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Everyone: Excel is a smart app
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Would anyone be willing to teach me vlookup?
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Python … but I would urge that you’ll need intermediate skills in excel too … focus on python … excel is easy to learn and master
I’d say for a data Engineer python definitely. But analyst probably excel. But it would definitely be valuable to learn both
So in my current role, there are only a handful of reasons I really use Excel. 1) To validate or troubleshoot any data I pull from BigQuery before building out something in Tableau. 2) I'm tearing apart something that has been built by someone as I work to automate and make it more dynamic. 3) I need to produce a quick and dirty analysis that is meant to be a one off and not repeated. I'd argue that all of these things are something that can be done with even the most rudimentary Excel skills.
I'm learning that most teams in my organization are looking for people who have a familiarity with Python (if not more advanced skills), even if they don't use it a ton. Given my experiences as I was trying to get this role, if I had it to do all over, I'd have spent my time learning Python (even though my prior role was a finance role and demanded advanced Excel skills), as that was the hangup in nearly every interview I came in as a second choice. I've spent the time bolstering that skill in preparation of moving on to another role.
Ideally, you'd be experienced with both. But if you had to pick one, I'd say Python. As valuable as Excel is, for a data analyst you'd likely need to be working with large datasets. And for that you'd really need proficiency with Python.
Well both could be the same answer. It is possible to bring in some uses of Python into Excel. I would think in this day and age basics say you need Excel, and if you want to stand out learn Python or how to use a natural language to code AI to help you with your Python building.