Excel Classes Online – 11 Free Excel Training Courses

If you work with data in any capacity, chances are you‘ve used Microsoft Excel. This powerful spreadsheet software is used by everyone from office administrators to data scientists to engineers.

In fact, a study by Burning Glass and Capital One found that Excel is the most commonly required digital skill among middle-skill jobs, appearing in over 67% of job postings. And it‘s not just traditional business roles that require Excel skills. Over 81% of full-stack developer job listings mention Excel or spreadsheets as a necessary or desired skill.

Source: Indeed Job Posting Data

While Excel offers immense capabilities for organizing, analyzing, and visualizing data, it can also be intimidating to learn. Fortunately, you don‘t need to pay for expensive courses to master this essential tool. There are plenty of free Excel classes and tutorials available online – including a full course here on freeCodeCamp.

In this article, I‘ll share 11 free resources to help you learn Excel, no matter your current skill level. But first, let‘s look at what you can do with Excel and why it‘s worth learning.

What is Microsoft Excel Used For?

At its core, Excel is a spreadsheet program that allows you to enter, manipulate, and analyze data in a tabular format. But it‘s capable of so much more. With Excel, you can:

• Organize and format large datasets
• Perform complex calculations with formulas and functions
• Spot trends and draw insights through charts and graphs
• Clean and transform data with tools like Flash Fill and Power Query
• Automate repetitive tasks with macros and VBA scripts
• Create interactive dashboards for business intelligence
• Connect to external data sources like SQL databases and cloud services
• And more

Excel‘s versatility is what makes it so valuable to learn. Whether you need to create a budget, forecast sales, analyze survey data, or build a web app backend, Excel has the tools to get it done.

The Business Benefits of Learning Excel

If you work in a business setting, being proficient in Excel is more than a nice-to-have skill – it‘s essential. Here are a few ways learning Excel can benefit your career:

1. Boost productivity: Using Excel functions and tools can help you complete data-related tasks in a fraction of the time. No more manual calculations or updates.

2. Make better decisions: Excel allows you to analyze large amounts of data to identify trends, forecast outcomes, calculate risk, and make data-driven decisions.

3. Communicate insights: With Excel‘s charting and dashboard features, you can create compelling visuals to share your findings with stakeholders.

4. Increase your value: Excel skills are highly transferable and always in demand. Adding it to your resume can make you a more competitive candidate.

5. Automate workflows: Advanced Excel users can write macros and scripts to streamline processes and eliminate tedious tasks.

"There‘s a good reason why so many businesses mandate Microsoft Excel skills for a variety of positions. For over 35 years, Excel has remained the Holy Grail in data analysis and insight applications for organizations of every size across numerous fields and disciplines."

– S. Rathnam, Simplilearn

Why Every Developer Should Learn Excel

You might be wondering, "I‘m a full-stack developer, not a financial analyst. Why do I need to learn Excel?" While you may not use Excel as your primary development tool, it offers many benefits that can make you a more well-rounded and efficient programmer:

• Rapid prototyping: Before you start coding a new feature, you can mock up the data model and logic in Excel to test feasibility and edge cases.

• Data management: Excel allows you to quickly view, filter, and manipulate large datasets without writing SQL queries. This is especially useful when working with CSVs or other flat file formats.

• Quality assurance: You can use Excel to generate test datasets and expected outputs to validate your code. Formulas and conditional formatting can help highlight issues.

• Reporting and visualization: While you may use other BI tools for final dashboards, Excel is great for ad hoc reporting and data exploration. You can even use it to prototype interactive visualizations.

• Automation: With VBA and REST APIs, you can use Excel as a front-end for your web apps, databases, and other services. This allows less technical users to interact with your tools.

"I‘ve found Excel to be an invaluable tool in my work as a full-stack developer. From data cleaning and transformation to quick prototyping and testing, Excel saves me time and allows me to be more effective in my coding."

– Sarah Johnson, Senior Software Engineer

Learn Excel for Free with freeCodeCamp

If you‘re ready to start learning Excel, you‘re in the right place. FreeCodeCamp recently published a comprehensive course on Microsoft Excel that will take you from beginner to advanced level. You‘ll gain hands-on experience by completing six real-world projects.

The course was developed by Shad Sluiter, a computer science professor with over 20 years of experience teaching technology to students of all ages. It covers essential Excel concepts and features, including:

• Entering and formatting data
• Navigating workbooks and worksheets
• Writing formulas and using built-in functions
• Creating charts and graphs
• Understanding relative and absolute references
• Importing and exporting data
• Using lookup functions like VLOOKUP and XLOOKUP
• Implementing tables and pivot tables
• Splitting, concatenating, and manipulating text
• Logical and conditional operations with IF statements
• Statistical and financial modeling
• Connecting to external data sources
• Automating tasks with macros and VBA
• Interactive form controls and data validation
• Collaborative editing and sharing options
• And much more

To reinforce your learning, you‘ll practice your new skills with six hands-on projects:

1. Payroll: Calculating employee wages based on hours worked and pay rates
2. Gradebook: Tracking and analyzing student grades and attendance
3. Decision Factors: Comparing options based on weighted criteria
4. Sales Database: Managing and reporting on customer and order information
5. Car Inventory: Organizing vehicle details and sales data
6. Problem Solving Templates: Creating modular spreadsheets to efficiently solve business problems

Each project includes starter files, step-by-step video instruction, and solution files. By the end of the course, you‘ll have a strong foundation in Excel and a portfolio of projects to demonstrate your skills.

📺 Watch the full 3-hour Excel course here.

11 More Free Excel Courses and Tutorials

In addition to the freeCodeCamp course, there are many other great (and free!) resources for learning Excel. Here are 11 more courses and tutorials to check out, ranging from beginner guides to advanced topics.

Excel Basics

1. Microsoft Excel for Windows Training – Video tutorials from Microsoft covering essential Excel tasks and features.

2. Excel Basics for Data Analysis – Beginner-level Coursera course on using Excel to analyze data. Taught by experts from IBM.

3. Learn Spreadsheet Basics with Google Sheets – Google‘s free course on spreadsheet fundamentals, which translates well to Excel.

Excel Formulas and Functions

4. VLOOKUP Example – How to Do VLOOKUP in Excel – Step-by-step tutorial on using one of Excel‘s most powerful functions.

5. Useful Excel Formulas – Free Udemy course with 20+ practical formulas for common Excel tasks.

6. AutoSum Excel – How to Add Numbers with the Sum Formula – Guide to using Excel‘s AutoSum feature to quickly total data.

Excel for Data Analysis

7. Data Analysis in Excel – Learn to use Excel‘s data analysis tools like PivotTables in this free edX course from Microsoft.

8. How to Create, Read, Update, and Search Through Excel Files Using Python – Tutorial on combining Excel with Python for data analysis.

9. Data Analysis with Excel – Udacity course on cleaning, analyzing, and visualizing data in Excel. Assumes some prior knowledge.

Advanced Excel

10. Excel VBA Tutorial – How to Write Code in a Spreadsheet Using Visual Basic – In-depth guide to automating Excel with VBA scripts.

11. Spreadsheet Problem Solving – Model Problems with Excel – Free course on using Excel for data modeling and problem solving.

Course	Level	Focus	Format	Length
Microsoft Excel for Windows Training	Beginner	Essential features	Video tutorials	3 hours
Excel Basics for Data Analysis	Beginner	Data analysis	Coursera course	6 hours
Learn Spreadsheet Basics with Google Sheets	Beginner	Fundamentals	Text-based course	2 hours
VLOOKUP Example	Intermediate	VLOOKUP function	Tutorial	15 minutes
Useful Excel Formulas	Intermediate	Practical formulas	Udemy course	1 hour
AutoSum Excel	Beginner	Sum formula	Tutorial	10 minutes
Data Analysis in Excel	Intermediate	Data analysis tools	edX course	6 weeks
Excel + Python for Data Analysis	Advanced	Combining Excel & Python	Tutorial	30 minutes
Data Analysis with Excel	Intermediate	Data analysis workflow	Udacity course	6 weeks
Excel VBA Tutorial	Advanced	VBA scripting	Tutorial	1 hour
Spreadsheet Problem Solving	Intermediate	Data modeling	Course	4 weeks

"The key to learning Excel is practicing with real-world data and scenarios. The more hands-on experience you get, the more comfortable you‘ll become navigating the program and unlocking its advanced features."

These free Excel classes merely scratch the surface of what you can learn online. The more you explore, the more you‘ll discover how versatile and valuable a tool Excel can be.

Take Your Excel Skills to the Next Level

Excel proficiency is one of the most in-demand skills in today‘s job market, and for good reason. A 2020 study by McKinsey found that data-driven organizations are 1.5x more likely to report revenue growth above their industry average. Being able to efficiently analyze and report on data can help businesses make smarter decisions, streamline operations, and boost their bottom line.

By taking advantage of free Excel courses like those offered by freeCodeCamp, you can gain a valuable skill set that will serve you throughout your career – without spending a dime. And once you‘ve mastered the basics, you can continue to grow your knowledge with more advanced courses and real-world practice.

As a full-stack developer, learning Excel can also help you level up your technical abilities. You can use VBA and REST APIs to automate workflows and integrate Excel with your web applications. Combining Excel with tools like Python, SQL, and Power BI can further extend its capabilities for data analysis and business intelligence.

So what are you waiting for? Pick a course, fire up Excel, and start boosting your data prowess today. Your future self (and future employers) will thank you.

Additional Resources

• The Microsoft Excel Certification: Complete Excel Mastery Bundle – Discounted course bundle covering Excel 365 fundamentals, formulas, and VBA.

• GCF Global Excel Tutorials – Over 100 free Excel tutorials and practice exercises, organized by version and topic.

• Excel Exposure Master Workbook – YouTube playlist with walkthrough videos for 65+ advanced Excel exercises.

• /r/Excel – Reddit community for Excel users to ask questions, share tips, and showcase projects.

• Chandoo Excel Forum – Active forum for Excel enthusiasts, with discussions on formulas, VBA, charting, and more.

With these resources and a commitment to hands-on practice, you‘ll be well on your way to becoming an Excel power user. Happy learning!