Become Bilingual in Excel and Domo like me

Monday, September 02, 2024

When I started as a management consultant, one of my clients was an investment bank. I quickly learned that I had to use Excel without the use of a mouse or trackpad because we needed to appear just as good or more polished than the client. So I mastered short cuts and built some amazing things such as this Brooklyn 99 Halloween Heist game in Google Sheets.

What are the main similarities and differences between excel and sql/domo?

There actually is a lot of similar overlap such as with text formatting. In SQL/Domo and in Excel, you use the same formulas to make a word all upper cased, take the first three characters from the left, etc. Even the logic of the IF statement is essentially the same. However, similar to saying Uno (Spanish) and Un (French), that's where similarities start to end. SQL is more formula based than clicking buttons. Also you write "CASE WHEN" for logic instead of "IF".

When would you use excel and when domo?

In my opinion, Excel is the best invention after the internet...truly. It is easily accessible and has allowed so many people to build so many things. With that said, Excel is good for quick and short term wins. It's easy to just click a cell and reference another cell. With Domo and SQL, all numbers to be calculated need to be on the same row so sometimes you need to do some advanced magic to make that happen.

However, DOMO/SQL is strong because it's long lasting. Instead of having to manually download data, refresh a pivot table and copy the data into a powerpoint, Domo can do all of this automatically. I had one client who said "Yeah I do the same task everyday in excel, but it only takes 5 minutes." I quickly did the math for him "If you do 5 min a day times 5 days a week that's 25 min a week or 100 minutes a month or 1200 minutes a year or 20 hours a year just on this repetitive task!" Within 8 minutes, I had built him something in Domo that automated what he did...forever.

How do i get bilingual in Domo and excel?

Both tools are great. I mastered excel from a YouTube channel called Excelisfun and Miss Excel is also very good. Dashboard Dudes is essentially that, but for Domo. I would be happy to teach you how to master Domo so you can become as fluent in it as you are in your native language.

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