Should you learn Excel VBA in 2021? It's a difficult question and, although I am biased towards Excel VBA, I can see both side of the argument, at least to some extent! In this video, we discuss 7 questions you should answer to work out if Excel / Excel VBA is for you, or not.

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As we'll see, whether you should learn Excel / Excel VBA or not depends on a few things, including your occupation, if you are doing analysis for yourself or for others, and the kind of organisation you work for. 

Somebody who is under-represented in the debate is not the data specialist, but the general professional. I have seen plenty of data analysts, scientists and other data professionals talking (largely negatively) about Excel and Excel VBA; but what about the typical professional? The millions of people who have to work with data everyday, but don't wish to specialise in data as a job.

The needs of these people who really need help, in my view, are somewhat excluded from the debate. As I try to bring out in the video, Excel is suited to them because of its affordability, practicality and versatility.

At a deeper level, Excel is the way forward for data analysis precisely because of its ubiquity and popularity. This may irk some data scientists out there, but the future of data analysis lies in generalisation, not specialisation. This is because, like it or not, millions of non-specialists across the world are creating their own analytical tools already - most of the time in Excel.

Rather than moving to other less accessible and more obscure platforms, I would suggest we embrace this trend and seek to engage, educate and encourage better practice, rather than retreating to our ivory towers full of specialist tools in academia or the data analysis department.