Advanced Excel Courses

Advanced Excel skills are a high level of proficiency with the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software program. Whereas basic users of Excel can use it to create spreadsheets, perform mathematical operations, and make simple tables and charts, advanced users can manage and analyze complex datasets, derive meaningful insights from them, and create persuasive data visualizations for presentations.

These advanced Excel skills are increasingly important in the age of “big data.” As organizations of all types seek to harness data-driven insights to improve performance, the ability to adeptly sort, filter, and analyze large datasets has become a major asset. Advanced Excel users are also experts at using lesser-known capabilities of this program like lookup tables, pivot tables, and pivot charts, along with data validation and debugging features to ensure accuracy.‎

Microsoft Excel has long been one of the most widely used pieces of software at businesses and other types of organizations worldwide, and the “big data” revolution has greatly expanded its usefulness. Thus, advanced Excel skills can benefit careers ranging from retail store managers to marketing analysts to sports reporters. In fact, the Digital Marketing Institute ranks expert data analysis as the number one future-proof skill in the workforce due to its ability to give insight into both business operations and the customer.

For some careers, advanced Excel skills may be even more central to your work. Accountants at large companies may need to manage massive spreadsheets spanning multiple business areas and tax jurisdictions to provide accurate data analysis for decision-makers, investors, and other stakeholders. Business analysts use Excel to build complex financial models to guide company valuations, portfolio allocations, and other important investment decisions. And, while data scientists generally rely on more specialized software, it can be important to learn to use Excel for data analysis for certain cases and/or organizations.‎

Yes, Coursera offers a wide range of online courses and Specializations on topics related to Advanced Excel including data analysis, data visualization, business analytics, and more. These courses are offered through top-ranked institutions from around the world including Macquarie University, University of Colorado Boulder, and Duke University, as well as leading companies like PwC, so you don’t have to sacrifice the quality of your education to learn online.

Best of all, taking classes remotely lets you learn on a flexible schedule that can fit into your existing work or family life. And, although online courses and Specializations through Coursera offer the same materials and credits as on-campus alternatives, they are available at a significantly lower tuition cost.‎

Before learning advanced Excel, you should have a solid background in basic and intermediate-level Excel. The basic skill level gives you enough ability within the program to present data and perform number computation. Some of the basic skills you should already have include managing worksheets, formatting individual cells, and performing calculations with functions like sum, count, and Vlookup. You should've already mastered intermediate-level skills, which prepare you for using more complex functions in formulas. The intermediate-level skills also prepare you for understanding better how the different functions within the program behave when you employ them and creating pivot tables and trendline charts.‎

People best suited for working in roles using advanced Excel are interested in working with numbers and harnessing the power of data. Because advanced Excel skills are key for a variety of professional roles—including administrative assistants, finance professionals, business analysts, sales professionals, digital marketers, and more—there’s no set of characteristics other than wanting to work with numbers and data that define people who can thrive working with advanced Excel.‎

If you want to dive deeper into your Excel skills and hone your ability to evaluate, visualize, and manipulate data, learning advanced Excel might be the right choice for you. After learning this, you’ll be able to create data sets that are easy to read, develop equations that provide additional data on key functions like inventory levels and financial projection, balance complex accounts, and create tracking systems and workflow processes. Learning advanced Excel may open more career opportunities or allow you to advance to a higher-level position within your organization because you'll be able to have improved efficiency when handling large volumes of data, boosted productivity with streamlined calculations, and easier data organization.‎