How important are Excel forum's?

[Jon von der Heyden]

In your opinion - how important are Excel forum's?

Put it this way - do you believe that you could have attained your Excel knowledge from only books, perhaps a course or two, and by trial-and-error?

How about the professional Excel consultants out there? Finance / business skills aside - do you think that they could possess the requisite skills without forum interaction?

Is forum lurking enough - or do you think that forum contribution (getting your hands dirty), is imperative?

Have we had a poll like this before? I couldn't find one.

 

[Darren Bartrup]

I'd say very important.

Doubt I'd have the knowledge just by reading books - I've only bought one book on Excel and that was "VBA & Macros for Excel" written by an admin on this site.
I've only been on a couple of in-house work based training courses and they were a bit embarrassing really - yes I know how to sort and record a macro.

Forum lurking is ok to start with, but I find these days that answering questions on the forum is a good way of clearing the mind when you get stuck on your own project.

 

[Jack in the UK]

Hey Jon
lurking is critical and gets guys involved then they decide to join in, ask or answer - not many read full books and learn or study, they pick it up by struggling and working it out, forums help this

Admitted also breeds the lazy

jiuk

 

[Scott Huish]

I find it very difficult to learn from books, outside of a classroom. Over the years, I have learned more from this site than I ever had from a book.

 

[BiocideJ]

For myself personally, I would say EXTREMELY important. I would venture to say that over 75% of what I know is from the forums and the other 25% is mainly just from trying to figure things out on my own.

I would place my learning from the forums into 3 progressive categories based on how I used them.

1. My early Excel days as a lurker where I would search for my problem and usually always find the solution I was looking for. This was based on my limited knowledge and the questions I had then I would consider trivial now.

2. My slightly later Excel days as a question poster where I would search for my problem, but realize it was more complex than existing questions that I could find answers to easily. This was because I had a better understanding of the basics and the questions I had were more specific and complicated.

3. My current Excel level where I consider myself a relatively active contributor. While I still post questions from time to time, these are generally extremely specific and I find I now learn more from considering OTHER people's questions and trying to learn new and better ways to solve the problems others are facing and/or viewing alternative solutions that even more experienced Excel users post to the same question.

In summary, the main reason I believe forums are superior to almost any other potential form of learning is simply because they offer immediate access to a searchable library of real-world problems.

EDIT:
As far as lurker vs. contributor, in my opinion, it has more to do with the knowledge of the user than any intent to lurk. Actually, I can't imagine I would have offered much 'help' in my early lurker days.

 

[TinaP]

I couldn't do 75% of what I do without forums--especially this forum. The collaboration when several contributors answer is priceless.

Books got me started with Excel knowledge, but the forums educated me.

 

[SydneyGeek]

Books got me started with Excel knowledge, but the forums educated me.

Nicely put Tina. I have learnt heaps from this forum. I also read books -- usually I will buy a book if I want to answer a big question. When I find the book with the answer, I buy it. Anything else that I learn from the book is a bonus.

As for lurking or answering: You learn a lot faster when you try to contribute. It focuses the mind. And the best posts are the ones where several people are getting involved. In those cases, the OP gets their answer and everyone else gets the benefit of comparing / moulding multiple approaches.

I couldn't have done my job in the first few years without this site.

Denis

 

[My Aswer Is This]

I like the challenge of solving excel questions. Sometimes I work for days resolving a question just so I can learn more. Formulas are my downfall so I stick mostly to scripts. I stick with the short and simple questions. The more complicated ones I leave to the guys or gals who have been here for years. Thanks for providing this service.

 

[Jon von der Heyden]

All very good replies - I'm glad that my views are shared by many (so far).

I've worked in corporate finance for many years. I've always been quite concerned about the lack of Excel coverage in accounting degrees / qualifications. Do you think Excel should be covered better in accounting studies (and other numeracy based qualifications)? I notice qualified accountants often quickly climb the corporate ladder yet never achieve a good level of Excel skills. In my experience I notice that the effect is that very often management don't appreciate the importance of Excel and don't have a good expectation in terms of what to expect from their staff. As a training provider the effect can be seen when I approach companies and offer my services as a trainer. I typically hear 1 of 2 things.

1. "We already have all the Excel skills we need internally!"
or
2. "Can you teach my accountants all of the relevant skills in two days?"

Given that a typical accountant will use Excel for 60-80% of their working hours, how can Excel be so terribly under estimated?

 

[mfexcel]

I am glad that I found this forum years ago.

I've learned far much more from this forum than reading books. By reading answers and trying to solve others' problems, I have boosted my Excel skills so much in the past 2 years; and still learning every day.

More importantly, all the Excel Gurus who share their knowledge generously make this forum GREAT!

Super thanks to all contributors here!