Hi guysm I’ve been going through training at a large BB in New York for investment banking, and we are nearing an end of our program. I realized this week that I suck at using excel, and I am going to be totally screwed when we start working for real because nearly everyone else in our class is fairly proficient in excel. I know that the best way to learn is probably to pick it up as I go, but I don’t want my first impression with my group to be that I’m the “slow guy”. What can I do now to learn/practice the basics of excel so that I’m less behind everyone else? Arethere any recommended guides/tutorials, either online or that I can buy? Thanks, Luke
Start playing around with the thing…their help section is okay…not too good. Google in the functions that you don’t understand. That’s how I learned stuff. Those Addl. Tool Packs are very important. I would suggest that you get those add ins installed and just spend some time with it.
What excel training did you use?
I’m interested in an answer to his question as well…I did the deal maven financial modeling and LBO cert on my own time and own money… I’m curious, what did your training entail? Was it like kkent’s?
Our excel training? It was basically half a day of not-very-useful lectures. Most of the class interned somewhere so they learned it last year, but I’ve never used the program…
What??? so you did 9 weeks of training without excel… Some BB’s use this thing called “Training the street” and some use “deal maven”. And there are two others. Deal maven’s online excel tutoring is pretty good (in a very very basic sense of the word) IMHO…and there is no cd needed. Doing the first part is around 40-50 hours.
Yeah, we didn’t use either of those. Our training was more stuff like accounting, finance, bond math, series 7/63, etc. We did a week on risk management and a couple of days with computer stuff, but only 1-2 mornings were excel. I think most other banks have shorter training periods than us, so if they’re doing one of those programs you mentioned I wonder what we’re getting that they aren’t.
sounds like quite a broad training. I wasn’t aware that analysts in M&A (is that where you’re at? pr is it ECM DCM) need to take the 7/63…thought it was only the banking associates that did. I am pretty surprised to hear that a lot of banking training is over general business basics…isn’t your job hardcore asset valuation, due diligence, modeling, etc. (and pitchbook) A friend I have at Lehman doing banking had to read and was tested on the whole Mckinsey valuation bible… What sort of computer stuff did you do?
How does dealmaven compare to Wall Street Prep?
IB analysts don’t need series 63 – only 7. luke77, your speed with excel will come from repetition…which you will get a ton of when you start working. btw, if you’re at the firm/group that i think you’re at, you won’t be doing that much analysis so building transaction models from scratch, which is the most time consuming element of your job, is something you won’t have to worry about as much as the folks in the industry groups.
If they only gave you guys 1/2 day training in Excel then I’m going to have to agree with numi that I can’t imagine it being a huge part of your job (that is, advanced modeling). Now don’t get me wrong, I still suck compared to my peers, but we did Excel for 9 weeks–and were trained in finance on the side. That’s what we did in our analyst training (which is why I found the job to be repugnant): Excel, Excel, Excel, finance, Excel, finance, Excel, Excel, Excel, Excel, finance. For the new analysts with intelligence (*sigh* maybe in my next life), they walked away Excel geniuses, which suggests to me that your job is more finance-heavy (which is what I would have liked). Oh yeah, I agree. You really only learn Excel through time and repetition. Life might suck for a month or 2, but after 60-100 hours per week of doing it for 4 weeks, you’ll be fine.
where did you go to school luke?
numi Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > IB analysts don’t need series 63 – only 7. > > luke77, your speed with excel will come from > repetition…which you will get a ton of when you > start working. btw, if you’re at the firm/group > that i think you’re at, you won’t be doing that > much analysis so building transaction models from > scratch, which is the most time consuming element > of your job, is something you won’t have to worry > about as much as the folks in the industry groups. Wow you can already tell what firm/group he is in from those few posts? That’s impressive.
Numi, I don’t think I’m at the firm/group you think I’m in - almost all the analysts in our group use excel heavily. I’m not sure why they didn’t give us much excel training - maybe they figure, like kkent said, that the best way to learn is on the job because we’ll be doing it every waking moment? Our training was pretty wide - they told us at the outset that they wanted to give s a broad background, and that they pride themselves on having the best training on the street - although I guess all banks probably say that. The training has been very impressive, though… nolabird I’d rather not say where I went to school on a public message board; I’ve already posted probably too much identifying information… BTW, for anyone who has taken the 7 and 63, which one is harder? We took the 7 this week and I was nervous about passing so I studied alot and ended up with an 88, I was wondering how much I need to prepare for the 63?
i thought you had to be a wizard in excel before you even get hired? what’s the deal man?
i was just curious what school you went to that you “never used the program.” maybe because i went to a business school, but even our non-technical and non-quantitative majors (marketing, management majors) were required to take a CIS class which included learning excel… i assumed everyone knew it at the basic level. (everyone straight out of school i mean)
luke - The series 7 is a broad-based test running the gamut of financial information and regulations. The 63 is much simpler, shorter and doesn’t cover nearly the expanse of information that is found on the 7. I did the 66 (combined 63 and 65), and found it to be very straightforward. Same with the 86 and 87 - fairly basic stuff. If you studied well for the 7, you really could just go take the other ones with minimal prep time, IMO.
luke77 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > BTW, for anyone who has taken the 7 and 63, which > one is harder? We took the 7 this week and I was > nervous about passing so I studied alot and ended > up with an 88, I was wondering how much I need to > prepare for the 63? Studying time for the 63 is ~10-15 hours. Material is really, dry. Much easier than 7. Use the force Luke and you’ll be fine.
Well, I was a science major…we didn’t really use excel, and my second major was in the liberal arts, so most of my classes either used alternate programs (unrelated to excel) or no computers at all aside from MS Word.
I was an English major, and never used excel in college. Not once. I picked it all up by myself on the job, and the finer points I picked up from other associates when I hit a snag.