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.

I’ve moved the blog this evening to a subdirectory of my website. You’ll now find my blog at http://www.nicholasperkins.com/blog/. For the next month or so you will be automatically redirected, so please update your bookmarks/delicious tags/etc. The RSS feed is still located at http://feeds.feedburner.com/NicholasPerkins so if you have subscribed (and there are more of you there than I remember last time I checked – welcome!) you need do nothing but wait for the next glorious installment.

So why did I move my blog to the new address? Well there are some big changes coming to my life over the next six months or so, and I’m welcoming them with open arms. I don’t want to reveal too much at the moment as things are only in the early stages of formation. I have a lot of ideas going on in my head, I’m about to reach 30, and it’s darn well time I acted on some of them.

On the ‘now’ front, I’ve been feverishly working on a couple of secret projects of the last month or so. One is something that I can never ever tell you about. Sorry but I would be killed (or sued) if I broke the Non-Disclosure Agreement on that one. The other one is still super secret, but I can reveal all soon. Let’s just say that I’ve finally (90%) finished a project that has been outstanding for a while, and my wife is very pleased. Stay tuned for more there.

I best get back to work. I’ve just had another request come in via Windows Live Messenger.

We interrupt your scheduled programming to bring a breaking news story.

This year I’ve decided to enter the 2009 Bridge to Brisbane. I’ll be walking 10km on August 31 30 (thanks, Natalie!) with a team of people to get some fresh air and exercise. I’m really looking forward to it.

I’ve decided that to make it something extra special, I’m going to try and raise some money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. My wife, Natalie, is a Type 1 diabetic and I see each and every day how this affects her. It’s the time it takes to monitor her sugar levels, the sugar lows and highs (both can be dangerous) and anything I can do to help raise funding to assist in the fight against this I will do. Almost anything. If you are serious and have enough cash, ask – you never know.

If you visit this fundraising page you not will be helping me, you’ll be helping my wife and others like her. So if any of my blog posts have ever spoken to you, or if you just want to help a good cause and feel warm and fuzzy for a moment, please give whatever you can.

I have decided to aim for Target 1000 – $1000.00 from you, me and others will help the foundation fund research into cures and treatments for this disease. I’ll be bringing you regular updates on my training progress between now and August 30, with regular reminders of the fundraising drive. I’ll also bring you how we are progressing towards Target 1000.

We now return to your regular programming.

So after a brilliant attempt at blogging properly over the last couple of days, I’ve managed to delete the last three posts. One was only a very lame April Fools Day post, so that isn’t anything to worry about. Unfortunately I deleted my posts on the new Bikie Gang laws that Queensland is set to introduce, and my post regarding the public service. Perhaps the deletion of these will serve to be a blessing and not a curse.

You see I’m starting to realise that being objective is good in a business sense and when you are dealing with the facts and only the facts. But I’m not like that 24 hours as day, 7 days a week. I have a life filled with love and passion – something that’s been new to me over the last few years. Perhaps I should spend more time talking about me and what I think about the world than rehashing whatever is in the papers.

It’s fair to say that I really enjoyed writing those posts and I do find joy in writing about the world and rehashing whatever is in the papers. I also love heading to events and talking about what has happened and providing first hand reports. Ah, so much to choose from.

I’m sure somewhere along the line I was talking about… Ah yes! The deleted blog posts. Always keep a copy of your blog posts offline. You just never know when you might need to get back an old post from yesteryear. Or even yesterday.

Oh, and here is the prank video again – because I can.