Sometimes You Just Can't Win
So it was 3:30am, I had to be at the airport by 6:30am and my model was #Reffing out as usual. My associate starts jumping up and down like a lunatic behind me because we haven't even started printing the 35 pitch books...even though he was the one that messed up the model in the first place by asking me to change the debt assumptions. Are you kidding me!?, you think my model is that flexible? Less than a year ago, I thought all you could use Excel for was for data entry. either way, we ended up getting the books done with some creative modeling (read: paste values) but I know those last few hours of hell for my associate will hit my bonus. sometimes you just can't win.
sounds like a typical potential experience
Are you sure that actually took place. 3 hrs to the airport and a ref# model with no pitch book? How did you get it printed and let the huge black hole slip past the MD and client?
Pls share as its a real potential experience.
How long did it take you to start to feel smart about Excel?
For the lack of better words, that sucks hard.
ouch
I didn't know a thing about Excel when I started working (not in banking). My former manager had worked for a company that didn't let them use the mouse - they had to do everything in Excel with the keyboard. As a result she was an Excel ninja. She could manipulate data in Excel faster than most people could think of what to do. After two years working with her I was finally at her level. But I'd say it only took a year to get pretty good.
does this happen quite often ?
After 6 months you generally see a huge improvement. The rest comes more slowly, but you're essentially getting better all the time over the course of those two years.
i love that phrase.. excel ninja, haha
um... your model wasn't built to accomadate changes in debt assumptions- WTF?
I'll just assume that had the associate wanted you to change revenue assumptions on your model it would have reffed out also.
Love that paste values function.
People seem to be really impressed when you use the keyboard shortcuts on Excel to do stuff. A guy I used to work with who is also on this board taught me a whole heap of stuff, and it saves a whole heap of time too. Well worth learning and using as it becomes second nature.
alt+E S V. ha. Anyways, I was already pretty well versed in Excel before my summer internship but I made a point to not use the mouse as much as I could. It's amazing how quickly you will learn the commands and how much time it saves to just do the simplest stuff such as adding rows and breaking in and out of cells without double clicking (F2). When you spend a lot of your day in the program your gonna learn how to use the shortcuts well. By the end of the summer, I was pretty quick and learned more about how powerful Excel actually is. Also, flexibility is absolutely essential in Excel.
F4
interesting
Besides excel skills, what other hard skills are useful for IB analysts? I'll be applying for summer internships and am wondering what I should know.
Here's a link to the shortcuts:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HP052037811033.aspx
You're welcome.
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