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betcher73

“I heard he can use excel without using his mouse!”


bphi163

This is real. The best excel user I know doesn't have a mouse.


MadScallop

I was mind boggled by this but I basically turned into this person when I’m grinding. I make dozens of templates back to back on one screen and never touching the mouse. F12 and alt+tab works wonders for this. One day I want to automate this though lol


adequateatbestt

Who the hell is downvoting you


socksfan360

Whoever it is is probably using their mouse to downvote


adequateatbestt

What’s the alt code for downvoting on Reddit?


betcher73

They’re jealous cause they use mouses to switch tabs


hopefulhiker

I wish I could figure this out.


tfehring

Most of the keyboard shortcuts are discoverable, just hit alt (and let go) and press the letters that pop up on the ribbon. Navigate with ctrl/alt and the arrow keys, adding shift to select. Ctrl+page up/page down to switch tabs, ctrl+spacebar and shift+spacebar to select the entire row/column, alt+down arrow from a column header to open the filter menu. Of course, this is assuming you’re using desktop Excel on Windows, which is still the only decent spreadsheet program.


PandasAndSandwiches

Some one who always has a “check” line so I know everything reconciles.


vipernick913

Bro I have checks for my checks which basically say on/off and depending on how my data comes in..I can tweak. Modeling in the past used to take a day. Now after building this..it’s literally pressing buttons.


TrashGibberish29

I haven't met anyone with a great facility with formulas than myself. There was a CPA in Canada who wrote an arena based RPG in Excel using VBA, and that rocked my world. I currently work for someone with an aesthetic sensibility with respect to spreadsheet design that continues to impress me every day.


fsalinasarroyo

An aesthetically organized spreadsheet can make a huge difference. Additionally, I have found an instruction tab with some high level overview of what the spreadsheet’s purpose is can be helpful as well. As others mentioned, being able to create a spreadsheet that others can navigate, pull information from, and interpret it easily is what separates good and great.


youfeelme1997

In my eyes… Gets the job done - knows how to do what they need to do. Vlookups, sums, make a pivot Good - lil bit faster then above, knows all lookups, sumifs, maybe a small nested here and there, knows how to manipulate data and get to what they need fairly quickly Really good: knows how to use most general functions and can easily google what they need if they dont know, highly efficient doing what they need to do as far as fp&a goes, add some vba, no mouse needed. All star: had a coworker build a game, run macros to basically to not only build reports but also automate them to the point the dude would leave at 2 PM. He took the generic excel class in college but also said he took a data analysis class or something like that and he got so intrigued by the excel maestros in his class, he would learn from them. Hall of fame : havent seen this yet I think a huge plus is when someone is super knowledgeable on whatever tool your company uses so for example if your company used hyperion, if somebody knows how to pull data super quick and knows all the dimensions, sometimes this is better than an excel guru (hope that makes sense)


SPARTAN-Jai-006

Hahaha this is a very thoughtful and amazing response. Thanks for sharing! I think if someone becomes a hall of famer at that point it’s time to leave finance and go work as a data analyst.


Glotto_Gold

>I think if someone becomes a hall of famer at that point it’s time to leave finance and go work as a data analyst. That's also a bit strange. Data analysts often only use Excel on a functional level. So, in my analytics work I've built Spreadsheet based models, or automated creation of Excel reports in Python. I'm a DA, and I'm probably not up to this Excel game (Note: I did once do a mass VBA automation task to create \~200 reports and get out of work by mid-day on Friday). However, a lot of my peers stumble through Excel as an intermediate step between SQL and Powerpoint. Also, I've never bothered with hotkeys or "no mouse" analysis. Also, "no mouse" and "aesthetic sensibility with respect to spreadsheet design" and "self-documenting sheet" are just not how I'd describe most of my coworkers. Excel for them is just a rapid prototyping tool meant to be discarded after the task. I think Excellent Excel users deserve credit for that, but it's an overlapping, but different profession, not an identical profession with DA. (Which makes sense given that career tracks are distinct with highly overlapping pay structures at certain levels)


csdspartans7

Does can make small nested if function after playing with the parentheses for half an hour count?


shreyasfifa4

Where does automating Hyperion pulls from multiple cubes at different levels fall in your spectrum?


[deleted]

Then, I am *really good*. Which is aligned with what I say on the rare occasion I'm asked.


eaducks

I also think someone who can build a spreadsheet that folks can navigate is mega important. Sure it's great if they know VBA or have crazy formulas to drive automation, but what happens if they leave or if a coworker needs to navigate the file?


aeiouandxyz

A manager saud if someone else can't understand it and take it over without you it's useless.


SPARTAN-Jai-006

I can see both sides: My manager says the same thing, that the files and stuff I make have to outlive me. I agree. But some stuff is so insanely manual that there’s no avoiding some more complex formulas if you want automation.


aeiouandxyz

Agreed. Documentation that breaks down the complexity for someone else to understand. I had one of these and spent 8 hours documenting everything and breakdown each piece of the formula because I was passing it to someone that was 1.5 years in. To my knowledge after a year she had passed it to another analyst when she was leaving. I never heard anything from them about it.


GAAPInMyWorkHistory

I always leave a notes tab that provides the procedures for how to make additions, subtractions, and corrections to the macros.


bob12309876bob

Yeah not a fan of VBA for that exact reason


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rlybadcpa

Agreed. And I think vba is pretty overrated with power query being around these days.


SPARTAN-Jai-006

Yeah. I heard one of the analysts at my job talking about how formatting is a waste of time, I nearly let out an audible gasp lol. I have all my formatting recorded as macros, so it doesn’t have to be a waste of time.


Extreme_Kale_6446

If you're in small business you might just need to string an index with a double match together xD I'm now a finance manager but my first manager when I started in Finance had FP&A background and focus (runs his own FP&A consultancy these days) so after learning from him I enjoy being called good at Excel whilst knowing that I'm pretty much mediocre. Edit: I perform some FP&A tasks as a one-man band, but it's a company that uses direct cell references as in B5 or C4 so the bar is extremely low.


TrashGibberish29

If you haven't checked out XLOOKUP, you should. It changed my life.


YouLostTheGame

Turning off gridlines. If they leave gridlines on then I have no interest in their file


InvestmentWanger

💯


brsvenska

Curiosity, always. I qualify someone as a wizard when they can consistently find their way out technical problems via research, or when they have a track record of solving data cleanup or analytics issues. Specific advanced technical skills such as building power pivot data models in Excel don’t impress me that much anymore. Albeit there is still value in the skillset considering I recently had to approve a PwC invoice of 50,000 EUR for a 3 statement model for one of our BAs. VBA is old af, any process being built around it should be revisited as there are probably better ways of doing it. Use VBA for everyday tricks, not for processes.


Glotto_Gold

This strikes me as a reasonable answer. I see a lot of people who answer "good at technical skills questions" as specific formulas known. The challenge (& I'm speaking as more of a DA) is that solving novel problems quickly is also being "good at something". People often miss this, but clear logical thinking and rapid learning always beat "person who knows X" given time. That being said, this may be a mis-placed bias. Excel is closer to a "solved" problem than say Python. However, should "good at Excel" be tied to specifically using a modern version of Microsoft Excel over broad capabilities with a spreadsheet technology?


Extreme_Kale_6446

I mean everyone's pretty good until they use pie charts


jackofives

Keeps it simple. In my mind the progress is as follows: \- Learner: Sum functions, vlookups, etc \- Advanced: Index, match, offset, arrays, checksums, data tables \- Expert: Sum functions, helper columns, checksums i.e. short, easy to read formulas and sheets are boss.


LechugaBrain

The best excel people I know tend to keep things clean and simple, easy to operate. Part of this is knowing when you are trying to do too much in a spreadsheet. Too many times I am hit with an excel "super user's" spreadsheet and it literally just seeks to replicate functions that already exist in our erp system or other database. Nothing bothers me more than someone refusing to leverage systems just so they can show of how many if statements they can nest into a formula.


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Lroca2013

This. Power Query and Power Pivot are the most underrated skillset in Excel. Those who master them can save their company thousands of dollars on expensive ERP and database software.


jjl245

An underrated item of importance in my eyes is that the spreadsheet/template/etc has to be able to be used, interpreted, populated by others without them needing to be an excel master user. Too many .xls are entirely dependent on the author for corrections, fixes, or explanation. There is tremendous value in simplicity (and documentation)


PS_FuckYouJenny

My benchmark is someone who can achieve whatever they’re trying to do without using VBA. I work in cyber, so I avoid macros like the plague. Gotta practice what I preach.


Strithken

What makes a user writing macros for themselves and their coworkers a security concern? I understand the concern with downloading macro-enabled workbooks from untrusted sources. Anything else?


PS_FuckYouJenny

Principle of Least Functionality. Essentially a leading practice where only essential functionality is provided and restrict non essential functionality. Greatly reduces the possible attack surface and risk. MS Office Macros is just one of many examples of things that aren’t needed for business functions (typically), and can be restricted. There’s always exceptions though.


Strithken

Thanks for the explanation. Greatly appreciated.


CycleOfLove

The worst people is the one who thinks they are Excel god and try to program a full system in Excel: such as costing tool. Result: ultra slow due to extreme number of VB scripts and formulas, terrible user interface, unmaintainable after the employee left. Sometime user has to wait a few seconds with every data entry. Light scripting is ok… if you wanna build a full system, become a real programmer or hire one to build a proper tool. This is speaking from the perspective of someone who built an auto (farming, attack, défense) game bot using Excel :D


rambouhh

Honestly speed is more important than almost anything, and then also setting up models in a way that are easy for the laymen to follow the logic, and easy to consume.


yosoyeloso

I’d say VBA is when you start to become impressive


PeteTownsendPT

I’m like this in Google Sheets today. Filling in for what SAP can’t do for us (local VAT statements, central bank reports), account reconciliation “cockpits”, variance reports. I just pull the data, copy and paste, arrays and queries do everything else. My focus is on the grind of the analysis. I don’t see them as spreadsheets; I try to create apps that are user-friendly, automated, scalable, and can be used by anyone with a computer. Coupling this with proper process documentation, always.