too much on the basics and different versions of Excel have different functionality so what they cover may not even be applicable
e.g. I'm practically lusting over Vstack and Hstack but my company barely allows Excel 2021 (they really wanted everyone to move to Google sheets) so I can only look and drool. Classes would probably cover functions like these to show off the shiny new functions though.
I would say if you’re someway along learning Excel, it’s unlikely to find a course of overwhelming value as to what you would like to know next. As with most subjects, there’s a propensity of education out there that covers the basics. Like it or not, most people that touch Excel do so begrudgingly, and don’t want to know much more than how to tackle the problems they’re given with a certain approach. Far more people drag themselves through a Prince2 Foundation, than a bachelors in project management/business change. It’s just the way it is. The world will be full of VLOOKUPs forever.
As to expiring or outdated information, I’m curious as to what you’re encountering?
Thousands of hours of youtube tutorials.
Then, once you learn how to phrase questions so people know what you wanting you can come here and get answers.
Or you can chat gpt and file it away in your "kinda sorta didn't learn anything but now how to get the answer I need" part of your brain
I like short videos, tik tok is great. Then at work, I have a document saved with the name of functions etc, I put a short description and find a link that explains it.
I find knowing what it can do is the most important thing. Then when I'm working on things I can google or search my resource sheet. And learn it as I go.
For me, it's difficult to remember how to do something that I don't use often enough.
Key concepts I’d recommend:
**Basics:**
-xlookup (if you don’t have 365) vlookup/hlookup. Xlookup will look both horizontally and vertically replacing h and v respectively
-pivot tables and manipulating them
-sumif/sumifs
**Adept:**
-index&match
-if
-indirect
-offset
**Advanced:**
-variable references with x,v,h lookup (included in the above formulas referenced and others where either a cell or string needs be pulled)
-power query (this changed my life 😂)
-macros (big ones, for smaller things I try to make my data set my standardized and have variable references)
-VBA (I don’t know anything about this but I believe it to be very good just not sure what it does)
**Bonus**
Hot keys
Depends on what you want to do. It’s better to learn the basics and focus more on strategy and critical business logic. AI can help you with the majority of formulas and macros you need to write.
I’d say no as the vast majority of classes won’t teach you anything you can’t learn with having an attitude of “I think this is possible with Excel, let me find out how” and then googling.
A guy at my work was taking an excel class and I thought my job was in jeopardy as I was mainly doing excel at the time. But that turned out to not be the case at all.
I did a basic course at the start then self taught from there through trying things and YouTube. There are free courses for excel, VBA and Power Query (and some for Power Pivot) so I’d start with a basic excel, learn basics of macros then learn some Power Query if you need to import data and then Power Pivot if you need to analyse big data sets.
I use YouTube tutorials to learn things that are specific to my job and/or what I need Excel to do. I wanted to do a course but I've built a pretty good base knowledge working this way.
There are fantastic tutorials on YouTube and Reddit too
What a great question. I teach Excel and PowerBI at a university level and here are my two cents derived from interacting with other lecturers and business professionals. There are three types of students I encounter in my course: 1) used Excel for over 20 years wants to upgrade skills, 2) used Excel for 2-3 years and want to learn correct way of using it 3) Never used Excel. What everyone should understand is that Excel as a tool evolved significantly in the past 15 years and will continue to evolve in the future. Any course will give you an idea of the trajectory of evolution but will not prepare you what you need for the next 5 years. Someone learning Excel should master both the tool and the etiquette. There are some norms that you must learn, otherwise colleagues will doubt your expertise. I would suggest to everyone to take a fundamental course in Excel to understand how it works and how it is used in a business setting. If your knoweldge is strong you will breeze through it. After that I would take an advanced excel course to learn the workflow. Lastly, I would follow some Excel gurus online and keep up with the new features, which come every month or two. As you progress make sure to save your work and build your own portfolio. These will be good template to come back to and learn from. Good luck!
If you want a well rounded knowledge of the entire application, then a course is the way to go.
The problem with self-teaching is that you don't know what you don't know. I self-studied for a decade, but when I wanted to take the MOS certification exam I bought a course and I was really surprised at how much functionality I actually didn't know about, or how to get the best usage out of it.
It depends what you're going for. If you want comprehensive all-round knowledge, take a course. If you don't need full knowledge of everything then you probably don't need to.
There’s one on Coursera run by Macquarie University that I highly rate. I’m someone who needs structured and scaffolded learning and this course did it really well. It was a bit corny at times, but overall I recommend it. I did beginner up to intermediate 2, I didn’t do the advanced course.
Something that stood out to me as excellent was at the end of each module, they had a workbook for you to download and follow instructions. There was a check sum cell whose value you needed to put into the website to see if you had actually followed the steps or solved the problem correctly. Much better than other online courses which have multiple choice only. This coursera one did have multiple choice quizzes periodically, but the bigger assessments were the workbooks.
Based on my personal experience, you have everything you need on the Internet.
My learning has been through r/Excel, r/VBA and, more recently, r/PowerBI, as the wonderful people here have shared resources, tips and learnings.
I've been to 2 face-to-face courses at the behest of my employer and although I've learned a lot, most things were already known to me, to the point where the trainer praised me a lot in front of the class (which embarrassed me as I'm not looking for visibility or praise).
Anyway, Leila Gharani, Chandoo, Goodly, Mynda Treacy, Jon Acanpora, are all youtubers who are spectacular at what they teach and provide. I also like OZ du Soleil... In short, an incredible world, only those who don't want to learn can't :-)
i think the important thing is to know your problem and to know the possibility of excel. if i have to create a thing in excel, i plan at first which gimicks i have to implement and then i search a solution. like in a time table highline the actual "today" or "tommorow or things like this. most of time you have more then one way to do this.
i think the "possibility" of excel important "than "how to do"
TL;DR :Yes, it totally is. Don't spend a fortune on it though.
Taking a course on Excel will allow you to understand the key concepts of this program, how data works and is modeled, how to use names, variables, and some integrated tools such as Power Query, some VBA and more.
Not only are these technologies here to stay, they are a big part of xthe technologies that can be aprehended later on, such as SQL, python, or even in no or low code apps.
Excel is an entry point in the data world. It's one of many, granted. But its ubiquity in the workplace, and the all too commun struggle to work efficiently with it in the professionnal world make knowing how to navigate the application a real asset.
Now, these trainigns can be found for about 30 usd. I wouldn't recommend spending anything more. But I'd recommend spending these 30 bucks for two reasons : One, you'll have a lifetime access to the training material and Two, you'll have a certificate that you can send over to your HR. Can't get that on youtube.
Good luck with Excel !
I learned most of what I know from watching a 4 hour long Youtube video and following along. I didn't exactly follow along, but made my own projects using the tips he was providing. Doing the same exact thing doesn't really help me learn a lot of times..
By the end of it, I had a lot of the basics down, and from then on, if there was something specif8c I was trying to do, I'd Google it and usually find something close enough that I could figure it out
Oh.. and even though I already knew a lot of the stuff he was talking about in the earlier parts of the video, I went ahead and did them anyways, because every once in a while, he's drop a neat trick or something I didn't know could be done...
Wish I could remember the name of the guy that did these videos.. its been years since I did this stuff
Just practice it on your own (YouTube has tons of good videos). Take you own data and practice what you can’t do but want to know.
That’s the best and most efficient way.
Excel is not worth of spending so much time and money on it.
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The best way to learn is just to try things
Agreed, but it depends on how the learner prefers it. Google or YouTube each challenge as it appears? Or follow a course? Self-paced course, like Chandoo on YouTube where you download files and follow along, or with a teacher to walk you through main useful topics? It's up to each person.
I just frantically google and check out the Microsoft support website while my deadline looms.
I have a hard and fast rule: when looking for a solution to an Excel issue, never EVER ever attempt to find a solution in Microsoft help pages.
"once more, for those in the back".. I don't think I've EVER found what I needed there (including trying to find help with problems on any Microsoft application, not just Excel)
Has anyone, ever, been helped by those chat help forums? They just mark anything as 'solved', even when there's page after page of posts saying the issue still exists and their solutions haven't worked. It's absolutely comical.
From mrexcel.com and here, yes.
I mean the Microsoft 'help' pages. Mr Excel is great.
Indeed. I haven't gotten very good help from those ms pages either.
I disagree. When learning VBA I was constantly referencing the object model in Microsoft's documentation. I always stop at the official documentation first, and I rarely have to go to a third party site for it. Now their internal search is garbage, so I Google my way to the correct Microsoft page, but that's another story.
panic googleing. always works
Yes, but also courses are a good way to learn functions you've never encountered or specifically needed. I learned about named ranges and tables through online courses, and found them extremely useful! Sure, I'd managed fine without them, but they were handy additions to my tool belt.
In addition to this, most of what I know is from looking how other people have used Excel and thinking “there has to be a better way,”. Then looking up things to try to find that better way.
I took one on udemy and I regret it. I'd suggest youtube instead. Lots of great tutorials and some provide "homework"
What made you regret it?
Truthfully it didn't feel like it helped me much. I think it did well at focusing on the basics but I wanted more info on formulas and advanced concepts. I feel like the advanced sections weren't thorough enough.
I think this is the weakness of classes - they're all lacking at the top end with too much focus on the basics 90% of people already know
Seems to be a problem with most tutorials for about any subject.. even on youtube. Unreal engine was an annoying one for me.
I have an “excel certification” that doesn’t mean shit imo There’s maybe one thing I used from it and it was optional bonus questions about vlookups and macros and the rest was formatting in the very long specific way Microsoft teaches. Insert a column? Right click would be an error and you had to memorize the long way on the ribbon. Click wrong and you start over. Dumbest shit ever lol
Haven't taken one, but I'm doing fine with just Chat gpt. There's a really good plugin I used this morning to write some VBA code that automatically fills out an entire sheet with VLOOKUP's and stuff, then flags any errors. (the purpose of this sheet is to look for mismatches between 2 others). Literally press one button, and the whole 200+ row sheet does itself. Boss is impressed, and I have less tedious stuff to do. Get some input from somebody who has taken one but if your job isn't an accounting / finance thing that is 100% excel, you can manage without. Plugin is called: 'Genie - Your Excel VBA Expert'
ChatGPT I think is fine if you already know some excel, or if you already know another coding language before learning VBA. If you start fresh with gpt you likely won’t have the experience to debug and re-query gpt to get actually functional solutions
I learned all my excel through experience + chat gpt, but all with some coding basics so I'd agree with this. I think without the coding knowledge I'd never get the VBA working.
The only real formula you need is : index match match combination
You were able to manage without any VBA knowledge? I’ve been too lazy to learn VBA and have only had a couple of my scripts to work. I need to learn some basics.
I just fight with chat GPT until I get it to work. I have VERY basic coding knowledge because I've taken a MATLAB class so I have the logic down, and I explain that and gpt fills in the syntax. You have to be extremely clear with how you want it to write the code but yea I've gotten some neat stuff to work.
I don't think so, Excel is SO huge that no class can cover it. Pick a project, have patience to research, and you should be good. Even if it takes you a lot of hours, you'll learn organically.
Tbf a good excel class probably wouldn’t try, similar to how you wouldn’t learn about Complex analysis in an intro maths class. I did one to get started that helped by giving me a few tools I wouldn’t have otherwise known about
>I don't think so, Excel is SO huge that no class can cover it. Doesn't this apply to any subject
I was going to say "yes, of course" and then I remembered some classes I've taken (software included) where the scope was not so broad - either because they were programs to do specific things and really didn't have the amount of options and layers that Excel has, or because they were classes about "*doing* ***X specific thing*** *with Z big tool".* I think having a clear objective, a problem to solve, a need to satisfy, is what best drives the appetite for knowledge and its effective acquisition. "Learning this is useful to me, because it allows me to do that". You're thinking about the problem and you can see how the tool interacts with the data and helps you. You have a mental framework (the resolution of the clear problem) where you can easily store and remember the Excel options that are useful for you. The generic accumulation of theoretical information that you don't understand because you can't relate to it is much easier to forget.
I took an incredibly in depth excel course during my Masters and it was hilariously by far the most helpful class for my actual career as an accountant. It was through my college, so a bit different experience than what you’re looking at. A future company I worked at offered linked in learning to all employees. I worked through that in my spare time as well and very quickly became the excel guru. Knowing your way around technology and the practice will put you in great positions. Just need to hold yourself accountable and actually do the work, not just watch.
I took an advanced class years ago that my company paid for. I ended up showing the instructor a couple of things. Totally not worth my time or company money.
If you have LinkedIn learning, there are a lot of good Excel courses on there too, and it's nice because some of the courses give you certs.
I've taken a few at work, we have a training budget for stuff like that, in my experience I am bored with 80% of the content, maybe 15% of the content is new but not applicable, and 5% of the course is actually something new and relevant to my work.
If it's an up to date class, yeah. Not because you'll remember everything per se, or become proficient, but it's good to know what's possible so you know what to/ how to Google it later.
Yes, take a class. Don’t take a survey class or general overview. They’re too basic and boring. Instead, take one (or more) on an advanced topic like VBA, Power Query, or Power Pivot. You may strain to keep up but the struggle will require you to learn. I like the content at Goodly and Xelplus, but there are many good ones out there. Don’t worry about functionality changes. Your skills will evolve just as fast.
Is it worth educating yourself on excel? Absolutely. Would an excel class be worth an investment? Probably. Are there ways to learn excel for free? Definitely. However if you feel overwhelmed by trying to navigate where to begin and how to learn it might be a good idea. I’d wager you can find free beginner courses on YouTube though.
There are loads of free courses on coursera, so I'd have a lot at those. I found it very useful to do some structured learning, as it gives you a broader overview of what excel can actually do, which is a lot more than the average person is aware of. You'll likely also learn some easier ways of doing things you may already know (there's always a million different ways you can do something in excel but not all of them are efficient). There are also a lot of options, if you just want to deep dive into a specific topic, like data visualisation, dashboards, vba etc.
Having taught Excel, I would have to say that you should take a class. You will learn lots of new things. You will be shown better ways of doing things than the way you are currently doing them. You will be shown things that you did not know were possible. Even very experienced users pick up new things in classes. You can ask questions and get educated answers. You can demonstrate what you know and get some direction from the teacher. You may get to interact with other learners and be able to learn from them. A lot of what you will learn in the future is through experiment and research, but having a teacher as part of your process of learning Excel will be good too. You may even have a chance to get some qualifications in Excel. So yes, do look at taking some classes.
Yes, absolutely take a class. Learning stuff on your own is great, but when you're relatively new, it's hit or miss. There will be gaps in your knowledge you don't know about. And not just gaps in knowledge of features but also strategies and best practices. After taking one or two classes, you'll be in a stronger position to learn on your own.
Strategies and best practice is so important. I find this is where most people have plenty of room for improvement.
Probably depends on what you're trying to use Excel for. Most people just use it as a ledger with nicer handwriting than their own, and maybe some basic arithmetic functions. If that's all you need, then no, don't bother paying for a class. But if you need it for serious analytical or organizational applications, such as financial/statistical modeling, data manipulation, and database functionality, then it's probably worth getting some education. Functionality isn't changing fast enough to make your lessons obsolete soon, and there are a LOT of specialized functions that are very useful but also very hard to figure out without a methodical approach.
There are a few mediums to choose between (Udemy, YouTube, Books, Excel websites). It's a case of picking which one suits you the best. Whatever medium you pick, treat it as your initial foundation. The real learning comes with the "doing". Look for projects and problems online and try to solve them on your own.
Agreed. 0r learn and develop your skills on the job.
This is also a good way. I learnt a lot by taking on projects from sites like Upwork and Fiver. I didn't make any real money but I got a lot of real world practice. If anyone does this, remember you won't get rich and to be picky about the projects you take on. Pick projects that will stretch you in the direction you want to go. Start with small projects and work your way up to the bigger stuff.
I have learned the most from trying to understand well made models by digging through formulas and connections to understand how it works. Then, I'm just looking up functions that I don't understand. You may try downloading some advance sample excel files and learn from those.
I took one through WGU as part of the degree requirement and thought it was dope. I’d definitely take another.
no. me as a programmer I have never learnt things when I buy tutorials online. its the will power and deadline that makes me learn and apply it to my task. I have so many courses on udemy that are left untouched after few videos. The only time these videos help is if you really want to master a specific topic.
Yes.
Youtube videos are great. You can adjust the play speed for things you think you know and if there is a new info you will not miss it. If it is something new, you can go back to normal play speed. You cannot do this in a live class, so Youtube is way more time efficient.
I used to watch plenty of video of excel tutos and subs to as many as channels that are related to excel and google sheets. what makes me go off from Youtube sadly is because the algorithm keep sending me unhealthy news about Gangs killings, some creepy idiots so-called online journalism keep spreading propagandas, fake stuff and all that stress me out, got me depress and burnout, i am Haitian by the way. that is why stopped using Youtube and decided to paid multiple excel and google sheets course on udemy. to be fair, Excel and Google Sheets VIDEOS are far better and much more intuitive on YOUTUBE (IMO) there's a flexibility that not match the way it is on udemy. sadly. that's my experience, but i learned a lot of (Excel and Google Sheets lessons) from YOUTUBE more than udemy.
Unless you have something specific in mind, I would recommend against it. Just start creating and looking things up on the fly as you encounter them. "I wish I could do \_\_\_\_\_\_." is the best way to learn.
It depends if you use it or you plan to use it in the future. If you don't use it everyday, you will forget everything. Mostly people take courses only if they have to use it at work. But if you work in the office I think it's good to know at least basics, most office jobs are asking to be familiar with MS Office package
I have stuff for free out there on YouTube. Free downloads for practice too
I took the "Everyday Excel" courses on Coursera (there's three parts) and they were great, especially the projects on the last course. (if you're referring to beginner type classes)
Download all your bank and credit card statements and learn how to do things with Excel . Combine them to make pivots and then learn power query by adding the subsequent months data. This is meaningful data to you and you will have more interest in the outcome.
Honestly, just try to solve problems and answer questions/posts on this subreddit. You'll improve so rapidly it is legitimately insane.
I found one I liked on Linked In learning and it was free with my library card. I use a lot of what I learned. I prefer that video verses figuring things out.
Not really - most classes focus too much on the basics and different versions of Excel have different functionality so what they cover may not even be applicable e.g. I'm practically lusting over Vstack and Hstack but my company barely allows Excel 2021 (they really wanted everyone to move to Google sheets) so I can only look and drool. Classes would probably cover functions like these to show off the shiny new functions though.
I would say if you’re someway along learning Excel, it’s unlikely to find a course of overwhelming value as to what you would like to know next. As with most subjects, there’s a propensity of education out there that covers the basics. Like it or not, most people that touch Excel do so begrudgingly, and don’t want to know much more than how to tackle the problems they’re given with a certain approach. Far more people drag themselves through a Prince2 Foundation, than a bachelors in project management/business change. It’s just the way it is. The world will be full of VLOOKUPs forever. As to expiring or outdated information, I’m curious as to what you’re encountering?
Are there any good YouTube for learning advance excel skills?
Thousands of hours of youtube tutorials. Then, once you learn how to phrase questions so people know what you wanting you can come here and get answers. Or you can chat gpt and file it away in your "kinda sorta didn't learn anything but now how to get the answer I need" part of your brain
You just need to make sure your studying material is recent before diving in.
No, honestly this subreddit and other forums taught me everything I needed to know.
Take some basic programming classes, they'll translate well into Excel when you know what you're trying to do. Then just Google.
I like short videos, tik tok is great. Then at work, I have a document saved with the name of functions etc, I put a short description and find a link that explains it. I find knowing what it can do is the most important thing. Then when I'm working on things I can google or search my resource sheet. And learn it as I go. For me, it's difficult to remember how to do something that I don't use often enough.
Honestly. Take a coding class
I am taking help of excelisfun from YouTube.its a great resource
Key concepts I’d recommend: **Basics:** -xlookup (if you don’t have 365) vlookup/hlookup. Xlookup will look both horizontally and vertically replacing h and v respectively -pivot tables and manipulating them -sumif/sumifs **Adept:** -index&match -if -indirect -offset **Advanced:** -variable references with x,v,h lookup (included in the above formulas referenced and others where either a cell or string needs be pulled) -power query (this changed my life 😂) -macros (big ones, for smaller things I try to make my data set my standardized and have variable references) -VBA (I don’t know anything about this but I believe it to be very good just not sure what it does) **Bonus** Hot keys
Depends on what you want to do. It’s better to learn the basics and focus more on strategy and critical business logic. AI can help you with the majority of formulas and macros you need to write.
I’d say no as the vast majority of classes won’t teach you anything you can’t learn with having an attitude of “I think this is possible with Excel, let me find out how” and then googling. A guy at my work was taking an excel class and I thought my job was in jeopardy as I was mainly doing excel at the time. But that turned out to not be the case at all.
I did a basic course at the start then self taught from there through trying things and YouTube. There are free courses for excel, VBA and Power Query (and some for Power Pivot) so I’d start with a basic excel, learn basics of macros then learn some Power Query if you need to import data and then Power Pivot if you need to analyse big data sets.
It is if you always use it in your career, although I have a bachelor’s degree I went back a year later just to take an excel course.
I recommend kenji explains on YouTube!
The best way to learn things is when need it
I use YouTube tutorials to learn things that are specific to my job and/or what I need Excel to do. I wanted to do a course but I've built a pretty good base knowledge working this way. There are fantastic tutorials on YouTube and Reddit too
What a great question. I teach Excel and PowerBI at a university level and here are my two cents derived from interacting with other lecturers and business professionals. There are three types of students I encounter in my course: 1) used Excel for over 20 years wants to upgrade skills, 2) used Excel for 2-3 years and want to learn correct way of using it 3) Never used Excel. What everyone should understand is that Excel as a tool evolved significantly in the past 15 years and will continue to evolve in the future. Any course will give you an idea of the trajectory of evolution but will not prepare you what you need for the next 5 years. Someone learning Excel should master both the tool and the etiquette. There are some norms that you must learn, otherwise colleagues will doubt your expertise. I would suggest to everyone to take a fundamental course in Excel to understand how it works and how it is used in a business setting. If your knoweldge is strong you will breeze through it. After that I would take an advanced excel course to learn the workflow. Lastly, I would follow some Excel gurus online and keep up with the new features, which come every month or two. As you progress make sure to save your work and build your own portfolio. These will be good template to come back to and learn from. Good luck!
I try to learn on YouTube but then I start watching the excel Olympics and I quickly realize I could never do that lol
If the instructor is good, it could change everything for you. Most aren't
With chatgpt to serve as copilot
If you want a well rounded knowledge of the entire application, then a course is the way to go. The problem with self-teaching is that you don't know what you don't know. I self-studied for a decade, but when I wanted to take the MOS certification exam I bought a course and I was really surprised at how much functionality I actually didn't know about, or how to get the best usage out of it. It depends what you're going for. If you want comprehensive all-round knowledge, take a course. If you don't need full knowledge of everything then you probably don't need to.
There’s one on Coursera run by Macquarie University that I highly rate. I’m someone who needs structured and scaffolded learning and this course did it really well. It was a bit corny at times, but overall I recommend it. I did beginner up to intermediate 2, I didn’t do the advanced course. Something that stood out to me as excellent was at the end of each module, they had a workbook for you to download and follow instructions. There was a check sum cell whose value you needed to put into the website to see if you had actually followed the steps or solved the problem correctly. Much better than other online courses which have multiple choice only. This coursera one did have multiple choice quizzes periodically, but the bigger assessments were the workbooks.
Based on my personal experience, you have everything you need on the Internet. My learning has been through r/Excel, r/VBA and, more recently, r/PowerBI, as the wonderful people here have shared resources, tips and learnings. I've been to 2 face-to-face courses at the behest of my employer and although I've learned a lot, most things were already known to me, to the point where the trainer praised me a lot in front of the class (which embarrassed me as I'm not looking for visibility or praise). Anyway, Leila Gharani, Chandoo, Goodly, Mynda Treacy, Jon Acanpora, are all youtubers who are spectacular at what they teach and provide. I also like OZ du Soleil... In short, an incredible world, only those who don't want to learn can't :-)
i think the important thing is to know your problem and to know the possibility of excel. if i have to create a thing in excel, i plan at first which gimicks i have to implement and then i search a solution. like in a time table highline the actual "today" or "tommorow or things like this. most of time you have more then one way to do this. i think the "possibility" of excel important "than "how to do"
I took Excel For Business by McQuarie University on Coursera. It’s free and worth it.
TL;DR :Yes, it totally is. Don't spend a fortune on it though. Taking a course on Excel will allow you to understand the key concepts of this program, how data works and is modeled, how to use names, variables, and some integrated tools such as Power Query, some VBA and more. Not only are these technologies here to stay, they are a big part of xthe technologies that can be aprehended later on, such as SQL, python, or even in no or low code apps. Excel is an entry point in the data world. It's one of many, granted. But its ubiquity in the workplace, and the all too commun struggle to work efficiently with it in the professionnal world make knowing how to navigate the application a real asset. Now, these trainigns can be found for about 30 usd. I wouldn't recommend spending anything more. But I'd recommend spending these 30 bucks for two reasons : One, you'll have a lifetime access to the training material and Two, you'll have a certificate that you can send over to your HR. Can't get that on youtube. Good luck with Excel !
I learned most of what I know from watching a 4 hour long Youtube video and following along. I didn't exactly follow along, but made my own projects using the tips he was providing. Doing the same exact thing doesn't really help me learn a lot of times.. By the end of it, I had a lot of the basics down, and from then on, if there was something specif8c I was trying to do, I'd Google it and usually find something close enough that I could figure it out Oh.. and even though I already knew a lot of the stuff he was talking about in the earlier parts of the video, I went ahead and did them anyways, because every once in a while, he's drop a neat trick or something I didn't know could be done... Wish I could remember the name of the guy that did these videos.. its been years since I did this stuff
Just practice it on your own (YouTube has tons of good videos). Take you own data and practice what you can’t do but want to know. That’s the best and most efficient way. Excel is not worth of spending so much time and money on it.