I was wondering how Manish, my MIS guru would feel in the situation I was in for a lot of my time today... When Manish used to work on Excel, he would never EVER use the mouse.. he would remember all the shortcuts... and we could hear his keyboard keys clicking in perfect harmony for most of the day.... and I would never feel any less amazed at how and what he would do to make excel work like magic...
I owe a lot of my excel skills to him... and I see him getting a lot of accolades with his amazing data analysis skills... I learnt how powerful a tool is EXCEL...
and today... I was doing a Knowledge Transfer to someone who has spent a good 7 years in the industry... and had no clue, absolutely no clue to how excel works... even the smallest of things like selecting cells and copying and pasting information... phew... and I was to pass on my Pivot and Data generation skill on that 10MB, 15000 row excel sheet to the person... I struggled with filters, cell selection, moving around in different worksheets on the same file and what not !!! I could not believe I was in that situation...
A true test of patience it was today... and I know its not yet over... there is more to come, because I have a feeling that as soon as I leave the supervision part, the data is going to be messed up !!!
Phew... Uncle God... you listening right? This is critical... I have worked hard on that data and brought it to look like information... cannot afford to lose it...
anyway... back to Excel... and sea of cells...
Ta Tu...
I owe a lot of my excel skills to him... and I see him getting a lot of accolades with his amazing data analysis skills... I learnt how powerful a tool is EXCEL...
and today... I was doing a Knowledge Transfer to someone who has spent a good 7 years in the industry... and had no clue, absolutely no clue to how excel works... even the smallest of things like selecting cells and copying and pasting information... phew... and I was to pass on my Pivot and Data generation skill on that 10MB, 15000 row excel sheet to the person... I struggled with filters, cell selection, moving around in different worksheets on the same file and what not !!! I could not believe I was in that situation...
A true test of patience it was today... and I know its not yet over... there is more to come, because I have a feeling that as soon as I leave the supervision part, the data is going to be messed up !!!
Phew... Uncle God... you listening right? This is critical... I have worked hard on that data and brought it to look like information... cannot afford to lose it...
anyway... back to Excel... and sea of cells...
Ta Tu...
All the best with Excel..I also always wonder how people remember those shortcuts...could never master that art...excel remains one of my most favourite yet unexplored one...:-)
ReplyDelete@ThatWasIt...
ReplyDeleteOh thanks...
I am not a master, but I can manage pretty fine for most of the things...
But having someone next to you, who cannot even manage a copy paste activity... forget about the oh so complicated filters, and pivots, and formulas...
phew... zinda bacha to baat karenge !!!
Oye... a small correction...
ReplyDeleteI have worked hard on that data and BROUGHT (not bring) it to look like information... cannot afford to LOSE (not loose) it...
Sorry, but being an instructional designer, can't get myself to overlook these minute details... It runs in my blood, u see...
And all the very best with your excel sheet! I can very well understand how very difficult it is to let go of your beloved data/information in such a situation!! Like giving up your baby for adoption by a cat!! Yeh zyada ho gaya naa??? :-P
#Amandeep...
ReplyDeletethanks... angrezi thodi kamzor hai... thanks again...
I can let go of it.. should not be a problem... the backup should take care of any messups with it... but the real concern is how this would be managed once I move out of this project which is in another week's time... Gotta take up another project with the same customer, and cannot have a messed up sheet making rounds with my name as the original author !!!
kuch karta hoon... have planned for a close supervision for the next few days and a daily checkpoint... lets see...
Hmmm... Keep doing random checks and audits, and you'll have it all under control!!
ReplyDeletegood luck!! :-)
I think its figured out now..
ReplyDeletelets see what happens...
loads of luck to u :)
ReplyDeleteand i was curious: will making a backup file help?
# Mayuri...
ReplyDeleteOh I have a backup just right... thats not what i am worried about..
I am just surprised, how come people don't know the basic office stuff and it takes them ages to understand there is something called a cell, a copy and paste...
what people re...
@Amandeep - :-) I so very much relate when you say it is in your blood. Just got nostalgic...
ReplyDeleteI started my career as an ID too - some 6 years back in NIIT..okhla...Content structuring and edits and language checks being a part of me for years altogether...
Cheers...great going it is...
...and Om...the guy will learn...have patience...nobody comes with that knowledge of basic office stuf..maybe the profile he was in ...he never got the exposure..
ReplyDeleteaisa nahi bolte kisi ke liye...am not with you in this...tum tou achcha wala Om hai...double mehnat karo us ladke pe....aisa sikhao ki dubara kabhi na bhoole...
samajh gaya na tum? :D
ReplyDeleteDouble time means double time...it may also mean not getting time to blog..:D
@that was it- Hey, i was with NIIT too!! Was at Okhla D-190 for some time and then moved to Balaji estate. Left in december 2006, but i still love and miss that place terribly!! :-) NIIT KSB is the best place i ever got to work at!
ReplyDeletei second twi...
ReplyDeleteexcel in excel :)
ReplyDeletenow you can do array multiplications and stuff too :)
@ThatWasit...
ReplyDeleteOh Com'on... 7 years in the industry and you don't know how to copy and paste values from one cell to the other? Which profile do you think keeps you away from MS Office?
If it was a fresher, I would have been more patient.. but we are talking about people from operations who have reporting as a key task of their activities...
anyway... lets leave it here.. :)
Blogging finds its time... like i have said in one of my previous posts, about making time :)
@Freudian...
I don't.... when we work, we have to come with a certain level of expertise... to start with we might not have it...
but after a while, we need to have some skills which are important...
@ Tanu...
I can do stuff yes :) a part of my job needs me to take data and show information... and the next project that I am getting into is completely about data analysis and process management for that data...
lets see...
Don't worry too much..
ReplyDeleteYou always have the option to save the docs...If it goes wrong anywhere you sure can use the back-up..
And i sure know how difficult it is to teach once you get older..and worse is being taught specially when you think you know all..
Good luck..Wishing you loads of patience..
@ Kay...
ReplyDeleteI am moving out of this project in a week's time.. i am worried about what happens then... my backup taken at this time would not help...
lets see...
Teaching sure is difficult, and when you are dealing with someone who is expected to know it already.. its all the more tough...
thanks... Patience :) I sure can use a lot of it :)
XL is really excellent tool..!
ReplyDeleteAnd what was that guy with 7 years of workex doing all his life..if he cant even copy a cell??? He must be genious :)
I don't feel good when I hear people say all this about others. profiles..well very many..trust me on that...BD, Support, ID...but I did not know he had 7 years of work exp...
ReplyDeleteCome on - TEACH the damned guy, rather than anything else...
Anyway...let's not get into this Om - we might end up into another of those 'many dreaded ones'..and you know what I mean.
@ Aman - I was with LTB...in D-181...and yes for sure NIIT was a lifetime experience.
ReplyDelete@ Mon...
ReplyDeleteTry teaching when you have a deliverable the next day :) and we will talk about it..
Had mentioned it in my post that the person I was talking about someone with that many years of exp..
And are you saying BD, Support etc don't get exposed to excel?
Support "cannot" work if they don't know excel... the processes would not have any dashboards if they are not using excel..
About BD... I am not sure why someone from BD would not be exposed to excel... and i am talking about a basic skill here... not an expert on the tool...
About me talking about people... I can have my opinion right? you might or might not like it... which i am fine with...
@ Fighterjet..
No idea... I think a lot of people end up working on spreadsheets when they start jobs usually... no idea to be honest...
I guess I forget am talking to an IT consultant here. No point of further saying if you are so stern on the belief that support or BD can do without excel. No every person in support needs to report out...and well BDs, they have lot many other important things to do than get an exposure to excel. :-)
ReplyDelete..and oh yeah, about opinion...Om - yes ofcourse...completely and all...you have no choice but to be fine with it. :D (Bus yaar...jaane de na ab..)
aur ye baat 'try teaching someone when you have a deliverable the next day'...lolz...bahut pasand aa gaya mujhko...I understand your bada wala band bajna...
Tum bond hai Om, tum kuch bhi kar sakta hai..so be good and have a great day today.
Ha!
ReplyDeleteI am kinda scared of Excel,, donno why :D
Besties to you!
excel is BAAPU! it's fantastic and the MACRO stuff on it is cool yaa..i wanna learn all of tat someday.
ReplyDelete@ Mon... i guess... let it be... i don't know what support guys you have met... I started my career with Support and worked my way to where I am and also worked very closely with my BD teams for about an year in various roles...
ReplyDeleteand when I wrote this post, I was talking about the basic skills nothing more... i wish luck to people in the IT industry who don't have those skills, because some day or the other they might need them...
so Over and OUT with these comments...
@ Reeta...
its scary because there is so much you can do with it... one of the most powerful tools that I know of... depends on how you can use it...
copy paste nahi aata? toh phir college kaise pass kiya?
ReplyDeleteHEHEH
@ Elusive...
ReplyDeleteyou bet... its a nice tool... all the best...
Over and Out is it...Happy shifting!!!
ReplyDeletegood morning prashant ... just passing by have a good weekend and regards there in london
ReplyDelete@ PTV...
ReplyDeletethank the you :) Hope you've been having a good weekend so far too :)