Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Are microsoft Excell courses worth it?

17 replies

MyNameIsInsertName · 30/05/2020 20:42

I am furloughed and thinking of extending my skills.
I don't know anything about excell and New Skills Academy are offering 3 courses from beginners to intermediate for the price of £20.down from £180,
Any one know if i'm just wasting my.money?

OP posts:
TotorosNeighbour · 30/05/2020 20:51

There are some free decent ones on LinkedIn learning.

BlueJava · 30/05/2020 20:53

Personally I don't think they are worh £180. If you want to increase your skills then I'd do it with free material and keep notes and just put "Advanced Excel" on my CV. However at £20 it doesn't sound too bad if you really have zero knowledge of it.

Bellyfullofbiscuits · 30/05/2020 20:54

You tube first. It is great ! Also. Excel has tutorials.

MyNameIsInsertName · 30/05/2020 20:55

So if I do become quite confident with excel from youtube or free tutorials and information from websites, how would I evidence this without having a certificate when writing a CV?

OP posts:
TwerkForTeachers · 30/05/2020 20:56

Generally these discounted courses are always sold at a discount, so it's not actually worth £180 at all. You need to consider if it's worth the £20 because that's its real value

MyNameIsInsertName · 30/05/2020 20:56

@BlueJava sorry just seen your comment after i posted! So putting 'Advanced Excell' would be enough on a CV even without a certificate?

OP posts:
MaggieAndHopey · 30/05/2020 20:59

I agree with others. If I need to learn how to do a specific thing on Excel I just teach myself using free resources easily googled online - YouTube and others. It would be impossible to find a course that was pitched exactly right for me and what I'm likely to need in my work.

MyNameIsInsertName · 30/05/2020 21:03

@MaggieAndHopey yes i think I will teach myself :) if I become quite good with Excel how do I put this on my CV?

OP posts:
MaggieAndHopey · 30/05/2020 21:11

Excel is a huge program and can do really fancy things I only half understand, so I personally wouldn't say I have 'advanced Excel skills' as although for example I can put together formulae and do conditional formatting, I've never never worked with stuff like macros or pivot tables. It depends on what job I'm going for really. In the past I've said I've got X years of experience using MS Office applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.. then gone into more detail if needed depending on what sort of tasks the role I'm applying for might involve.

GiveMeStrengthOrAHobby · 30/05/2020 21:15

I am an excel superuser, never been on a training course, just experience and not being aftaid to see what it does. My whole career is based around excel and data and the fact i have no formal training doesnt hold me back

I have been working with excel for 20 years though and its only the last couple of years i have started openly saying i am at a high level of using it.

Most of what excel has to offer is very intuitive, if you are one of those people that need help getting started then by all means look for courses but you can get free stuff that will give you what you need. Check Udemy, sometime they offer free beginner and intermediate courses. The help function in excel is also very comprehensive.

WeirdAndPissedOff · 30/05/2020 21:39

I'd say £20 is well worth it, whereas I personally wouldn't pay £180. If you're completely unfamiliar with excel, I'd recommend taking the basic course at least as that will give you the building blocks you'll need to start with, and you can self-teach from there.

It depends on what kind of work you're likely to do - if you search online, you'll be able to find a list of what kind of "tasks" beginner, intermediate and advanced cover.

This will help with listing it on your CV as well - you can list it without having taken an official course, but what you put will give an indication of the kind of tasks you're capable of performing.

Eg basic/beginner would cover simple formulas, how to open and save a spreadsheet, simple databases and perhaps some basic charts. Intermediate might be more complicated formulae like Vlookups and pivot tables (an absolute life-saver if you're reporting on data!), and advanced would be things like vba, macros, array formulas etc.

As per pp, Google will always be your best friend with excel - you can almost always find someone who has already asked how to do the task you're trying to do, and an answer showing a good way to achieve your desired outcome.
You can also buy the "for dummies" books, as then you will always have a handy reference - though I'd advise trying to get newer books covering later versions of excel if possible as early versions don't have the same capabilities so you'll be missing a fair few how-tos if you get a much older book.

One tip which has really helped me, is finding out about the "fx" button. If you want to find out how to do something, Google can tell you the kind of formula you need, and then pushing the "fx" button in excel will walk you through writing the formula. (See picture).

Are microsoft Excell courses worth it?
BlueJava · 30/05/2020 21:52

Hi OP I'd say yes, provided you can. Talk confidently about advanced features such as pivot tables and macros. If you can talk about a project you've done where you can demonstrate how your experience was useful even better.

HotDogGuy · 30/05/2020 21:54

The best thing to do is to learn through YouTube or a free course. There are loads available.
But depending on the job do not put advanced excel on your CV. I work in data and expect a lot from someone with advanced excel knowledge.

Clickncollect · 30/05/2020 22:29

Agree with many of the comments here. I think I’m an advanced excel user but I generally refer to myself as intermediate as there is so much more it can do and I don’t want people to think I can answer all excel queries, although I am the go-to person in my team for queries and whizzing stuff together.
When I was on maternity leave (and my child was an amazing napper) I signed up for excelwithbusiness.com and passed their Cpd accredited course just so I could add a formal qualification to my LinkedIn profile / cv. I think I paid about £30 through a groupon deal. The course will give you a good grounding and it’s in bite size modules but the main thing is to practice those skills and have the confidence to play around in excel.

DrDreReturns · 30/05/2020 22:35

I'm sure you know this, but don't put Excell on your CV, it's Excel.
Personally I'd use free tutorials and YouTube. As a pp said it's a massive application so I'd choose areas you are interested in or need to learn and concentrate on them.

TeaAndBrie · 30/05/2020 22:38

Doing the courses is a but like taking your driving test, it doesn't teach you day to day but crucially you have the qualification.
I do lots of interviewing and having an actual course listed rather than just stating you have knowledge could be the difference between you being shortlisted for interview or not.
At £20 it's a great investment in your future.

spongedog · 30/05/2020 22:50

Check whether the certificate is included in that low price. Often not.

As other pp say if you take the course, can then use it in your role for a while, so can accurately state on CV advanced excel, then fine. But please do not do what candidates did for a role I advertised for requiring advanced excel. We set a fairly simple test - pivot tables. Most of the candidates (who had said they had advanced Excel skills) couldnt manage that. The role I am in now often requires vlookups - now I dont do those but would hope I could manage in an interview situation.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread