6 ms·

I'd rather use SQL though

bshipp 3y ago
I enjoy using SQL but the idea of using it instead of Excel to visually explore and manipulate data makes me wince. I can do without Word or PowerPoint but Excel, despite all its data handling warts, remains an exceptionally powerful tool for quick one-off data explorations. I prefer combining SQL with Excel by generating a query that gets most of what I want inside the database and then importing it into excel's powerquery to further explore the individual vectors.
- magicalhippo 3y ago
  > I prefer combining SQL with Excel For so many one-off data importing jobs I just end up generating SQL in Excel after using the text import wizard to get the data into Excel. It's kinda stupid but it just works so well most of the time. If I sense I might do it again I tend to script it in something more proper tho.
analog31 3y ago
One thing about Excel is that people don't see it as "programming," so they might consider it to be a job skill even if you're not marketing yourself as a programmer per se.
RajT88 3y ago
They have a SQL connector in excel now. And many more connectors.
- RedShift1 3y ago
  Now? SQL connectors have been part of Excel since at least Office 97...
LegitShady 3y ago
I have multiple excel spreadsheets that query a database for data using a SQL query I wrote, that then displays excel based reports/dashboards. You can also grab data from a bunch of other sources - sharepoint, etc. Then you can just update from excel and everything is in the right format for non programming people to use. The thing about excel is that for large orgs its probably on every computer and almost everyone sort of knows how to use the basics of it. that gives it value. The real value would be if there was some way I could get excel on a random machine without any privileges to refresh the data itself on a schedule.
Waterluvian 3y ago
“I’m good at excel but I still can’t get a job.” “I’d rather use SQL though” There’s something profoundly concise here in these sentences.

I enjoy using SQL but the idea of using it instead of Excel to visually explore and manipulate data makes me wince. I can do without Word or PowerPoint but Excel, despite all its data handling warts, remains an exceptionally powerful tool for quick one-off data explorations. I prefer combining SQL with Excel by generating a query that gets most of what I want inside the database and then importing it into excel's powerquery to further explore the individual vectors.

magicalhippo 3y ago
> I prefer combining SQL with Excel For so many one-off data importing jobs I just end up generating SQL in Excel after using the text import wizard to get the data into Excel. It's kinda stupid but it just works so well most of the time. If I sense I might do it again I tend to script it in something more proper tho.

analog31 3y ago

One thing about Excel is that people don't see it as "programming," so they might consider it to be a job skill even if you're not marketing yourself as a programmer per se.

RajT88 3y ago

They have a SQL connector in excel now. And many more connectors.

RedShift1 3y ago
Now? SQL connectors have been part of Excel since at least Office 97...

LegitShady 3y ago

I have multiple excel spreadsheets that query a database for data using a SQL query I wrote, that then displays excel based reports/dashboards. You can also grab data from a bunch of other sources - sharepoint, etc. Then you can just update from excel and everything is in the right format for non programming people to use. The thing about excel is that for large orgs its probably on every computer and almost everyone sort of knows how to use the basics of it. that gives it value. The real value would be if there was some way I could get excel on a random machine without any privileges to refresh the data itself on a schedule.

Waterluvian 3y ago

“I’m good at excel but I still can’t get a job.” “I’d rather use SQL though” There’s something profoundly concise here in these sentences.