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What the hell is Excel?
Excel is definitely a good starting point to be an analyst, in fact it's what I started out with That said I'm not sure it's enough to just know how to add stuff with your basic SUM formula. You'll want to have a solid understanding of how to do lookups (HLOOKUP, VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP or Index/Match), pivots, and logic functions like if, and, & or as well.
Eventually learning some SQL will also do you so good as it will allow you to tap into larger datasets to conduct your analysis.
And while you didn't ask, I'd like to point out that one other thing you'll want to be good at is story telling. Doing the analysis is only part of the job, you need to make sure you can explain to people why what you're saying is correct, why it matters, and what decision your analysis is supposed to help drive. I've found that's actually the toughest part of the job, more so that some of the technical skills.
For instance I've spent the last several weeks digging into a process where I work and trying to figure out why it is the way it is and how to make it better. I could probably fill 15-20 slides easily to make my case. I had to figure out how to best narrow it down to three, and which were the most important details for my audience to focus on so that those were what made it to the slide. It was not easy, I've been tweaking these slides for weeks (though I think I finally nailed what it should look like). The better you get at story telling, the more impactful any analysis you share is likely to be.
Good luck!
It's actually not something that comes natural to me. It is really a ton of practice, knowing your audience, and paying attention to the questions that are asked. I've learned that one size doesn't fit all and that often times what needs to be built is truly a reflection of the audience. Thankfully I've had some great managers & senior managers who been wonderful about giving feedback to help hone that message especially when it comes to presenting to folks I don't have a ton of contact with.
As analysts, I've learned that we tend to like to show our work, and I think it reflects in the stories we try to tell. While it's probably fine with other analysts, I'm trying to learn how to pare all that work down to the most important things when it comes to presenting out to Sr. Directors & VPs.
When it comes to story telling, I'm reminded of the idea that "good artists borrow, great artists steal". So when I see good story telling techniques, I don't hesitate to try and apply them to future stories I'm trying to tell. I have a folder with screenshots, slides, and whole decks as examples if I'm ever looking for inspiration and I've found that to be helpful.
Yeah, Excel’s good for an analyst.
Analyst is a very broad title. Some companies require analysts to know very basic Excel while other companies require analysts to know Python, Scala, Spark, and machine learning algorithms.
Depends on the work. Financial Analysis - you might need to know at least intermediate level.