Microsoft Excel is the most widely used spreadsheet application around the world that helps users organize information, log business expenses, and analyze data. Enhancing skills with Excel could expand options for employment. Excel helps with arranging numbers, monitoring financial transactions with accounting, managing contact information for organizing leads and clients for business as well as tracing sales information, ROI (return on investment), and business-critical data.

Individuals can find In-person classes, live online courses, and bootcamps for learning Excel for comprehensive training from beginner-level to advanced techniques that include learning about formulas and functions for working more efficiently as well as summarizing and analyzing data by using tables, charts, and PivotTables.

Training in Microsoft Excel should help anyone’s resume stand out for job searching, armed with knowledge in data analysis, data manipulation, and functions with an efficient method for transforming information. 

What is Excel?

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet software application that facilitates organizing, storing, analyzing, and visualizing data. People and organizations use Excel to perform basic and advanced computations and calculations using PivotTables and various graphing tools, as well as the macro programming language Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). Microsoft 365 offers the cloud-based Office 365, which includes Excel among its applications that integrates with other software like Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneDrive on PCs, Macs, and smartphone apps through the cloud or online.

Read more about what Microsoft Excel is and why people should learn it.

What Can You Do with Excel?

Microsoft Excel offers features and tools that allow users to organize tasks for analyzing and visualizing data. Excel helps individuals and organizations create formulas, PivotTables–a tool used for analyzing and summarizing data–, and macros, along with essential techniques for calculations, basic functions, creating charts, and printing. With Office 365, users can share Excel files on desktops, smartphones, tablets, and other devices through the Internet or cloud computing for collaborating with coworkers on joint projects that include working simultaneously on the same documents in real time.

Why Learn Excel in a Bootcamp or Class?

People who use Microsoft Excel routinely or who are completely new to the spreadsheet software may not have considered additional training to learn about more advanced features and functions associated with the application. Those interested in training have choices ranging from free online tutorials and videos for introducing them to the fundamentals of Excel, such as using charts and autofill. However, anyone interested in developing more detailed knowledge of the spreadsheet application for improving skills at a current position or enhancing a resume may choose to enroll in a bootcamp to gain thorough training. Bootcamps provide an accelerated option that educates people who already have training in any number of fields through immersive programs that can help them pick up new skills or enhance knowledge over a shorter time frame than a college or technical school could provide.

While Microsoft Excel alone will not likely anchor career prospects for anyone, possessing deeper knowledge for using the spreadsheet software combined with other business and technical skills could help round out a resume, especially for professionals who work with data in their day-to-day assignments. Through bootcamps, students learn about mastering calculations, basic functions, graphs, formatting cells, and PivotTables. Bootcamps are designed for people who may have limited experience with Excel but would like to expand on their knowledge through hands-on training for learning about user interfacing, managing worksheets, entering data, and inserting rows and columns. 

Individuals can take in-person classes inside classrooms that provide face-to-face interaction with teachers and classmates. Virtual training also provides interactivity and access for students with instructors similar to what they would experience inside a classroom without the physical interaction or travel.

Several online education providers have limited enrollment for both in-person and live online courses. Noble Desktop, as an example, restricts enrollment to small groups of typically eight to 15 students with the aim of providing more personalized attention for learners. Noble Desktop also offers a free retake for any bootcamp within a year of having taken the course.

Bootcamps Compared to College

For individuals who have decided to further their education to improve career opportunities, there are several options available. This could lead to someone having to choose between attending a bootcamp or seeking a college degree to reach those goals. A traditional four-year college degree provides a credentialed education with strict requirements for completing a degree program, which can be expensive. By contrast, bootcamps provide an immersive education in a compact timeframe that is relatively inexpensive when compared to attending college.

According to Forbes Advisors, a public university education averages around $12,000 per academic year with a private university averaging about $27,000 over the same period. By comparison, according to the article, “[o]n the lower end, some bootcamps are free or cost $5,000 or less. More expensive options can cost more than $20,000.”

In comparing bootcamps to college, a bootcamp provides a compact and relatively inexpensive means of acquiring valuable skills.

Bootcamps Compared to Self-Paced Courses

Most people interested in improving skills with Microsoft Excel may usually enroll in either in-person or live online courses and bootcamps for training. However, a tight work schedule or other obligations can make fitting in time for attending any type of class difficult. Because of circumstances like these, some people decide to take on-demand courses. On-demand training offers a method for learning new skills on a variety of subjects. On-demand courses also provide an alternative that allows people who are more structured and self-motivated to train at their own pace. This is why on-demand training could help with improving skills for using Microsoft Excel.

Excel helps users get work done inside workspaces and from home by being able to share documents and files online and through the cloud. Anyone working anywhere from a corporate office to freelancing to an academic institution uses Excel for everything from performing basic or advanced computations and calculations using PivotTables and various graphing tools as well as the macro programming language Visual Basics for Applications (VBA). Microsoft 365 offers the cloud-based Office 365, which includes Excel among its applications and integrates with other software like Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneDrive on PCs, Macs, and smartphone apps through the cloud and online.

On-demand courses vary in how training gets delivered to students, giving anyone with a busy work schedule or other obligations the flexibility they need for scheduling training with Excel. While many on-demand courses are taught with video recordings of lectures using practical exercises, others use digital modules that require hands-on exercises and traditional course workbooks. Because on-demand courses differ starkly from learning inside a traditional classroom or participating on a computer with live online training, those interested should research the various options available in order to make an informed decision about which on-demand education providers to enroll with.

On-demand training allows students to learn new skills for Excel at their own pace and on their own time, which allows anyone to slow down training if a section seems too difficult or if a person needs to postpone a lesson because something has come up that interrupts. Alternatively, a student may choose to speed up the pace of training to get ahead to make time for some other activity. However, on-demand courses require strong self-motivation in order to avoid the temptation of procrastination. It’s a good idea for students to set up their own syllabus for help with keeping on pace with getting assignments turned in. In a nutshell, on-demand training provides a convenient and effective way for learning new skills with Microsoft Excel.

Bootcamps Compared to Free Training Options

While many people may be interested in learning about advanced functions for working with Microsoft Excel, work schedules or other obligations might not allow someone to enroll in a class. However, there are free options available for anyone interested in picking up skills for improving use of any Office software, including Excel. Several online education providers offer free seminars, YouTube videos, or blog posts.

Individuals who want to learn more about Excel may decide to teach themselves how to use the spreadsheet software. There are resources available, including online tutorials and videos, for learning the fundamentals of Excel. New learners may also seek out friends, professionals, or experts who have knowledge and experience from using Excel professionally who can give helpful advice to clear up confusion with complicated techniques or concepts.

For those who don’t feel ready to handle a full-time Excel training course, there are tutorials available, including the free Top 10 Beginner Excel Tricks You Need to Know from Noble Desktop that provides advice for newcomers on timesaving tips for using the spreadsheet application with everyday tasks at work or at home. This free recorded webinar helps people optimize using Excel with lessons on shortcuts for applying autofill, charts, inserting screenshots, and creating links.

Microsoft Excel provides features and tools that allows users to organize tasks for analyzing and visualizing data with Excel. These are just a few examples of the types of functions and features that have made Excel an essential tool in working environments around the world.

Learn Excel Skills with Noble Desktop

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet application that helps users organize, analyze, and visualize data. Training in Excel provides skills for analyzing data that can contribute to efficiency in any organization. Anyone interested in improving skills with Microsoft Excel can enroll at Noble Desktop for a variety of Excel classes in New York City and live online classes. Classes are available for beginners as well as experienced Excel users, who could benefit from enhancing knowledge in advanced functions of the spreadsheet software. This includes the Excel Bootcamp for learning about working with PivotTables and macros.

Key Takeaways

• Microsoft Excel is the most widely used spreadsheet software in the world and helps in organizing information, logging business expenses, and analyzing data.
• With training in Excel, individuals will learn about performing basic and advanced computations and calculations using PivotTables and various graphing tools, as well as the macro programming language VBA.
• Excel offers features and tools that help users organize tasks for analyzing and visualizing data, organizing and creating formulas for calculations, and handling basic functions.
• Bootcamp training for Excel can help improve skills with the popular spreadsheet application that contributes to workplace efficiency and productivity.
• Bootcamps provide an accelerated option that educates people with skills in any number of fields through immersive training programs that can help them learn new concepts over a shorter timeframe than a college or technical school could provide.
• Enrolling in a bootcamp provides a compact and relatively inexpensive way of acquiring valuable skills when compared to pursuing a four-year college degree.
• Bootcamp training for Excel can be taken by either attending classes in person inside a classroom or through virtual learning through teleconferencing platforms like Microsoft Teams.
• On-demand courses provide an alternative that allows people who are more structured and self-motivated to train at their own pace.
• There are also free resources available, including online tutorials and videos, for learning the fundamentals of Excel.
• Skills with Excel can open up opportunities in industries like financial services, healthcare, education, and nonprofit organizations.
• Through bootcamp training in Excel, students will learn from expert instructors who provide lessons on PivotTables, macros, calculations, and formulas for work related to data analysis.