First of all, I'm sorry this post is a day late. I would have written last night if my Microsoft Excel hadn't crashed about 349127812 times while trying to finish the work that my boss needed before today. I mean, Excel is great at times, but when you start having a lot of calculations, lookups, pivot tables, etc. then the problems start.
I must admit, I am pretty excited that I am finally getting to do some data analysis at work. I know it sounds really nerdy, but I like numbers and after working on business requirements (word documents) for 6 months, this is a nice change. The first week I was completely lost, as I forgot how to do everything in Excel except for the basic calculations (=B5*C5). But with a little help from some coworkers and my boss, I am slowly turning into an Excel ninja (that's what we call people that are really good at Excel). There are a few important points that come out of my new found appreciation for Excel (minus when it quits on me).
- Where I went to school we only had a 1 credit course that met once a week for a semester that went over how to work with data in Excel. For any job in the business world, that is simply not enough. You MUST learn Excel. Take time on your own to play around with vlookups, pivot tables, sumif statements and the like. Trust me, it is worth it.
- If you were not fortunate enough to receive extensive Excel training, don't be afraid to ask for help. There are so many things that you can do so much faster in Excel if you just ask the right person. Usually it only takes them showing it to you once for you to pick up on it. Then you will be able to use the trick all the time in the future. Don't be embarrassed that you don't know how to do something, but don't ask the same question more than once.
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