Thoughts on learning VBA? Is it useful in consulting? Many people argue Python is better to learn overall?

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I'd avoid Python. It's a PITA when someone is trying to use it on a project because they can't hand anything off (and as a result most projects won't want you to use it)

I'd focus on getting good at the tools Accenture is pushing for internally (e.g. Tableau / Alteryx / PowerBI)

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BCG I respectfully disagree that everyone should learn python. My thought is that the amount of time it takes to learn vs the time where knowing it will be applicable will be a losing battle for most consultants. Why do you think it's important? Interested to learn about when you use it

Being able to read and modify VBA code you find online is probably the maximum usefulness v. time spent learning

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Fully agreed. Almost everything you need is out there and you just need to make some modifications

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VBA should be the last resort. I consider myself a VBA expert but I would not recommend people learn it for the following reasons: 1) It usually doesn’t pay as well as python. 2) It’s a dying skill, most people are learning Alteryx or power query instead. 3) Yes, it will teach your programming concepts, but will teach you how to work with data in an inefficient manner. 4) (Probably the most important). The language is broken. You can make perfect code that will throw errors or be unreliable. This will consume a lot of time to debug. The most dangerous part is sometimes it will run correctly, and then once in awhile it’ll experience bugs. So you risk creating an incorrect final product. My recommendation is to learn Alteryx. You’ll most likely have coworkers that know it as well that can help you out, it has a growing market so it’s a more marketable skill, and while it won’t teach you programming concepts, it’ll teach you better ways to work with data.

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Alteryx also has free certifications (Designer Core / Designer Advanced) - a good way to check your knowledge & get a resume-type credential

EY1, your response presupposes the use. What if the aim is automation and not managing large datasets? I would also consider myself a VBA expert and have never used it to handle large datasets. Two give just two examples, things like automating reporting (high frequency of occurrence, rules based, not large datasets underlying) and things like adding user friendliness to workbooks via buttons and forms.
Your response also presumes that the data is the output but in many cases, the tool itself is the output and clients often don't have or know alteryx and you can't always insist on an outcome that requires them to start paying for licenses and learning new tools.
So the start of answer as with all questions like this is what's the use?
It's a short learning curve for VBA, it's free to access, it's housed within MS Office files and doesn't need additional tools and with the exception of some.times struggling to handle very very large datasets, does everything most people would need - a lot of positives there.

Side point, in all my years, I've never had unpredictable results from well-structured, fully debugged VBA - perhaps you need to tighten up and that would change your view 🤸

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Should just use Adobe Actionscript 2.0, it will last forever. It works for everything. Flash helicopter game or flappy bird. I'm pretty sure thats what SpaceX uses for their reaction control and NAV software, and what Apple uses to gouge developers on the app store.

Definitely a dinosaur like skill to learn at this point in time. Major use only comes from an environment behind in times possibly not government based. I’ve not used my skills in it for over 5 working years. And I’ve worked on 3 government civilian based contracts since then. In short it comes in handy if you don’t have certain tools to use. Very easy to pick up on. But best lessons com from making your own code from scratch. Pre written code do not fit all environments.

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It's useful but I wouldn't dedicate any time to learning about it formally.

Just practise stealing and adaptive said from GitHub when needed.

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I learned VBA first then picked up python for project work. Learning python made me better at VBA. I don’t use VBA a lot, but sometimes a tool is needed, a report needs automating, or it makes sense as PoC before extensive dev. Though it’s outdated it’s helped make my career by impressing the right people at the right times

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BCG1 - given that we are in consulting. The main use would be to 1) perform complex data analysis really quickly 2) automate/create tools for my practice... which involves collecting and analyzing data from different sharepoints or surveys. Any thoughts based on those use cases?

Currently know power query, powerpivot, and excel pretty well.

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