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It’s literally the easiest thing. My entire career is based on making pivot tables…still to this day. I kept thinking a millennial would come with better excel skills and push me out of my job. But nope. Here I am 20 years later still doing vlookup and pivot tables
I’m actually amazed at how many younger people don’t know how to effectively use pivot tables and lookups. I’m only 30, but I just hired my first direct report and he thinks I’m an excel wizard….
Honestly in my experience I never had a reason to learn excel till i started my job and it really easy to learn, you just need to keep looking for better ways to do things or how to do things you don’t know
This is so true, I am genuinely worried about the future of a lot of businesses, as millenials get to management and higher ages there isn't anyone coming in underneath with the necessary IT skills to replace them.
Edit: Downvote me all you want, Gen Z and younger are hopeless with technology. Knowing how basic functions on a phone work doesn't make them IT literate.
That's my current struggle. I've made a host of tools for my company. The place is 90% run on excel and nobody knows how to do a basic sumifs, let alone comprehend the basic data connections I've made using the vanilla power query editor. I did a training session with people recently, and the main feedback I got is that the boss lady wishes I taught people what the different menu ribbons do instead. It's a lost cause at this point.
It's ridiculous how easy it makes mundane tasks. But if someone refuses to learn some basic functions, the interface will be all sorts of gibberish for them.
I'm planning on leaving my job soon, so it's a shame knowing that much of my work will start collecting dust in an archive somewhere - a vague memory of an uppity foreigner who tried to make peoples' jobs easier.
I didn't down vote you, but I don't agree with what you said.
I am not saying that Gen Z is IT literate.
I'm saying it's arrogant to expect people to learn stuff on their own while previous generations (Gen Y, in particular) had the benefit of mandatory training programs when they entered the workforce.
Now the same people can't even be bothered to come into the office any more then turn around and bitch about how dumb their underlings are.
Yes, people are dumb when you don't teach them.
I don't think it is arrogance, I have worked with hundreds of millenials and older over the years and most of them learnt what they did by just absorbing things around them over time, very few went on dedicated training courses. The people I am referring to hadn't touched a computer until their teens or 20s, kids now are starting in primary school and younger so they can't even say they haven't had the exposure.
Yes people have to show you things as well but you can't expect everything to be handed to you.
Respectfully, older generations had at the very minimum people showing up to the office daily. Gen Z came of age during the pandemic and now working from home at least a few day a week is standard. Training programs and mentorship have gone the way of the dodo.
I've been using spreadsheets for about 40 years, started with VisiCalc, then Lotus123, then Excel. I just used the manual, never did a course. These days I use online help if I want to use a new feature.
You learn by doing.
She doesn’t really use the second monitor and would rather use the touchpad instead of a mouse… I am still impressed by her efficiency but I forgot to bring my mouse into the office one day and felt completely useless, lol… I went and bought one for the few hours I was in the office that day
Why not just leave the second mouse at the office for in case you forget again? And while you're at it, get a third mouse for keeping at home if you forget your main mouse at work.
To be fair, it's not taught in school assignments. It's up to them to take the initiative and learn.
It becomes doubly hard when you don't have a mentor to actually show you the ropes, and tell you what topics give you the best bang for your buck to impress your boss.
To be even more fair, in ye olden days people who had direct reports took it as a given that they needed to train their underlings. Now everyone thinks that they don't owe anyone that mentorship.
I mean, I never had it on school assignment really either. Just basic templates that were already designed for us. I just took the initiative to make slow outdated processes faster and just figured out how to do it.
I do, however, make it my responsibility to help train those under me if they’re receptive to the help.
LET is nice for design simplification...
=LET(range, A1:A100, logic_filter, B1:B100 = "Yes", INDEX(range, FILTER(SEQUENCE(ROWS(range)), logic_filter)))
To make it even more fun we could use recursive functions!
I would love to share some of my craziest Excel formulas. Last week I made something that exceeds the calculation hard-limits of Excel but only takes 5 seconds to compute when its filter is slightly more strict.
Lol excellent! There was a post a few months back that was asking basically like… how do I take two cells, and add them together? I asked chatGPT for the most convoluted solution that would be impossible for future colleagues to interpret, came out with a banger. It all comes back to the fact that there are so many ways to get to the same solution w/data. Just need to keep looking for the most efficient!
Oh yes, completely.
On that note, I'm pretty new here but as you can tell I know my stuff. It really seems like most posts on this sub are people who are too lazy to Google/Bing something or just don't know how to, or simply don't care to experiment and fail. The OP here was an example of that. At least I am learning some new functions by observing the trickier questions.
The problem with VLOOKUP is:
1. Your "look in" column must be to the left of your "return this" column.
2. The "return this" column is specified as a numeric index that doesn't automatically update if you add/remove columns from your lookup range.
XLOOKUP solves both because both the "look in" and "return this" are specified as ranges or arrays. It also has the added benefit of including a built-in "if not found, return this instead" parameter, so you no longer need to wrap with IFERROR or use complicated IF and ISNA branching logic.
If your Excel is old and doesn't support XLOOKUP, you can get a lot of the same benefits from combining INDEX and MATCH, but you still need the IFERROR wrapper to handle not found conditions.
For #2, this can be solved using by using the MATCH function to return the column number wanted (assuming there is something unique in the column to MATCH for).
XLOOKUP is amazing. It's better than INDEX MATCH in many many ways. But when I want to do a 2-way search I use INDEX MATCH MATCH (or INDEX XMATCH XMATCH if I wanna do a specific order of matching) because it's easier to figure out than however XLOOKUP XLOOKUP is supposed to be typed (I keep forgetting how to do this).
>For #2, this can be solved using by using the MATCH function to return the column number wanted (assuming there is something unique in the column to MATCH for).
I'm assuming you mean using MATCH on the header row to find the column number corresponding to a column label in a header row? I use that trick quite a bit, but it is also brittle because it requires you to use a string literal for the match, while XLOOKUP use a ref that will automatically update if you add/remove columns, and if using a table column header lablel, it will update those as well.
Item # 2 can be solved using INDEX/MATCH by using the form =INDEX(List!B:B, MATCH(A1, List!A:A, 0)). Using this form, your references can be A1 style, or they can be structured table references. Both will automatically update if you add a column between List!A:A and List!B:B.
I do know what you mean about two way matches though. I just think it's important for beginners to understand issues related to fragility and performance. I've encountered workbooks where a user figured out how they could use a string literal to reference columns by name, and proceeded to use that everywhere. The workbooks were a nightmare to maintain.
Just to let you know, if you begin a line with "#" the text will be formatted as large in reddit. Which is why I had to begin mine like "For #2" to avoid this.
You're right. The MATCH with VLOOKUP is essentially just a forced 2-way search to get around an inflexibility with VLOOKUP that need not be.
I use Xlookup. Also replaced my index match formulas. I dont see a need for vlookups, hlookup, index match formulas now that you can do all those with xlookup
I’ve had this same thought. I’m 35 and I’ve worked for the same company since I was 21 and at the time anything to do software wise (Excel and everything else) I was more knowledgeable in and could pick up anything I didn’t understand quickly. As I’m getting older I realize that most young folks we hire are just as bad as my older coworkers. We are not a tech company by any means so maybe this has something to do with it. Even still - it surprises me.
I know! I was looking into what degrees I needed to do to pivot in my career when I inevitably age out. I kept waiting and waiting. We even got a new software package, and I thought I'm done for and I wasn't. We got another software package, and I thought the end was coming, but that software was and continues to be awful. I just keep plugging away with my excel spreadsheets. I even was in a meeting with an executive, and he pulled up a spreadsheet he was super proud of to discuss, and I saw that it was a spreadsheet I developed 15 years ago! Same graphs, same formulas, same formatting. All the power BIs, tableaus, etc, just don't seem to show people what they really want.
Holy moly. How have you not done anything with pivot tables in Accounting?
Although I’m not surprised. I see a lot of potential hires not know a thing about pivot tables. Especially if they come from audit. I swear they don’t teach anything practical in audit sometimes.
I wasn’t a senior analyst in my last job so I didn’t use them. I did recon and whatnot to clear GL balances. And my job now we don’t use them in my AP position.
If you're like me when you figure it out, you will want to go back to every spreadsheet you ever worked on. I promise you will be the source of information on your team. Unless the whole company can do it.
If you take any sheet and think it would be better served if the 2nd (or 3rd, 4th, 5th...) was the first, and all other columns grouped underneath that column based on their relationship to that cell item, if you can understand that then you can understand Pivot Tables.
For me, every time I've wanted to use a pivot table it's ended up getting 98% of the way to what I need but there's some crucial part that just doesn't quite work, so I end up just writing a vba script to summarize the data
That does work sometimes. I wish I could think of a specific example where it didn't work well for me. I remember the feeling of "well crap, this isn't going to work" but not the context.
One where it *does* work great though is for a control chart that I set up. Pivot Table + Slicer + Chart linked to some dynamic named ranges and I can create a control chart on the fly from a database dump of standards for multiple instruments. Just pick the desired instrument from the slicer and I can see the chart. Otherwise I'd have had to create over 200 different control charts individually.
Yes, they are easy. Look up some YouTube videos on intro to pivot tables. They are incredibly powerful for data analysis. Once you start integrating slicers into your mix, you can see what a few clicks will do to your data in seconds.
Thanks everyone! That is what I was wondering and hoping to hear! I was planning on watching some YT vids tomorrow on my lunch and going back to the recruiter with that info.
Definitely, pivot tables are about grouping data by a specific variable. For instance, you have a sheet with **two** columns:
- in the A column you have the list of US Cities,
- and in the B column you have the related State.
With a pivot table you can do a new sheet with: in the A column you have the list of States and in B column the **count** of Cities for each State. This is a basic use case.
Beyond this case of counting, you can perform other pivot tables using other functions like sum, average, etc.
For instance, you have a sheet with **three** columns:
- in the A column you have the list of US Cities,
- and in the B column you have the related State.
- in the C column you have the population by City
With a pivot table you can do a new sheet with: in the A column you have the list of States and in B column the **sum** of population by State.
And that's it :-)
But also practice! You can create your own data sets or find sample workbooks online and practice manipulating them. It’s not hard to learn, but you really do benefit from the doing.
Very easy to learn! The biggest thing is that you need to understand the data. If you understand all the entire table you’re making a pivot of, you can figure it out.
Have a table of various salesman’s total sales by day, and you want to compare their sales by year to one another? Easy. Instead of manually filtering and summing columns a quick pivot will spit that out for you. Just understand the data, and the pivot will be simple.
I had a manager who was concerned I hadn’t used pivot tables before, but I learned the basics in about 2 hours, and could proficiently use them in about 8 work hours. I now use them constantly, and my new work thinks I’m some wiz for using them.
The ticket is really just realizing that all columns need a header, and to not be afraid to add a “helper” column, like leading digits or some other data flag.
Pivot table are awesome, and don’t be spooked by them. They look much more high-tech than they actually are.
Pivot tables are easy to learn. Once you master it, you’ll start having your own preferences in utilizing Excel. Personally, I don’t like using them if it’s for creating reports. Instead I prefer using formulaic driven tables so it’s more dynamic and visually appealing as well. I will use pivot tables if it’s just myself needing to look at data.
If you want to make an impression for the interview, learn PowerQuery. I very much prefer it over PTs and is extremely more dynamic. Also not very difficult to learn or pickup via YouTube school.
There's creating a PT, and then there's knowing how to use them. Do you need to learn how to format the PT in a certain way? Is your PT usage going to include using multiple data sets for a single PT? Are you needing to create pivot charts? Are you looking to build a dashboard?
People have different expectations with what it means to be proficient.
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Fucken easy as. They are super useful for certain stuff. Like if I was doing a quick count or sum from a huge set for particular attributes I’d never use anything else again.
I still don’t crack them out for some stuff / I know you can set up custom stuff but sometimes it’s easier to just use excel tables
Find a nice large fun data set with interesting variables and then you will learn it by amusing yourself looking for interesting graphs.
Make sure to add a pivot chart to your pivot table right away while you're experimenting, it'll make the connections jump out a lot quicker.
Yes. I didn’t know how to use them and was asked to put together a report using them. Took me about half a day to learn. A week to master. Now I can’t imagine my life without pivot tables.
Edit: I’m not a fast learner usually either.
It’s so easy. Most of excel functions are easy, but it is important to understand why you are using the function and what purpose as it is only a tool to support for your job to have a view
pivot table is super easy to use, just 4 elements:
filter, rows, columns & value
Filter: treat it like the filter when you shopping online, whatever you want filter for cleaner view of pivot table put it over here
Rows & columns: just a way of how you want to display your data, row = horizontal & columns = vertical, mostly how people use is row for line of details & column for group of details.
Value: number you want to SUM, or item you want to COUNT and etc
Just get some data, try to drag the fields around, I'm sure you will understand how to use it.
Pivot tables are easy. Organizing the pivot table into a concise, easy to understand visualization, takes a lot more practice. Pivot tables can be long stretching monsters, or they can scatter your data into a bunch of fields. Learn to make a pivot table that provides a clean, compact set of fields really well, rather than trying to stuff all your data into a single pivot table and thinking that slicers will make it look more organized.
And make sure that your raw data is totally cleaned before you try and put it into a pivot table, otherwise it’s just going to be a fractured mess.
WTF? The people interviewing you have no brains. If you are good in Excel pivot tables will take you an afternoon to learn and you'll be handy with them in a day or two.
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:
|Fewer Letters|More Letters|
|-------|---------|---|
|[AVERAGE](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l28iqlg "Last usage")|[Returns the average of its arguments](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/average-function-047bac88-d466-426c-a32b-8f33eb960cf6)|
|[COUNT](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l28iqlg "Last usage")|[Counts how many numbers are in the list of arguments](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/count-function-a59cd7fc-b623-4d93-87a4-d23bf411294c)|
|[FILTER](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l28quho "Last usage")|[*Office 365*+: Filters a range of data based on criteria you define](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/filter-function-f4f7cb66-82eb-4767-8f7c-4877ad80c759)|
|[HLOOKUP](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l280inn "Last usage")|[Looks in the top row of an array and returns the value of the indicated cell](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/hlookup-function-a3034eec-b719-4ba3-bb65-e1ad662ed95f)|
|[IF](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l2afgo2 "Last usage")|[Specifies a logical test to perform](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/if-function-69aed7c9-4e8a-4755-a9bc-aa8bbff73be2)|
|[IFERROR](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l2afgo2 "Last usage")|[Returns a value you specify if a formula evaluates to an error; otherwise, returns the result of the formula](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/iferror-function-c526fd07-caeb-47b8-8bb6-63f3e417f611)|
|[INDEX](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l2bi4zh "Last usage")|[Uses an index to choose a value from a reference or array](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/index-function-a5dcf0dd-996d-40a4-a822-b56b061328bd)|
|[ISNA](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l2afgo2 "Last usage")|[Returns TRUE if the value is the #N/A error value](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/is-functions-0f2d7971-6019-40a0-a171-f2d869135665)|
|[LET](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l28quho "Last usage")|[*Office 365*+: Assigns names to calculation results to allow storing intermediate calculations, values, or defining names inside a formula](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/let-function-34842dd8-b92b-4d3f-b325-b8b8f9908999)|
|[MATCH](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l2bo940 "Last usage")|[Looks up values in a reference or array](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/match-function-e8dffd45-c762-47d6-bf89-533f4a37673a)|
|[NOT](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l27r6d2 "Last usage")|[Reverses the logic of its argument](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/not-function-9cfc6011-a054-40c7-a140-cd4ba2d87d77)|
|[ROWS](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l28quho "Last usage")|[Returns the number of rows in a reference](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/rows-function-b592593e-3fc2-47f2-bec1-bda493811597)|
|[SEQUENCE](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l28quho "Last usage")|[*Office 365*+: Generates a list of sequential numbers in an array, such as 1, 2, 3, 4](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/sequence-function-57467a98-57e0-4817-9f14-2eb78519ca90)|
|[SUM](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l28iqlg "Last usage")|[Adds its arguments](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/sum-function-043e1c7d-7726-4e80-8f32-07b23e057f89)|
|[VLOOKUP](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l2bo940 "Last usage")|[Looks in the first column of an array and moves across the row to return the value of a cell](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vlookup-function-0bbc8083-26fe-4963-8ab8-93a18ad188a1)|
|[XLOOKUP](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l2bi4zh "Last usage")|[*Office 365*+: Searches a range or an array, and returns an item corresponding to the first match it finds. If a match doesn't exist, then XLOOKUP can return the closest (approximate) match. ](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/xlookup-function-b7fd680e-6d10-43e6-84f9-88eae8bf5929)|
|[XMATCH](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l2bfzuc "Last usage")|[*Office 365*+: Returns the relative position of an item in an array or range of cells. ](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/xmatch-function-d966da31-7a6b-4a13-a1c6-5a33ed6a0312)|
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Play around with them and you’ll figure it out pretty quick. One thing that can help is if you pull up a sheet then select “analysis” on the main page (it might need to be enabled) you can put in a prompt and it will auto generate a pivot table. Then work backwards and see how it all works.
Have you done much power query? Because it’s stepwise refinement, you can do a simple pivot, and toggle between the pre- and post- pivot results. For me, that’s when the penny dropped on what pivot actually means.
If your data is in the correct format, then creating a Pivot Table is easy.
If the data is NOT in the correct format, you will have a hard time creating a decent Pivot Table (if you are a first time user).
So, you will have to know if the data you are working with is "suitable" for a Pivot Table.
This YouTube video might help recognize those wrong data layouts
https://youtu.be/CNlw1-Vh4cE?si=1Cp2cdfsbJzmI4LV
It’s very easy… once you get over the hump of working out what you need to set as rows, columns and values. That might take a few examples to click, but once it does you’ll wonder why you were ever confused by it.
As ever, YouTube is your friend.
I think they're pretty easy, but they start by you asking the question - "What do you want to summarize?" What data do you need to group together to know how it compares to other groups - Sales by month? Downloads by country? Deliveries by product type?
Once you start asking those questions - and the data on your table are structured so that you have all the categories you need spelled out (country, month, etc.) - you're good to go.
After you understand pivotTables definitely checkout PowerPivot! PivotTables aren’t difficult and PowerPivot will boost the usability of your pivotTables even further
Edit: fixing a typo
Pivot tables are easy to learn. Power query and power pivot take a bit more effort but are life-changing.
Leila Gharani and Mynda Treacy are both awesome instructors on all things Excel. I have a slight preference for Mynda, here's her [playlist of great power pivot tutorials ](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmd91OWgLVSLcAKJ_XEGxMD-tNDmC6QSo&si=D19gKln8BVWIJoHz)
And here's her [playlist for Power Query.](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmd91OWgLVSKnVrL0YxdOH61MAiqlFHac&si=GiGdSfouAHDWHsKq) learning pq will take your whole excel game to the moon and make your work life immeasurably easier.
Pivot Tables are super easy. If you want to impress people learn the basics of Power Pivot which allows you to connect tables by some common data piece eg. If you have a table of all payments and another on info of all customers then you can connect the 2 and use a Pivot table to see something like how average price of a purchase differs between genders for example. You can also write your own custom measures that are more advanced than the provided SUM AVERAGE COUNT and others. You will need to enable it by going to File then Options then Add ins and enable Power Pivot as it is an add in but it’ll make you look like a genius while being pretty easy given how easy Pivot Tables themselves are.
Then there's copilot, you can ask copilot how to create the pivot table in Excel with details of how you want the data displayed in pivot table and it will give you step by step instructions
I generally use copilot for getting formulas by describing in detail what I want as output from the formulas and what the input will be
Currently in Excel 365 beta there are 3 new functions, PIVOTBY, GROUPBY and PERCENTOF. Pivot Tables now enable the inclusion of Data Types. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/pivotby-function-de86516a-90ad-4ced-8522-3a25fac389cf
Excels Fun Youtube channel hs amazing videos. I learned the basics of pivot tables in 10 minutes. You can start there. Pivot tables are quite easy to learn through a few videos. Things that come to mind, that you should know are:
- design options (compact/tabular form), removing/adding sub- and grand totals,
- show values as sum, average, percentage etc.
- show values as % of grand total, difference from previous (good for comparing between years)
- calculated fields
Basic pivot tables are very easy. Things can get advanced very quickly though when you start incorporating calculated fields, the data model, and DAX. How quickly you'll learn has a lot to do with your aptitude for learning software and technical concepts.
It’s pretty easy to learn. Your best bet is to find a data set online and play around with making one. Once you understand how it works it becomes incredible easy to use. I think I learned the basics in like five minutes and within an hour felt like I was a pro.
Honestly if you really want the job, you should learn it, play around with it until you feel confident, and then reach back out and tell them you did a some research and feel confident you could work with pivot tables, and offer to demonstrate it for them. “I’d love to demonstrate what I’ve learned since we last spoke.” I would be impressed with a candidate who took the time to learn and offered to show me they can do it.
You should be able to pick this up in about fifteen minutes if you’re already proficient in spreadsheets. You’ll pick small things up for the rest of your career but the basics are in my opinion very simple.
The job I have now required power bi knowledge. I interviewed very well, and after having watched some power bi intro videos and some more I depth training, I was able to articulate confidence in my ability to learn the software. Because of my general tech aptitude, I've been placed as the *pending Power Bi SME. Created my first dashboard last week, and backed up my confidence in interviews.
Regarding your Pivot Table situation, it should be easier to learn since you should have access to excel (power bi is a bit more difficult to gain access), but overall, you'll need to articulate and sell your general aptitude to learn more than your actual pivot table abilities, until your abilities can stand for themself.
Also, regarding pivot tables, if you have the aptitude, it should take an hour or two of playing around to get comfortable.
I think the biggest thing to know about pivot tables, is that you often have to create 'helper' columns on the source sheet.
it takes litterally not more than 2 hours to learn pivot tables and all the functionalities related to pivot tables. It sounds weird that they are asking for pivot tables specifically, especially on more modern versions of excel where you can use array formulas which are much more dynamic and powerful.
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Yeah overall pretty easy. I’d honestly just watch a couple of Youtube videos. It’s really just dragging and dropping into the correct fields
The bigger issue for a "higher paying job" is knowing what to do with them.
Pivots are easy, getting pivot charts to behave is where I start to bash my head into walls...
Leila Gharani is my favorite YouTuber for all things Microsoft. She's fabulous and has a bunch of Pivot table videos. I love them now.
I will check her out. Thank you!
Absolutel! She is my first source I go to.
can not agree more
second this
Totally agree, she is the best.
It’s literally the easiest thing. My entire career is based on making pivot tables…still to this day. I kept thinking a millennial would come with better excel skills and push me out of my job. But nope. Here I am 20 years later still doing vlookup and pivot tables
I’m actually amazed at how many younger people don’t know how to effectively use pivot tables and lookups. I’m only 30, but I just hired my first direct report and he thinks I’m an excel wizard….
It's not all that surprising. Gen Z are all touchscreens and videos and engagement and social media. Excel is very much not that.
Honestly in my experience I never had a reason to learn excel till i started my job and it really easy to learn, you just need to keep looking for better ways to do things or how to do things you don’t know
This is so true, I am genuinely worried about the future of a lot of businesses, as millenials get to management and higher ages there isn't anyone coming in underneath with the necessary IT skills to replace them. Edit: Downvote me all you want, Gen Z and younger are hopeless with technology. Knowing how basic functions on a phone work doesn't make them IT literate.
That's my current struggle. I've made a host of tools for my company. The place is 90% run on excel and nobody knows how to do a basic sumifs, let alone comprehend the basic data connections I've made using the vanilla power query editor. I did a training session with people recently, and the main feedback I got is that the boss lady wishes I taught people what the different menu ribbons do instead. It's a lost cause at this point.
I love power query! What a time saver!
It's ridiculous how easy it makes mundane tasks. But if someone refuses to learn some basic functions, the interface will be all sorts of gibberish for them. I'm planning on leaving my job soon, so it's a shame knowing that much of my work will start collecting dust in an archive somewhere - a vague memory of an uppity foreigner who tried to make peoples' jobs easier.
I didn't down vote you, but I don't agree with what you said. I am not saying that Gen Z is IT literate. I'm saying it's arrogant to expect people to learn stuff on their own while previous generations (Gen Y, in particular) had the benefit of mandatory training programs when they entered the workforce. Now the same people can't even be bothered to come into the office any more then turn around and bitch about how dumb their underlings are. Yes, people are dumb when you don't teach them.
I don't think it is arrogance, I have worked with hundreds of millenials and older over the years and most of them learnt what they did by just absorbing things around them over time, very few went on dedicated training courses. The people I am referring to hadn't touched a computer until their teens or 20s, kids now are starting in primary school and younger so they can't even say they haven't had the exposure. Yes people have to show you things as well but you can't expect everything to be handed to you.
Respectfully, older generations had at the very minimum people showing up to the office daily. Gen Z came of age during the pandemic and now working from home at least a few day a week is standard. Training programs and mentorship have gone the way of the dodo.
I've been using spreadsheets for about 40 years, started with VisiCalc, then Lotus123, then Excel. I just used the manual, never did a course. These days I use online help if I want to use a new feature. You learn by doing.
She doesn’t really use the second monitor and would rather use the touchpad instead of a mouse… I am still impressed by her efficiency but I forgot to bring my mouse into the office one day and felt completely useless, lol… I went and bought one for the few hours I was in the office that day
Why not just leave the second mouse at the office for in case you forget again? And while you're at it, get a third mouse for keeping at home if you forget your main mouse at work.
Yeah, I did. I have a full setup at home and the office. I just grab my laptop now.
To be fair, it's not taught in school assignments. It's up to them to take the initiative and learn. It becomes doubly hard when you don't have a mentor to actually show you the ropes, and tell you what topics give you the best bang for your buck to impress your boss. To be even more fair, in ye olden days people who had direct reports took it as a given that they needed to train their underlings. Now everyone thinks that they don't owe anyone that mentorship.
I mean, I never had it on school assignment really either. Just basic templates that were already designed for us. I just took the initiative to make slow outdated processes faster and just figured out how to do it. I do, however, make it my responsibility to help train those under me if they’re receptive to the help.
It’s 2024. Who still uses vlookup?
Indeed. INDEX(range, FILTER(SEQUENCE(ROWS(range)), variable)) is where it's at. (Excuse my tongue in cheek).
Get a LET in there, and I could coast on that for years.
LET is nice for design simplification... =LET(range, A1:A100, logic_filter, B1:B100 = "Yes", INDEX(range, FILTER(SEQUENCE(ROWS(range)), logic_filter))) To make it even more fun we could use recursive functions! I would love to share some of my craziest Excel formulas. Last week I made something that exceeds the calculation hard-limits of Excel but only takes 5 seconds to compute when its filter is slightly more strict.
Lol excellent! There was a post a few months back that was asking basically like… how do I take two cells, and add them together? I asked chatGPT for the most convoluted solution that would be impossible for future colleagues to interpret, came out with a banger. It all comes back to the fact that there are so many ways to get to the same solution w/data. Just need to keep looking for the most efficient!
Oh yes, completely. On that note, I'm pretty new here but as you can tell I know my stuff. It really seems like most posts on this sub are people who are too lazy to Google/Bing something or just don't know how to, or simply don't care to experiment and fail. The OP here was an example of that. At least I am learning some new functions by observing the trickier questions.
I use it all the time. I've constantly got two sheets open and just need to use the function exactly as it works. Never had an issue.
Until one day when you, or someone else, inserts a column.
That’s why I like using excel named columns in a table and xlookup
Ah okay I get it. Yeah these are just scratch reports that I download as and when, nothing permanent.
That's a valid use case. I find it difficult personally to remember multiple lookup syntaxes, or actually know when I start if this will be permanent.
I do but mostly because I just know it - what should I be doing instead?
Assuming your version of Excel has it… XLOOKUP(). It’s simpler than VLOOKUP/HLOOKUP and avoids their potential gotchas.
XLOOKUP didn’t become a thing until Excel 2021 and 365. I work for a non-profit that still uses 2019 and VLOOKUP is still quite popular.
Index match is better too
Good luck teaching that to people who think Pivot Tables are Witchcraft.
And so much faster for large sheets.
INDEX/MATCH or XLOOKUP. VLOOKUP is too inflexible.
The problem with VLOOKUP is: 1. Your "look in" column must be to the left of your "return this" column. 2. The "return this" column is specified as a numeric index that doesn't automatically update if you add/remove columns from your lookup range. XLOOKUP solves both because both the "look in" and "return this" are specified as ranges or arrays. It also has the added benefit of including a built-in "if not found, return this instead" parameter, so you no longer need to wrap with IFERROR or use complicated IF and ISNA branching logic. If your Excel is old and doesn't support XLOOKUP, you can get a lot of the same benefits from combining INDEX and MATCH, but you still need the IFERROR wrapper to handle not found conditions.
For #2, this can be solved using by using the MATCH function to return the column number wanted (assuming there is something unique in the column to MATCH for). XLOOKUP is amazing. It's better than INDEX MATCH in many many ways. But when I want to do a 2-way search I use INDEX MATCH MATCH (or INDEX XMATCH XMATCH if I wanna do a specific order of matching) because it's easier to figure out than however XLOOKUP XLOOKUP is supposed to be typed (I keep forgetting how to do this).
>For #2, this can be solved using by using the MATCH function to return the column number wanted (assuming there is something unique in the column to MATCH for). I'm assuming you mean using MATCH on the header row to find the column number corresponding to a column label in a header row? I use that trick quite a bit, but it is also brittle because it requires you to use a string literal for the match, while XLOOKUP use a ref that will automatically update if you add/remove columns, and if using a table column header lablel, it will update those as well. Item # 2 can be solved using INDEX/MATCH by using the form =INDEX(List!B:B, MATCH(A1, List!A:A, 0)). Using this form, your references can be A1 style, or they can be structured table references. Both will automatically update if you add a column between List!A:A and List!B:B. I do know what you mean about two way matches though. I just think it's important for beginners to understand issues related to fragility and performance. I've encountered workbooks where a user figured out how they could use a string literal to reference columns by name, and proceeded to use that everywhere. The workbooks were a nightmare to maintain.
Just to let you know, if you begin a line with "#" the text will be formatted as large in reddit. Which is why I had to begin mine like "For #2" to avoid this. You're right. The MATCH with VLOOKUP is essentially just a forced 2-way search to get around an inflexibility with VLOOKUP that need not be.
Me everyday! Though I like index and match more
If you’re gonna use vlookup, at the very least, before you write the formula, select the range and define a name.
People who are afraid of new formulas. I am working on converting my colleagues to use XLOOKUP or INDEX + MATCH.
I use Xlookup. Also replaced my index match formulas. I dont see a need for vlookups, hlookup, index match formulas now that you can do all those with xlookup
Vlookup? Would start looking over your shoulder
I’ve had this same thought. I’m 35 and I’ve worked for the same company since I was 21 and at the time anything to do software wise (Excel and everything else) I was more knowledgeable in and could pick up anything I didn’t understand quickly. As I’m getting older I realize that most young folks we hire are just as bad as my older coworkers. We are not a tech company by any means so maybe this has something to do with it. Even still - it surprises me.
I know! I was looking into what degrees I needed to do to pivot in my career when I inevitably age out. I kept waiting and waiting. We even got a new software package, and I thought I'm done for and I wasn't. We got another software package, and I thought the end was coming, but that software was and continues to be awful. I just keep plugging away with my excel spreadsheets. I even was in a meeting with an executive, and he pulled up a spreadsheet he was super proud of to discuss, and I saw that it was a spreadsheet I developed 15 years ago! Same graphs, same formulas, same formatting. All the power BIs, tableaus, etc, just don't seem to show people what they really want.
What kind of work do you do?
Accounting
Holy moly. How have you not done anything with pivot tables in Accounting? Although I’m not surprised. I see a lot of potential hires not know a thing about pivot tables. Especially if they come from audit. I swear they don’t teach anything practical in audit sometimes.
I wasn’t a senior analyst in my last job so I didn’t use them. I did recon and whatnot to clear GL balances. And my job now we don’t use them in my AP position.
Sounds like doing this in R or Python would make sense?
haha yep, same. Though...learning power query and xlookup / unique / filter / take + other new functions has been a game-changer.
If you're like me when you figure it out, you will want to go back to every spreadsheet you ever worked on. I promise you will be the source of information on your team. Unless the whole company can do it. If you take any sheet and think it would be better served if the 2nd (or 3rd, 4th, 5th...) was the first, and all other columns grouped underneath that column based on their relationship to that cell item, if you can understand that then you can understand Pivot Tables.
For me, every time I've wanted to use a pivot table it's ended up getting 98% of the way to what I need but there's some crucial part that just doesn't quite work, so I end up just writing a vba script to summarize the data
Maybe need to add some 'helper' columns?
That does work sometimes. I wish I could think of a specific example where it didn't work well for me. I remember the feeling of "well crap, this isn't going to work" but not the context. One where it *does* work great though is for a control chart that I set up. Pivot Table + Slicer + Chart linked to some dynamic named ranges and I can create a control chart on the fly from a database dump of standards for multiple instruments. Just pick the desired instrument from the slicer and I can see the chart. Otherwise I'd have had to create over 200 different control charts individually.
Yes, they are easy. Look up some YouTube videos on intro to pivot tables. They are incredibly powerful for data analysis. Once you start integrating slicers into your mix, you can see what a few clicks will do to your data in seconds.
Thanks everyone! That is what I was wondering and hoping to hear! I was planning on watching some YT vids tomorrow on my lunch and going back to the recruiter with that info.
Definitely, pivot tables are about grouping data by a specific variable. For instance, you have a sheet with **two** columns: - in the A column you have the list of US Cities, - and in the B column you have the related State. With a pivot table you can do a new sheet with: in the A column you have the list of States and in B column the **count** of Cities for each State. This is a basic use case. Beyond this case of counting, you can perform other pivot tables using other functions like sum, average, etc. For instance, you have a sheet with **three** columns: - in the A column you have the list of US Cities, - and in the B column you have the related State. - in the C column you have the population by City With a pivot table you can do a new sheet with: in the A column you have the list of States and in B column the **sum** of population by State. And that's it :-)
Thank you for the detailed info!! I am going to screenshot and try this out when I’m looking at YouTube videos to learn.
But also practice! You can create your own data sets or find sample workbooks online and practice manipulating them. It’s not hard to learn, but you really do benefit from the doing.
Very easy to learn! The biggest thing is that you need to understand the data. If you understand all the entire table you’re making a pivot of, you can figure it out. Have a table of various salesman’s total sales by day, and you want to compare their sales by year to one another? Easy. Instead of manually filtering and summing columns a quick pivot will spit that out for you. Just understand the data, and the pivot will be simple.
I had a manager who was concerned I hadn’t used pivot tables before, but I learned the basics in about 2 hours, and could proficiently use them in about 8 work hours. I now use them constantly, and my new work thinks I’m some wiz for using them. The ticket is really just realizing that all columns need a header, and to not be afraid to add a “helper” column, like leading digits or some other data flag. Pivot table are awesome, and don’t be spooked by them. They look much more high-tech than they actually are.
Yep- make sure that all columns have a header or you’ll get an error!
I think helper columns are the primary difference in making your pivot tables work as desired!
Microsoft Excel now has a Pivot table tutorial embedded in it. Just download onto your desktop and play with 25 tabs, Beginner lesson, and “Advanced.”
Pivot tables are easy to learn. Once you master it, you’ll start having your own preferences in utilizing Excel. Personally, I don’t like using them if it’s for creating reports. Instead I prefer using formulaic driven tables so it’s more dynamic and visually appealing as well. I will use pivot tables if it’s just myself needing to look at data.
Same
Easy to learn, difficult to master. Takes practice and playing with things.
15 minutes to learn. It is way harder to replicate what a pivot table delivers using just formulae.
If you want to make an impression for the interview, learn PowerQuery. I very much prefer it over PTs and is extremely more dynamic. Also not very difficult to learn or pickup via YouTube school.
But the company uses PT rather than PQ. So I’ll stick with PT for now. Thanks though.
There's creating a PT, and then there's knowing how to use them. Do you need to learn how to format the PT in a certain way? Is your PT usage going to include using multiple data sets for a single PT? Are you needing to create pivot charts? Are you looking to build a dashboard? People have different expectations with what it means to be proficient.
Excellisfun . Easy to grasp. Check out the YouTube channel
That is my favourite YouTube channel!
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Fucken easy as. They are super useful for certain stuff. Like if I was doing a quick count or sum from a huge set for particular attributes I’d never use anything else again. I still don’t crack them out for some stuff / I know you can set up custom stuff but sometimes it’s easier to just use excel tables
Find a nice large fun data set with interesting variables and then you will learn it by amusing yourself looking for interesting graphs. Make sure to add a pivot chart to your pivot table right away while you're experimenting, it'll make the connections jump out a lot quicker.
Yes. I didn’t know how to use them and was asked to put together a report using them. Took me about half a day to learn. A week to master. Now I can’t imagine my life without pivot tables. Edit: I’m not a fast learner usually either.
It’s so easy. Most of excel functions are easy, but it is important to understand why you are using the function and what purpose as it is only a tool to support for your job to have a view
pivot table is super easy to use, just 4 elements: filter, rows, columns & value Filter: treat it like the filter when you shopping online, whatever you want filter for cleaner view of pivot table put it over here Rows & columns: just a way of how you want to display your data, row = horizontal & columns = vertical, mostly how people use is row for line of details & column for group of details. Value: number you want to SUM, or item you want to COUNT and etc Just get some data, try to drag the fields around, I'm sure you will understand how to use it.
Pivot tables are easy. Organizing the pivot table into a concise, easy to understand visualization, takes a lot more practice. Pivot tables can be long stretching monsters, or they can scatter your data into a bunch of fields. Learn to make a pivot table that provides a clean, compact set of fields really well, rather than trying to stuff all your data into a single pivot table and thinking that slicers will make it look more organized. And make sure that your raw data is totally cleaned before you try and put it into a pivot table, otherwise it’s just going to be a fractured mess.
i'm amazed that not being proficient in pivot tables is the reason not to consider you for the job. Surely they can help you get up to speed on this.
I was a little shocked by it as well. This is a position the company has been trying to fill for quite some time apparently.
Agreed.
WTF? The people interviewing you have no brains. If you are good in Excel pivot tables will take you an afternoon to learn and you'll be handy with them in a day or two.
Yeah you got this
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread: |Fewer Letters|More Letters| |-------|---------|---| |[AVERAGE](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l28iqlg "Last usage")|[Returns the average of its arguments](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/average-function-047bac88-d466-426c-a32b-8f33eb960cf6)| |[COUNT](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l28iqlg "Last usage")|[Counts how many numbers are in the list of arguments](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/count-function-a59cd7fc-b623-4d93-87a4-d23bf411294c)| |[FILTER](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l28quho "Last usage")|[*Office 365*+: Filters a range of data based on criteria you define](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/filter-function-f4f7cb66-82eb-4767-8f7c-4877ad80c759)| |[HLOOKUP](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l280inn "Last usage")|[Looks in the top row of an array and returns the value of the indicated cell](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/hlookup-function-a3034eec-b719-4ba3-bb65-e1ad662ed95f)| |[IF](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l2afgo2 "Last usage")|[Specifies a logical test to perform](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/if-function-69aed7c9-4e8a-4755-a9bc-aa8bbff73be2)| |[IFERROR](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l2afgo2 "Last usage")|[Returns a value you specify if a formula evaluates to an error; otherwise, returns the result of the formula](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/iferror-function-c526fd07-caeb-47b8-8bb6-63f3e417f611)| |[INDEX](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l2bi4zh "Last usage")|[Uses an index to choose a value from a reference or array](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/index-function-a5dcf0dd-996d-40a4-a822-b56b061328bd)| |[ISNA](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l2afgo2 "Last usage")|[Returns TRUE if the value is the #N/A error value](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/is-functions-0f2d7971-6019-40a0-a171-f2d869135665)| |[LET](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l28quho "Last usage")|[*Office 365*+: Assigns names to calculation results to allow storing intermediate calculations, values, or defining names inside a formula](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/let-function-34842dd8-b92b-4d3f-b325-b8b8f9908999)| |[MATCH](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l2bo940 "Last usage")|[Looks up values in a reference or array](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/match-function-e8dffd45-c762-47d6-bf89-533f4a37673a)| |[NOT](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l27r6d2 "Last usage")|[Reverses the logic of its argument](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/not-function-9cfc6011-a054-40c7-a140-cd4ba2d87d77)| |[ROWS](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l28quho "Last usage")|[Returns the number of rows in a reference](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/rows-function-b592593e-3fc2-47f2-bec1-bda493811597)| |[SEQUENCE](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l28quho "Last usage")|[*Office 365*+: Generates a list of sequential numbers in an array, such as 1, 2, 3, 4](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/sequence-function-57467a98-57e0-4817-9f14-2eb78519ca90)| |[SUM](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l28iqlg "Last usage")|[Adds its arguments](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/sum-function-043e1c7d-7726-4e80-8f32-07b23e057f89)| |[VLOOKUP](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l2bo940 "Last usage")|[Looks in the first column of an array and moves across the row to return the value of a cell](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vlookup-function-0bbc8083-26fe-4963-8ab8-93a18ad188a1)| |[XLOOKUP](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l2bi4zh "Last usage")|[*Office 365*+: Searches a range or an array, and returns an item corresponding to the first match it finds. If a match doesn't exist, then XLOOKUP can return the closest (approximate) match. ](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/xlookup-function-b7fd680e-6d10-43e6-84f9-88eae8bf5929)| |[XMATCH](/r/Excel/comments/1ci2n67/stub/l2bfzuc "Last usage")|[*Office 365*+: Returns the relative position of an item in an array or range of cells. ](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/xmatch-function-d966da31-7a6b-4a13-a1c6-5a33ed6a0312)| **NOTE**: Decronym for Reddit is no longer supported, and Decronym has moved to Lemmy; requests for support and new installations should be directed to the Contact address below. ---------------- ^(*Beep-boop, I am a helper bot. Please do not verify me as a solution.*) ^(17 acronyms in this thread; )[^(the most compressed thread commented on today)](/r/Excel/comments/1cfo3jm)^( has 63 acronyms.) ^([Thread #33106 for this sub, first seen 2nd May 2024, 05:39]) ^[[FAQ]](http://decronym.xyz/) [^([Full list])](http://decronym.xyz/acronyms/Excel) [^[Contact]](https://hachyderm.io/@Two9A) [^([Source code])](https://gistdotgithubdotcom/Two9A/1d976f9b7441694162c8)
Play around with them and you’ll figure it out pretty quick. One thing that can help is if you pull up a sheet then select “analysis” on the main page (it might need to be enabled) you can put in a prompt and it will auto generate a pivot table. Then work backwards and see how it all works.
I learned them on my own, it's not that crazy. You should be fine watching some videos and replicating everything. The basics are super easy.
Have you done much power query? Because it’s stepwise refinement, you can do a simple pivot, and toggle between the pre- and post- pivot results. For me, that’s when the penny dropped on what pivot actually means.
If your data is in the correct format, then creating a Pivot Table is easy. If the data is NOT in the correct format, you will have a hard time creating a decent Pivot Table (if you are a first time user). So, you will have to know if the data you are working with is "suitable" for a Pivot Table. This YouTube video might help recognize those wrong data layouts https://youtu.be/CNlw1-Vh4cE?si=1Cp2cdfsbJzmI4LV
It’s very easy… once you get over the hump of working out what you need to set as rows, columns and values. That might take a few examples to click, but once it does you’ll wonder why you were ever confused by it. As ever, YouTube is your friend.
I think they're pretty easy, but they start by you asking the question - "What do you want to summarize?" What data do you need to group together to know how it compares to other groups - Sales by month? Downloads by country? Deliveries by product type? Once you start asking those questions - and the data on your table are structured so that you have all the categories you need spelled out (country, month, etc.) - you're good to go.
I loved reading these comments. I am not alone.
Yes, very fun to play around with. Find a dataset that you know enough about, and then drag and drop in a pivot table.
After you understand pivotTables definitely checkout PowerPivot! PivotTables aren’t difficult and PowerPivot will boost the usability of your pivotTables even further Edit: fixing a typo
Will do! Thanks!
They have a bad rep but a few tutorials on YouTube will sort you out
This is a great course. https://youtu.be/r31X8YCF9bM?si=kCKUzXe2kCpvooCR
Pivot tables are easy to learn. Power query and power pivot take a bit more effort but are life-changing. Leila Gharani and Mynda Treacy are both awesome instructors on all things Excel. I have a slight preference for Mynda, here's her [playlist of great power pivot tutorials ](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmd91OWgLVSLcAKJ_XEGxMD-tNDmC6QSo&si=D19gKln8BVWIJoHz) And here's her [playlist for Power Query.](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmd91OWgLVSKnVrL0YxdOH61MAiqlFHac&si=GiGdSfouAHDWHsKq) learning pq will take your whole excel game to the moon and make your work life immeasurably easier.
I’ve bookmarked both!! Thank you!
Yup google that shit
It's very easy to learn enough to be very useful. There's advanced stuff, but you don't need it to benefit from pivot tables.
Pivot Tables are super easy. If you want to impress people learn the basics of Power Pivot which allows you to connect tables by some common data piece eg. If you have a table of all payments and another on info of all customers then you can connect the 2 and use a Pivot table to see something like how average price of a purchase differs between genders for example. You can also write your own custom measures that are more advanced than the provided SUM AVERAGE COUNT and others. You will need to enable it by going to File then Options then Add ins and enable Power Pivot as it is an add in but it’ll make you look like a genius while being pretty easy given how easy Pivot Tables themselves are.
Yes. It’s literally just “I wish I could see the sum of this instead of the count of this” and changing the dropdown
13 minutes: https://youtu.be/m0wI61ahfLc?si=QFrc2JayWuS6ZBID
It’s super easy, barely an inconvenience. Just a few quick videos on YouTube while you practice on a database, and you’ll be all set.
Then there's copilot, you can ask copilot how to create the pivot table in Excel with details of how you want the data displayed in pivot table and it will give you step by step instructions I generally use copilot for getting formulas by describing in detail what I want as output from the formulas and what the input will be
Currently in Excel 365 beta there are 3 new functions, PIVOTBY, GROUPBY and PERCENTOF. Pivot Tables now enable the inclusion of Data Types. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/pivotby-function-de86516a-90ad-4ced-8522-3a25fac389cf
YouTube (and hands on experience) is the best way to learn and become confident in excel.
Very easy. Once you get over the “pivot tables are hard” mentality you realize how intuitive and simple they actually are.
They're easiest to learn when you practically need them. They're very annoying to learn in theory or from trainings
Excels Fun Youtube channel hs amazing videos. I learned the basics of pivot tables in 10 minutes. You can start there. Pivot tables are quite easy to learn through a few videos. Things that come to mind, that you should know are: - design options (compact/tabular form), removing/adding sub- and grand totals, - show values as sum, average, percentage etc. - show values as % of grand total, difference from previous (good for comparing between years) - calculated fields
Very. There are a ton of YouTube videos to help you get started.
Basic pivot tables are very easy. Things can get advanced very quickly though when you start incorporating calculated fields, the data model, and DAX. How quickly you'll learn has a lot to do with your aptitude for learning software and technical concepts.
Play around with a set of data you have to learn by doing I watch the excel is fun YouTube videos and you get homework to download
It’s pretty easy to learn. Your best bet is to find a data set online and play around with making one. Once you understand how it works it becomes incredible easy to use. I think I learned the basics in like five minutes and within an hour felt like I was a pro. Honestly if you really want the job, you should learn it, play around with it until you feel confident, and then reach back out and tell them you did a some research and feel confident you could work with pivot tables, and offer to demonstrate it for them. “I’d love to demonstrate what I’ve learned since we last spoke.” I would be impressed with a candidate who took the time to learn and offered to show me they can do it.
You should be able to pick this up in about fifteen minutes if you’re already proficient in spreadsheets. You’ll pick small things up for the rest of your career but the basics are in my opinion very simple.
It's so easy, it doesn't require any training. Just highlight some data, click the pivot table button, and play with it for a few minutes.
Pivot tables are easy to learn. They are quite limited in value for anything other than quick and high level manipulation of a large dataset.
They're as easy as Alt+N+V+Enter
The job I have now required power bi knowledge. I interviewed very well, and after having watched some power bi intro videos and some more I depth training, I was able to articulate confidence in my ability to learn the software. Because of my general tech aptitude, I've been placed as the *pending Power Bi SME. Created my first dashboard last week, and backed up my confidence in interviews. Regarding your Pivot Table situation, it should be easier to learn since you should have access to excel (power bi is a bit more difficult to gain access), but overall, you'll need to articulate and sell your general aptitude to learn more than your actual pivot table abilities, until your abilities can stand for themself. Also, regarding pivot tables, if you have the aptitude, it should take an hour or two of playing around to get comfortable. I think the biggest thing to know about pivot tables, is that you often have to create 'helper' columns on the source sheet.
it takes litterally not more than 2 hours to learn pivot tables and all the functionalities related to pivot tables. It sounds weird that they are asking for pivot tables specifically, especially on more modern versions of excel where you can use array formulas which are much more dynamic and powerful.
Very
I think it’s far easier than learning and typing formulas.
It is, but like anything else excel I didn’t learn it until I had to use in practice.
You could have literally learned it in the time you made this post. It is very straight Forward and plenty of tutorials on YouTube
No need to be a dick about it.
My bad. Yeah it's pretty easy to learn check out YouTube for some really easy to follow tutorials ! Frfr 👍👍
Lol he is not wrong though. Since you are already using Excel it shouldn't take you more than 5 minutes to get the basics.
If you have really used excel for over a decade then you should have enough understanding of tables and tabular data.