I work in the public sector in a finance department. This requires me and my co-workers to interact with numbers every day. So it is natural to think that in this environment that spreadsheets, and particular Excel spreadsheets, would be used all the time. And that those who were there would be the best at using such a tool for analysing financial data and all the other stuff you can do with spreadsheets. You’d be wrong.

When you think about it, it is perfectly understandable. They are general data entry/administration roles where data entry skills and the ability to process, process, process is the key. You get taught how to use the accounting package in use in the area, told how to do the tasks of your job and you get on with it.

You can get away with being an excellent data processor and not need to worry about Excel too much, other than to punch in some data (usually lists of numbers or figures) and to use the auto sum button to add things up.

Yes it is possible to do Gantt Charts. It just takes some tweaking and know how.

I’m a bit different though and a bit lucky. Why? Well let me give you “The Brief History of Nicholas Perkins” – Computer Stream.

I have a programming background, having coded my first BASIC script on the Commodore 64 when I was about six or seven years old. I used to get books from the library and copy the code into the machine and run it. Then I’d have a go at writing other stuff. This continued on through to high school, where I learned some PASCAL and SQL.

I then decided I wanted to be a music teacher (WTF?) and went to university.

After realising my mistake, I ended up dropping out and spent the next five years either in part time work or out of work. I coded HTML, CSS and PHP (back when it was PHP3) mainly for fun but also for a little bit of profit. I also worked as a PHP coder for a small business for about three months. Shame the pay packets never arrived.

One thing lead to another and I was on my way to a job in the public service in an administration role. I was good and finished my traineeships course within six months rather than twelve.  I had experience with word processing and spreadsheets from school and from some work experience I had done previously.

What helped me most was three things.

1. My self taught programming background;
2. My affinity with computers; and
3. My ability to research and teach myself what I needed to know.

So now at work I’m a (relative) Excel Guru. I’ve taught myself how to write Excel macros (when you think about it, it’s not surprising) and asked to go on an advanced Excel VBA course through work, which taught me about forms and better refining hand coded macros. I write spreadsheets to take the boring and repetitive tasks and automate them.

You have data in one format and need it in another? Excel macros can make that happen. You want a nice, clean data entry form for your excel data? Done. Data validation? No problem.

So why mention this? Because I want you to understand that if you are confused by Excel, you are not alone. It’s not you, it’s just that  no one has ever shown you how awesome it can be and how easy it can be to use. You maybe don’t have the programming/mathematical background of some of the self taught Excel gurus out there. You can learn. Or just hire someone like me to help you.

I hope to start helping with that by providing tips and tricks that I’ve picked up along the way. Drop me a comment if there is something you are particularly interested in.