MS Excel demand

[azizrasul]

I have a friend of mine who tells me that when he was working in the US a few years ago there was not too much demand for MS Excel and MS Access. Where there was some demand, the salary levels weren't too high.

Can anyone in the US confirm this?

 

[SydneyGeek]

Depends what you do, and where you work.

I was kept pretty busy for 14 years in Australia, and the only time I struggled to find work was after the GFC (basically, last year). Then it picked up again and it was back to normal.

Denis

 

[DC8421]

I work in finance and pretty much all jobs require an understanding of ms excel, if not some understanding of ms access as well. For operations-related jobs most require a working knowledge of ms access. If you are talking strictly programming jobs, that's a different issue altogether. From what I understand the more languages you know and the deeper the knowledge of those languages the better.

Does that answer your question? I apologize if it was too general.

 

[Joe4]

I have a friend of mine who tells me that when he was working in the US a few years ago there was not too much demand for MS Excel and MS Access. Where there was some demand, the salary levels weren't too high.

Can anyone in the US confirm this?

In general, I would say that is a false statement. But as Denis said, how much demand there is is largely dependent upon location.

Excel and Access are widely used, though the number of people who specialize in this, and only this, may be limited. I work as a Programmer and use these products a lot, but also have to use other Programming Languages such as SQL and need to be versed in various Reporting Programs like Crystal Reports.

That being said, I know that there are Consultants who specialize in just doing Excel and Access work. If you are doing that, advanced knowledge of VBA is probably a must.

 

[Smitty]

That being said, I know that there are Consultants who specialize in just doing Excel and Access work. If you are doing that, advanced knowledge of VBA is probably a must.

That's what I've been doing for about the past 1 1/2 years. Joe's right in that VBA is a must, as well as SQL if you'll be working with Access. As for the money, I made a lot less doing very similar work with Excel and Access for a big company than I do as a consultant. There is plenty of Excel & Access demand here.

 

[azizrasul]

Any particular part of the USA where this demand is there or is it pretty much everywhere?

I've been to California a few times and it's just great. It would be nice to work there for a few months each year and experience living in a different environment. I also found the people were very friendly.

 

[Joe4]

The US is a big country with lots of cities. For your best odds, I would look at where at the larger cities are, especially financial centers like New York, Boston, Chicago, etc.

 

[azizrasul]

Does the healthcare industry use these products as I have spent quite a lot of time in healthcare where I have used Access and Excel especially using automation techniques?

 

[Joe4]

Does the healthcare industry use these products as I have spent quite a lot of time in healthcare where I have used Access and Excel especially using automation techniques?

Some companies do, some don't. You are asking very general questions, so the answers are going to be pretty generic too.

It all depends on the individual organization. However Excel and Access are used extensively in many types of business here in the US, as they are throughout the world.

 

[Smitty]

Excel and Access are used extensively in healthcare management, so I don't think you need to worry much about that. As for areas of growth, Texas has been adding people in business roles probably more than any other state. I know several people who have relocated there because of the opportunities.