I LOVE Excel! I took an Excel class during University and I've never stopped using or learning about it since. During my summer internship, I would literally use Excel functions and macros for hours every single day. Even if you don't want to be an Excel fanatic, learning a few basic functions will make your life easier (and even impress a few managers along the way!).
I've outlined below some of the most useful Excel functions to learn. Some of these functions are very basic but can make a huge difference. These functions save time, automate procedures, and make your life easier! And if you need some help on how to learn them, I've listed some helpful resources to get you started. With all of us social distancing at home, now is as good of a time as any to add a skill to your resume.Â
Excel Functions to Know:
SUM: returns sum of cells selected
SUMPRODUCT: multiplies ranges or arrays together and returns the sum of product
IF: return one value for a TRUE result and another for a FALSE result
SUMIF: returns the sum of cells if the cell meets a single condition
AVERAGEIF: computes the average of the numbers in a range that meets a certain criteria
VLOOKUP: lookup and retrieve data from a specific column in a table can be exact or approximate match
LEFT: returns a given number of characters from the left side of text string
RIGHT: returns a given number of characters from the right side of text string
CONCATENATE: joins the text of cells together and returns the joined text in one cell
LENGTH: returns the given number of characters in a text
Resources:
Excel Jet: Very useful as a type of Excel dictionary to look up syntax and specific formulas you don't know
Excel Easy: almost like on online textbook for Excel (great resource for those who have no knowledge of Excel at all!)
Udemy: paid excel course with lots of videos, assignments, and downloadable resources
Coursera: self-paced learning option, quizzes and assignments, and a course certificate
Excel Youtube Course by Technology for Teachers and Students
Datacamp (7/12/20 edit thanks anon for the suggestion!)
Prologue to my Excel series
I'll also be posting Excel tips, tricks, function explanations, and some basic Excel tutorials so if you'd like to see more appear on your dash in the future, follow my blog and look for my Excel series.
