In March, two smart people with very different jobs told us in separate Poynter career chats that understanding databases will help journalists find jobs. They recommended we learn Excel.
My guests for those two chats were Paul Cheung, the global interactives editor at the Associated Press, and Sandy Csizmar, a mobile specialist at the Hartford Courant. I hardly can think of two newsroom jobs that are more different. But they are of one mind about what journalists should know.
People who participated in the chats tried to pin Cheung and Csizmar down, but each resisted recommending a program, and they challenged the idea that journalists should fit into little boxes.
When we did pin them down — a little — both said that today’s journalist has to understand and use Excel spreadsheets to succeed.
There it is. If someone told you what skill was necessary to make it in a rapidly changing news environment, you would listen. They have told us.
A few years ago when I was at the Detroit Free Press, the editors for technology and online agreed that “Excel is the new Word.” This is what they were talking about.
Yet, relatively few journalists take Excel seriously enough to learn how to use it. It is not being taught in most journalism curricula and, from a show of hands in my journalism class last week, most students haven’t learned it already someplace else. Learning Excel would seem to impart an advantage that will stand up.
Here are some ways to learn it. All are inexpensive when you consider what the knowledge can do for you. I would choose the way that best fits your learning style.
Free: Online tutorials, YouTube and help files.
Free: Have someone show you.
$12 to $30: For those who like to learn from books.
$25: Lynda.com, where you can take a month of lessons. The Excel 11 course takes six-and-a-half hours. You can go at your own pace and repeat lessons.
$29: Through a partnership with Element K, Poynter’s News U offers Excel training in 11 modules. Your fee gives you access for 90 days. The sign-up page says the full training takes 65 hours.
$158: CareerTrack is one of several seminar companies that provides training in and around large cities. It offers a day of basic Excel and a day of advanced training for $79 a day.
A last word: The training will stick only if you use it, so plan a continuing project you will do on a regular basis after you have completed your training.
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