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#1
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User Proficiency
I am doing a project for school on the average Microsoft Excel user's
knowledge in Excel. If you have could please post what you think the average persons knowledge of excel is from zero to 100, 100 being an expert, I would be incredibly happy. Also, if you have an links with statistics on this subject please let me know as well. |
#2
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User Proficiency
The average user's knowledge of Excel would be about average. -- Jim Cone San Francisco, USA http://www.realezsites.com/bus/primitivesoftware (Excel Add-ins / Excel Programming) "Oshtruck user" wrote in message I am doing a project for school on the average Microsoft Excel user's knowledge in Excel. If you have could please post what you think the average persons knowledge of excel is from zero to 100, 100 being an expert, I would be incredibly happy. Also, if you have an links with statistics on this subject please let me know as well. |
#3
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User Proficiency
Hmmm,
Potentially a very interesting question. I only have a couple of mundane musings to kick things off ... 1. With reference to Jim Cone's reply: if the scale of 0 to 100 is linear then the average Excel user's knowledge will be below 50, I suspect quite substantially. 2. At work we were asked to self-rate ourselves in a variety of programs, and there were a large number of individuals who believed themselves to be Advanced or Expert, the vast majority of whom do not even have a rudimentary knowledge of macros. I suspect some people write a couple of formulas that are marginally more complex than "=A1+B1" and somehow believe they are well down the road to mastery of Excel. This self-rating may not be entirely unreasonable if they do not have any conception of what is possible with Excel. (This was somewhat frustrating as these were supposed to be the "go-to" people in times of need, but since a lot of people come to me with their Excel questions and I then come running here for help ...) However ... 3. I play bridge of Bridge Base Online (BBO). There are 6 levels of self-rating, the second highest of which is "Expert". There are a remarkable number of individuals online who consider themselves "Expert". I am lucky enough to personally know a few bridge experts (and play face to face bridge with them), and feel qualified to judge that many of the online Experts barely qualify as "Intermediate", let alone "Advanced" or "Expert". With some of them it may be that they are the "Expert" at the local club, but their horizons are limited and they genuinely have no idea what a real expert "looks" like. But others are clearly delusional and have no self-knowledge as to their own inadequacies. (BTW: I rate myself as "Advanced" on BBO and now cringe when I remember that I self-rated myself as "Advanced" 3 years ago when I was clearly still an improving "Intermediate". This is largely tangential to the original question but I hope there will be some further interesting discussion on (and around) the original question. Cheers, Matt "Oshtruck user" wrote: I am doing a project for school on the average Microsoft Excel user's knowledge in Excel. If you have could please post what you think the average persons knowledge of excel is from zero to 100, 100 being an expert, I would be incredibly happy. Also, if you have an links with statistics on this subject please let me know as well. |
#4
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User Proficiency
Thanks for the Great Comment veryeavy!!
"veryeavy" wrote: Hmmm, Potentially a very interesting question. I only have a couple of mundane musings to kick things off ... 1. With reference to Jim Cone's reply: if the scale of 0 to 100 is linear then the average Excel user's knowledge will be below 50, I suspect quite substantially. 2. At work we were asked to self-rate ourselves in a variety of programs, and there were a large number of individuals who believed themselves to be Advanced or Expert, the vast majority of whom do not even have a rudimentary knowledge of macros. I suspect some people write a couple of formulas that are marginally more complex than "=A1+B1" and somehow believe they are well down the road to mastery of Excel. This self-rating may not be entirely unreasonable if they do not have any conception of what is possible with Excel. (This was somewhat frustrating as these were supposed to be the "go-to" people in times of need, but since a lot of people come to me with their Excel questions and I then come running here for help ...) However ... 3. I play bridge of Bridge Base Online (BBO). There are 6 levels of self-rating, the second highest of which is "Expert". There are a remarkable number of individuals online who consider themselves "Expert". I am lucky enough to personally know a few bridge experts (and play face to face bridge with them), and feel qualified to judge that many of the online Experts barely qualify as "Intermediate", let alone "Advanced" or "Expert". With some of them it may be that they are the "Expert" at the local club, but their horizons are limited and they genuinely have no idea what a real expert "looks" like. But others are clearly delusional and have no self-knowledge as to their own inadequacies. (BTW: I rate myself as "Advanced" on BBO and now cringe when I remember that I self-rated myself as "Advanced" 3 years ago when I was clearly still an improving "Intermediate". This is largely tangential to the original question but I hope there will be some further interesting discussion on (and around) the original question. Cheers, Matt "Oshtruck user" wrote: I am doing a project for school on the average Microsoft Excel user's knowledge in Excel. If you have could please post what you think the average persons knowledge of excel is from zero to 100, 100 being an expert, I would be incredibly happy. Also, if you have an links with statistics on this subject please let me know as well. |
#5
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User Proficiency
You'd need to clarify who you consider a "user" and what parts of Excel
they'd need to know. I don't know of anybody who knows everything about Excel. But, If you mean people who have used Excel regularly as part of their accounting/finance job for a year or more, I have quite a bit of experience working with those people. My typical ratings would fall into these categories: BEGINNER 0 -10 : Knows basic Windows navigation, uses the formula wizard, adds 2 cells using =SUM(A1,B1) 11-20 : Can change fonts, shading, and borders. Uses basic functions competently (SUM, AVERAGE, MAX, etc) 21-30 : Uses AutoFilter and VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, IF INTERMEDIATE 31-40 : Uses Data Grouping/Outlining, and Pivot Tables, SUBTOTAL, and uses Data Validation 41-50 : Uses Advanced Filter, SEARCH, FIND, SUMPRODUCT, combines INDEX and MATCH, and uses Conditional Formatting 51-60 : Records basic macros for simple tasks. ADVANCED 61-70 : Edits recorded macros to improve efficiency of simple tasks 71-80 : Builds functional, but inelegant, vba driven models. 81-90 : Builds complex, but still somewhat inelegant, models. 91-100: Builds fully featured, secured, well structured and documented models. Using the above, I would categorize the Excel users I deal with this way: 5% are Beginner (11-20) 45% are Beginner (21-30) 40% are Intermediate (31-40) 5% are Intermediate (41-50) 5% are Intermediate (51-60) Some dabble in the Advanced (61-70) area, but not in any ways that I'd recommend using. Those are my non-scientific observations. I hope that helps. -------------------------- Regards, Ron (XL2003, Win XP) Microsoft MVP (Excel) "Oshtruck user" wrote in message ... I am doing a project for school on the average Microsoft Excel user's knowledge in Excel. If you have could please post what you think the average persons knowledge of excel is from zero to 100, 100 being an expert, I would be incredibly happy. Also, if you have an links with statistics on this subject please let me know as well. |
#6
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User Proficiency
One company I knew had an Excel timesheet for the contractors.
Contractors had to enter their hours in the following custom "template" that was submitted to HR. A B C D E F ---------------------------- M h h . m m T h h . m m W h h . m m T h h . m m F h h . m m Then you use a calculator to add up the hours at the end of the week. -- Tim Zych SF, CA "veryeavy" wrote in message ... Hmmm, Potentially a very interesting question. I only have a couple of mundane musings to kick things off ... 1. With reference to Jim Cone's reply: if the scale of 0 to 100 is linear then the average Excel user's knowledge will be below 50, I suspect quite substantially. 2. At work we were asked to self-rate ourselves in a variety of programs, and there were a large number of individuals who believed themselves to be Advanced or Expert, the vast majority of whom do not even have a rudimentary knowledge of macros. I suspect some people write a couple of formulas that are marginally more complex than "=A1+B1" and somehow believe they are well down the road to mastery of Excel. This self-rating may not be entirely unreasonable if they do not have any conception of what is possible with Excel. (This was somewhat frustrating as these were supposed to be the "go-to" people in times of need, but since a lot of people come to me with their Excel questions and I then come running here for help ...) However ... 3. I play bridge of Bridge Base Online (BBO). There are 6 levels of self-rating, the second highest of which is "Expert". There are a remarkable number of individuals online who consider themselves "Expert". I am lucky enough to personally know a few bridge experts (and play face to face bridge with them), and feel qualified to judge that many of the online Experts barely qualify as "Intermediate", let alone "Advanced" or "Expert". With some of them it may be that they are the "Expert" at the local club, but their horizons are limited and they genuinely have no idea what a real expert "looks" like. But others are clearly delusional and have no self-knowledge as to their own inadequacies. (BTW: I rate myself as "Advanced" on BBO and now cringe when I remember that I self-rated myself as "Advanced" 3 years ago when I was clearly still an improving "Intermediate". This is largely tangential to the original question but I hope there will be some further interesting discussion on (and around) the original question. Cheers, Matt "Oshtruck user" wrote: I am doing a project for school on the average Microsoft Excel user's knowledge in Excel. If you have could please post what you think the average persons knowledge of excel is from zero to 100, 100 being an expert, I would be incredibly happy. Also, if you have an links with statistics on this subject please let me know as well. |
#7
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User Proficiency
I think you need to isolate exactly what you mean by "knowledge in
Excel", too. I can think of two scenarios where you'll run into rating difficulty. One, Ron C's response - macros come after complex worksheet functions. What if the user is an expert C++ developer, with some knowledge of Visual Basic? Of course you can have the kinda scenarios with that stereotype. This user will avoid anything overly complicated with the interface, worksheet function, etc. and stick to familiar programming techniques to build the features from scratch, however elegantly. This is knowledge of application development, not an Excel skill per se. Two, Tim's response. The users in the scenario do not grasp the concept of a computerized spreadsheet, period. To them it's like a word processor or a form designer. They're like the people who didn't see any sense in having xerox machines because they already had carbon paper. Things that any spreadsheet can do - starting with VisiCalc - may very well be outside of their frame of reference. Excel shares many fundamental spreadsheet capabilities with other software, and knowledge of it is somewhat different from knowledge of the specific unique features and quirks that Excel has to offer. Which brings me to my last point. There are so many aspects to Excel specifically, that it seems almost impossible to rate. At my work, no one comes close to me using any Office application, particularly Excel. However, on a regular basis, I see a neophyte user doing something that I just never thought possible. I remember how, years ago, these were ways I discovered everything from Freeze Panes and Autofilter to PivotTables. These users may not be able to make the most out of these features as an expert might, but they have discovered them whereas some advanced users have not. Does this constitute knowledge and bump you points? Sorry if I'm getting too philosophical on you. I think average is about 42. On Nov 13, 5:57 pm, Oshtruck user wrote: I am doing a project for school on the average Microsoft Excel user's knowledge in Excel. If you have could please post what you think the average persons knowledge of excel is from zero to 100, 100 being an expert, I would be incredibly happy. Also, if you have an links with statistics on this subject please let me know as well. |
#8
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User Proficiency
Well, of course it depends how you choose to distribute the numbers between
0 and 100, but given an appropriate choice of numbers, the average will be 50. What your project will hopefully find out is that, just as most Excel questions on this group, the problem is not finding the answer, but finding the detail of the question. -- David Biddulph "Oshtruck user" wrote in message ... I am doing a project for school on the average Microsoft Excel user's knowledge in Excel. If you have could please post what you think the average persons knowledge of excel is from zero to 100, 100 being an expert, I would be incredibly happy. Also, if you have an links with statistics on this subject please let me know as well. |
#9
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User Proficiency
just as most Excel questions on this group, the problem is not finding the
answer, but finding the detail of the question. Ain't that the truth! Sometimes, trying to interpret the question is an exercise in futility! -- Biff Microsoft Excel MVP "David Biddulph" <groups [at] biddulph.org.uk wrote in message ... Well, of course it depends how you choose to distribute the numbers between 0 and 100, but given an appropriate choice of numbers, the average will be 50. What your project will hopefully find out is that, just as most Excel questions on this group, the problem is not finding the answer, but finding the detail of the question. -- David Biddulph "Oshtruck user" wrote in message ... I am doing a project for school on the average Microsoft Excel user's knowledge in Excel. If you have could please post what you think the average persons knowledge of excel is from zero to 100, 100 being an expert, I would be incredibly happy. Also, if you have an links with statistics on this subject please let me know as well. |
#10
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User Proficiency
Thanks for all the information. I Learned a lot from what all of you posted;
I hope some of you may have learned something as well. "T. Valko" wrote: just as most Excel questions on this group, the problem is not finding the answer, but finding the detail of the question. Ain't that the truth! Sometimes, trying to interpret the question is an exercise in futility! -- Biff Microsoft Excel MVP "David Biddulph" <groups [at] biddulph.org.uk wrote in message ... Well, of course it depends how you choose to distribute the numbers between 0 and 100, but given an appropriate choice of numbers, the average will be 50. What your project will hopefully find out is that, just as most Excel questions on this group, the problem is not finding the answer, but finding the detail of the question. -- David Biddulph "Oshtruck user" wrote in message ... I am doing a project for school on the average Microsoft Excel user's knowledge in Excel. If you have could please post what you think the average persons knowledge of excel is from zero to 100, 100 being an expert, I would be incredibly happy. Also, if you have an links with statistics on this subject please let me know as well. |
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