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Simple Skill

This graph has been around a while but seeing it for the first time a few days ago made me chuckle.  Imagine you stay in that job for a few decade and only ever go as far as learning code a few Excel macros and formulas into your spreadsheets. The pinnacle of your math education having been in the early part of your undergraduate degree. Comes a time when you begin to wonder if you really needed anything beyond an eight grade education to do that job that you do and if in fact what you did not learn in school by that point could not have easily be learned on the job. 

The education past that point until you enter the workforce are like toll-gates that lead to better or more selective opportunities - its not that the eight grader could not handle to the job, just that they would be not be given access. Along the way as a result of maturity that comes with age, learning things, meeting people, going places the person evolves to become an improved version of their eight grade self. That and being handy with Excel (bonus points for Power BI) is all it takes to be successful in the workforce. Needless to say, Excel continues to improve all the time so you only need to keep your skills sharp there not to slide into obsolescence. I have known clients whose business lived in Excel and people to get promoted because their Excels skills were at Ninja level compared to their competition. I have always been a user and fan.

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