Computer Skills
I was wondering how computer-savvy ( leaving aside Excel/PowerPoint skills) you need to be to do well in consulting? Assuming you have an assignment where you need to help a company improve its IT Strategy, are you screwed if you dont know how to code or if you havent taken ANY CS classes in college?
THe whole Big Data thing is going around and consultants do need to analyze huge amounts of data.
Need some insight.
You are definitely not screwed. I have a friend who is in consulting at one of the big-3 and he mainly works with tech companies. He doesn't know a scrap of programming/computer science (he was an Economics concentrator with zero CS classes) and it has not hindered him in any way.
I couldn't emphasize how much I think that computer skills are imperative for the future or currently. Almost every other thing is technologically driven.
Why would an employer or company hire someone without basic tech knowledge or skills to provide tech-related services? Same goes to pharmaceutical and any other industries.
Nonetheless, it would be difficult balancing your core and sub domain; which is why most companies emphasize on the diversity of the people they hire. However having competencies in both areas will definitely give you the competitive edge against your peers during the interview and a better understanding of the mechanics and business operations for you to perform in your job role.
I guess this is why, generally, business requires more than just the fundamental knowledge. Take it as your business knowledge/skills are the verticals, and knowledge in other areas as the horizontals.
Schools nowadays also emphasize and encourage on an all rounded education which requires you to pick up electives that is not related to your degree, allows the declaration of multiple majors and minors and cross-faculty collaboration. This is why some people pursue a degree in niche area then proceed to get their MBAs and etc or double degrees.
I remember coming across a video of a CEO of a tech company stating that he wouldn't hire someone without any basic tech knowledge and skills, which I guess could be the new norm next time. Imagine someone running your company without domain knowledge of your business.
p/s: That's why I'm having a hard time to decide what I should pursue for my UG studies.
No need to learn any more than excel and powerpoint unless you have aspirations of working specifically in that technical realm. No firm is going to staff you on a tech project with the expectations of having you do something you clearly don't know how to do.
They may put you on a tech project and pair you with someone who can handle coding, but they're not going to ask someone to code who has no training in it.
Don't over think you classes. Take what's interesting as long as it's not basket weaving
Thanks for the input guys. Appreciate it :)
Most of the data analysis performed is typically done in Excel.
Sometimes, if the data set is too large for Excel, it's pulled into Access. However, based on my experience in these cases, the Access is just used to extract part of the data to be analyzed/reported on in Excel.
With that said, it becomes very helpful (sometimes necessary) to learn VBA in Excel. You don't need a technical background for this. I had a colleague who was a psych major and he picked up VBA in a day. It just involves some googling and frankensteining code snippets.
Tableau, a data visualization tool (think Excel charts that are actually intuitive to create and far more useful), is gaining popularity as well. I'm not sure which firms are starting to use it though.
Consulting companies usually hire programmers specifically for this. You probably wouldn't need to have that experience.
Great to know..Thanks guys :)
Technical Skills (Originally Posted: 02/04/2012)
Hi,
I'll be entering the consulting industry later this year fulltime and just wanted to get some opinions on ways to further develop technical skills (in particular excel and powerpoint) a bit before actually starting? Are there any online courses that current consultants have found particularly useful? I have decent skills in both programs, but I'm guessing it'd be quite useful to get even better at both...thanks
wow. since when are excel and powerpoint considered technical skills.......
I don't know man...you can do some pretty crazy stuff on PowerPoint!
Check it out - http://pptheaven.mvps.org/econ2009/submissions.html#BeautifulNature
hahahah. ;)
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