Hi everyone!
I'm currently a senior business analyst at a large company, having spent a few years in audit and a solid decade as a BA. I work extensively with Excel and pride myself on my strong skills, particularly in VBA and a variety of functions. However, my team is finally embracing big data, and I've realized that Excel has its limitations when it comes to handling larger datasets.
While I have some knowledge of SQL and Python, I don't feel nearly as proficient as I do with Excel. For the majority of my projects, Excel still works fine, but I'm wondering if it's time to fully shift my focus to Python—especially since I've been struggling to improve my Python skills.
I'd love to hear from others who have made the switch or are in a similar situation. Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!
6 Answers
As someone who went from using Excel daily to working with Python, my biggest tip is to start learning pandas—it’ll be a game changer for you! Pick one project you want to move from Excel to Python instead of trying to switch everything at once. Lay out your requirements clearly because while Excel is great for prototyping, Python might be tougher for beginners. Make sure to understand your data inputs and outputs, and take it step-by-step. Logging is so important too; it helps you keep track of your data’s state. Just remember, don’t rush it and definitely get familiar with the online communities for help!
Absolutely! Once you get the hang of things, you might find yourself preferring Python even for tasks you’d typically do in Excel!
While it's great to use both, don’t jump ship completely to Python just yet. Excel is fine for many tasks. I personally find that if the complexity increases,” I'll switch to Python for heavy lifting, but for everyday tasks, Excel serves me well.
You might also want to experiment with using Python inside Excel itself! There are tools that let you manipulate data directly within Excel, so you don't have to abandon what you’re used to completely.
I'm not looking to use Python inside Excel; I want to process data with Python and then export to Excel for sharing.
It really depends on what you're doing with Excel. If it’s just basic stuff, SQL could handle it. If you're more into modeling and analysis, then Python is the way to go.
Learning Python isn’t as daunting as it may seem! Just set aside a couple of months to get comfortable with it. You’ll be adding a super useful skill to your toolkit—think of it as enhancing your capabilities beyond Excel!
Excel is definitely faster for quick tasks, so don’t hesitate to use it when needed. But if you want to develop your skills, start small with converting spreadsheets to Python. Notebooks and pandas are your best friends! That said, for really massive datasets, sticking to SQL might be your best bet. It depends on what you're doing, but mixing both tools can be very effective too.
I rely heavily on SQL as well! Definitely find the right tool for your specific dataset.
And don’t overlook tools like duckdb; they can help a lot with analytics!
I second starting with pandas! It really simplifies data manipulation. Jupyter Notebooks are also fantastic for seeing your progress in real time. Importing Excel files into pandas is super easy and can give you a quick sense of how powerful Python is.