[E92inNC]

Looking for free-to-learn site recommendations with downloadable samples to work on during the learning process. There’s only so much I can learn from YT tutorials. I’m looking to learn pivot tables and vlookups. Have beginner exposure in some classes thru college but it’s been 5 years or so since I’ve done it.

If there aren’t any I can always create stuff as I follow along the more advanced tutorials but it just takes a lot more time.

[Killramos]

Look into some CFA financial modelling exercises. Learning some finance is a nice bonus but it will at least give you some datasets to start playing with. It’s all fine to learn excel stuff in theory, but you never really learn it until you are in the weeds doing it yourself.

Wall Street prep comes to mind as a source

[Fast.F10]

https://www.guru99.com/excel-vlookup-tutorial.html#1

https://www.guru99.com/excel-tutorials.html

[M_Six]

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...rs=en-us&ad=us

[3.0L]

Lotus 123 is your foundation.

[E92inNC]

Thanks, I’ve started training in the accounting department on quickbooks and monthly reports, etc and it’s a lot more in depth and complex than what I remember from school. Any training I can get in during my free time will be huge in the coming months.

[RugbyBro]

The best way is to just dive in head first (without a mouse if you’re brave)

Breaking Into Wall Street and Mergers & Inquisitions were great resources when I first was learning. That said... nothing beats an manager/VP breathing down your neck while you make live edits to a spreadsheet

[E92inNC]

Originally Posted by RugbyBro

The best way is to just dive in head first (without a mouse if you’re brave)

Breaking Into Wall Street and Mergers & Inquisitions were great resources when I first was learning. That said... nothing beats an manager/VP breathing down your neck while you make live edits to a spreadsheet

Yeah I’m someone who definitely pick things up best when I learn in person with immediate feedback. We’re still wfh still til at least end of June so I’m trying to get in extra learning during the weekends. I’ve look at some of the reports and some of the formula strains includes formulas and cells from multiple sheets and are hella long.

[jmg]

Originally Posted by 3.0L

Lotus 123 is your foundation.

OMG flashback. I remember using that on MS-DOS! You're giving me fond flashbacks of launching Norton Commander (nc.exe)!

[jmg]

makes me all warm and fuzzy

[4Hockey4]

Free is good, but sometimes you get what you pay for. I use Excel constantly, and Pivots are pretty easy, but Xlookup for mass data is really good.

I haven't taken but heard someone who did and loved it, starts pretty basic but gets into quick. Few pennies.

https://www.udemy.com/course/microso...edium=udemyads

[Mdog97]

Lotus 1-2-3? That's pretty advanced stuff - sounds like you'll need a 386 to run that (at least). I cut my teeth on VisiCalc on a TRS-80....

/back on topic

Agree with the above posters - you can take all the classes / tutorials you want, but that will just be abstract / academic. The true learning will take place when you actually try to accomplish something. You'll set up the data, write out the vlookup or whatever, get the formula wrong, re-do it, re-do it again, copy it and see that it doesn't copy correctly to adjacent cells, figure out that you'd be better off with variable names than cell references, go down that rabbit hole, etc., etc. There is just no substitute for doing it - more so if you're under external pressure (time, accuracy, third party "judgment", whatever).

I started as an analyst right out of college, and as a 123 and Excel power user I thought I already knew what I was doing. Boy did I learn a lot those first 2 years. It's a bit like programming in a modern language - until you actually write the code and fail and then fix it, you haven't learned much.

Agree with the other comment about staying away from the mouse to the extent possible. To the extent you can keep your fingers on the keys, you'll be faster.

Probably not the answer(s) you were hoping for, but that's been my experience.


/humor back on

Bonus points for anyone that can remember the program ("app") that layered on top of the MS-DOS version of 1-2-3 that gave it WYSIWYG formatting for output....

[ASAP]

Having worked with excel for 10+ years... All you need to learn is the following-

Pivot Tables
Vlookups
Sumifs
Concatenate

And a few other "if statements"... if it can't be done with one of those or a combination of those, chances are extremely high you are over complicating it. My biggest issue with getting too advanced in Excel is getting Excel to do things it's not really meant for... which is what many companies strive for because they are cheap and won't spend money for proper tools.

The 2nd issue is ; writing mile long formulas is something that should be left for a "BI" or Business Analytics team not for a Finance Manager... plus if I was interested in writing mile long formulas, I'd be a SW engineer making way more money.