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Learning Excel

Blogs > Amnesia
Post a Reply
Amnesia
Profile Blog Joined September 2009
United States3818 Posts
July 09 2010 03:14 GMT
#1
So I was offered a spot at a company for a job through my dad's friend and if I can use Excel then I would start immediately. I was wondering what are good starting points to learn. Any good websites with tutorials? Books? Videos?

Help greatly appreciated! ^^

I don't want to work at the restaurant anymore, it's too tiring and pay isn't as satisfying for the amount of work done.

*****
Sadistx
Profile Blog Joined February 2009
Zimbabwe5568 Posts
July 09 2010 03:18 GMT
#2
Honestly you can figure out 99% of what you need to do in Excel as you go by googling.

"Learning" excel is almost impossible, since there's so many things you can do with it, macros, statistical analysis. It all depends on what you currently need doing.
Amnesia
Profile Blog Joined September 2009
United States3818 Posts
July 09 2010 03:19 GMT
#3
hmm I guess pretty much the basics to get by.
Carnivorous Sheep
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
Baa?21244 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-07-09 03:20:43
July 09 2010 03:20 GMT
#4
Fiddle around with it, learn how to input data, make tables, and make a couple of graphs. All the rest is really just learning as you go along depending on what you need. The basics are fairly straightforward. The bare "basics" can probably take you less than half an hour to learn, and the specifics is really only needed when you know that you need it, and then you an just figure it out then.
TranslatorBaa!
Empyrean
Profile Blog Joined September 2004
17051 Posts
July 09 2010 03:28 GMT
#5
On July 09 2010 12:18 Sadistx wrote:
Honestly you can figure out 99% of what you need to do in Excel as you go by googling.

"Learning" excel is almost impossible, since there's so many things you can do with it, macros, statistical analysis. It all depends on what you currently need doing.


Please never do statistical analysis with excel T_T
Moderator
Cauld
Profile Joined February 2010
United States350 Posts
July 09 2010 03:30 GMT
#6
I always just use the excel help when I think there should be a way to do something in excel, and I don't know how.
Chill
Profile Blog Joined January 2005
Calgary25995 Posts
July 09 2010 03:49 GMT
#7
I consider myself a fairly advanced Excel user. Almost everything I've learned has been:
1. "I wonder how I can do this"
2. Google "excel how to ______"
3. If that doesn't work, try typing what I think the function will be called into Excel help.
4. If that doesn't work, I ask people on IRC and TL PM (seriously, I've done this about 5 times now)

I haven't found any problem that wasn't solved that way.
Moderator
Servius_Fulvius
Profile Joined August 2009
United States947 Posts
July 09 2010 03:53 GMT
#8
As Maddox, master of the Universe says, all you need to know about Microsoft Office is in one place: F1. That's the help key, though, google would probably be more helpful
geometryb
Profile Blog Joined November 2005
United States1249 Posts
July 09 2010 03:56 GMT
#9
there's a handy youtube series by excelisfun you can check out.
YejinYejin
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States1053 Posts
July 09 2010 03:57 GMT
#10
Just go to the bottom right corner of cells and click and drag, man.

Click and drag.

If you start getting lost, highlight your workers over and over again to boost APM? :D

Oh, and if you understand the autofill function with click and drag, learn to use the pound sign in your formula. It really helps with keeping certain things constant as you autofill, and allowing others to change.

But, as stated before, do not use Excel for statistical analylsis. ><
안지호
Cauld
Profile Joined February 2010
United States350 Posts
July 09 2010 03:58 GMT
#11
If you want to really impress them learn how to do pivot tables; they're pretty easy after a little practice and are really impressive to people who don't know how to do it and pretty cool overall. (I hope I used that semicolon correctly).
jgad
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Canada899 Posts
July 09 2010 04:01 GMT
#12
As others have said, Excel isn't so much a thing you can just sit down and learn. It is a loosely connected collection of tools, all of which operate on your fundamental meat and potatoes - -> pages of organised data. What you focus on learning is entirely dependent on what you need to do to your data, or do with it. You could easily spend a month learning a bunch of crap in Excel only to find that the first thing the boss drops on your desk doesn't need any of it, and furthermore that you now need to spend a bunch more time learning the parts of excel that you do need.

Think of Excel like a huge garage filled with toolboxes. You don't really walk in and say :

"What's the best way to learn how to use this garage?"

It's a huge garage with hundreds of tools. The proper way to approach it is to start with a problem - an engine that needs fixing or a car that needs an oil filter changed. Start with simpler tasks, of course, and get to know the surroundings first, but always, always start with a real world problem first. Get a sheet full of data and have a plan of what you want done with it - then start learning how to do it. In this way you grow your skills as you tackle more and more complex problems, gaining experience with a wider and wider range of Excel's tools.

Imagine walking into that garage without any particular piece of equipment to work on - no plan, no problem. How do you even start? Your only option is to start picking up tools at random and trying to figure out what they do...not exactly the best solution.

So, yeah, in short, get your boss to give you some data to play with and a short list of the types of work he typically needs doing. Then you can go through it and see - ah, I need to start by doing "this". You'll also be able to get much more help from others this way as well - you can post a specific question that has a specific answer :

"ok, so I'm trying to do X with this data and I'd like suggestions on the best way to go about doing it"

WAY more likely to get a productive and helpful answer because it's a solvable problem.

Anyway, best of luck - Excel's not that difficult. Count yourself blessed that you'll be learning from the clusterfuck Ribbon version and not having to slash your wrists every afternoon, cursing Microsoft daily for the trainwreck they made of your productivity.

Office 2007 -> Microsoft sneaks into the garage at night, dumps out all the tools, and gets a team of deranged orangutans to "reorganize" them for you. You walk in the next day, take one look around, and FUUUUUUUUUUKKKKK!!

Proceed to get nothing done for the next 18 months while you figure out wtf happened to your slick and streamlined workspace. 0_o
콩까지마
GreEny K
Profile Joined February 2008
Germany7312 Posts
July 09 2010 04:12 GMT
#13
I am definitely an advanced Excel user, I've been trained in office07 and office10 now as well. It is a simple program to use, you need to know what you will be doing in order to learn it better. To know Excel is to hard, there are many different applications for it. Find out what aspect you need to know and then look into that.
Why would you ever choose failure, when success is an option.
Kletus
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Canada580 Posts
July 09 2010 04:37 GMT
#14
I have been trained in the office suite and there is one key thing to remember when it comes to excel: BOLD THE FORM!!!!
Your resistance only serves to make my carapace harder.
ForSC2
Profile Joined June 2009
United States580 Posts
July 09 2010 04:45 GMT
#15
http://www.baycongroup.com/el0.htm
http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=2883#comic
xalo
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
Peru80 Posts
July 09 2010 04:52 GMT
#16
Think of Excel like a huge garage filled with toolboxes.


So true

Office 2007 -> Microsoft sneaks into the garage at night, dumps out all the tools, and gets a team of deranged orangutans to "reorganize" them for you. You walk in the next day, take one look around, and FUUUUUUUUUUKKKKK!!

Proceed to get nothing done for the next 18 months while you figure out wtf happened to your slick and streamlined workspace. 0_o


I find 2007 more comfortable than 2003, and the graphs are prettier :$
things you might be using in an office environment:

Pivot tables
VLOOKUP
HLOOKUP
CONCATENATE
ISERROR
IF
NPV (finances)
SUMIF
COUNTIF
etc.
ohh and Macros, you can do pretty things with them

jgad
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Canada899 Posts
July 09 2010 08:51 GMT
#17
On July 09 2010 13:52 xalo wrote:
Show nested quote +
Think of Excel like a huge garage filled with toolboxes.


So true

Show nested quote +
Office 2007 -> Microsoft sneaks into the garage at night, dumps out all the tools, and gets a team of deranged orangutans to "reorganize" them for you. You walk in the next day, take one look around, and FUUUUUUUUUUKKKKK!!

Proceed to get nothing done for the next 18 months while you figure out wtf happened to your slick and streamlined workspace. 0_o


I find 2007 more comfortable than 2003, and the graphs are prettier :$


It takes like ten times as much clicking get shit done in 2007 and there's almost no way to customize the interface like you could before. Mind you, I'm one of the dinosaurs who had like a decade of honed skills in office pre-'07. The change is far more of a kick in the balls when you've got that much invested in it.
콩까지마
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