I get perturbed each time I meet people (typically the training participants) who want to learn “Advanced Excel” and claim to know Basic Excel
My unrest is not because they don’t know the so called “Advanced Excel” but because in the Indian Market (for sure) Advanced Excel is a very.. very abused term.
And my anger is not for the people who are naively pursuing it but for this entire “Advanced Excel” phenomena that has built around in the market
Let me enlighten..
When it comes to learning Excel, I haven’t come across any universally accepted curriculum standards which separate out the basics from the advanced material. Nothing. None. Zero. Nada
So this is what actually happens – Anything that you don’t know in excel becomes “Advanced Excel”
The term Advanced Excel is a more of a pricing tactic than an actual learning benchmark. The word ‘advanced’ buys the trainer more money because who wants basic stuff.. do you?
Consider a more practice example..
- Take a look at these charting shortcuts or
- These Auto Sum hacks or
- This incredibly simple data filtering technique
If you did not know any of these tricks, guess what are they? Yes you got me.. “Advanced Excel”, but if you actually see how incredibly simple they are, they don’t stand a chance of being the “A” of Advanced
Generally advanced would mean anything of higher complexity, where there are lot of logical moving parts working together to create something unified
May be like a complex visualization – This one, this one or may be this one
Chances are they you may find even this advanced stuff basic, even I do now because the word “Advanced” is relative to what we know currently!
If you were to ask me what can make one an advanced user of Excel – Think of Excel as a problem solving tool and solve more challenging data / business problems with it. Excel is logic and there is no end to it
I get asked all the time about Advanced Excel Training.
The irony is, that this is psyche has dug in so deep in the market that I struggle to fight against it, despite having strong views about it. I flow with it and reply –
“Yes I do Advanced Excel Training, but I only do Advanced Excel and not Basic Excel”
PS: With this post, I did my bit to probably educate you and but mostly to vent out my plight. I am feeling better now and all set for my next “Advanced Excel Workshop” 😀
