Advise on Employment Excel VBA

[fredlo2008]

Hello everyone,

I have been reading several VBA books in the past years and I have learned quite a few things. I am also going to school seeking my major in Computer Science application development. A few days ago out of nowhere was reading a job alert from my email and next thing I know I am looking at: "Excel VBA Programmer", so I applied. I have been looking for a better job for a while and this is something that would obviously put me on the right tracks (I am an admin now and its super boring, its fair to mention that its boring because 90% of my job is VBA automated now, seriously lol lots of time to kill)

I have been talking to the recruiter and reading the job description and it seems to me that I am capable of doing it. But at the same time I am terrified; its my first programming job; what if I cannot do it? Here is a lists of my fears:

1. What if I cannot do an assignment? Sometimes solutions are easier than others.
2. What if I am taking to long?
3. Is it ok not to know all the constants in VBA? Sometimes its hard too know all that stuff, sometimes I have to use Google or go back to books to find them.
4. Is recording a macro to perform complicated tasks like pivot tables, setting print layouts, or to know a specific method considered cheating?

Thanks a lot for the help

 

[FDibbins]

The comments below relate to not just VBA, but to life in general...

1. What if you CAN do an assignment? Some solutions are more challenging than others!
2. Who defines "too long"? Speed comes with practice, but speed also brings with it, greater risk of errors or overlooking something
3. Nobody can know everything about a given field/topic/profession. Things constantly evolve and improve, for me, the consideration is - how good are you at using what you DO know, and how good are you at finding out how to do what you DONT know?
4. VBA recording is there for a reason - to help you create macro's. It cannot and will not let you create more complex code, some things just have to be done by hand. But is it just another tool in your tool box, and anyone who does not use an applicable tool when it is available, is a bit short-sighted

 

[fredlo2008]

Thanks a lot for the reply FDibbins; it really helps.

 

[xenou]

Just a note: you really have to know Excel well if you want to program it well. This sounds like it might be good experience but if you are interested in programming as a career you will probably have more lucrative opportunities programming in other major languages (such as web development languages, C#, Java). I'd be wary unless you have a specific interest in Office Development - "VBA programmer" as such is not a common job -- you have to have a lot of entrepreneurial energy to make that kind of career work (which I lack entirely).