Ten years ago, I was interviewing for an analyst position. The official job title was “Learning and Evaluation Specialist.” Nowadays, you might hear it called “Quality Improvement Specialist,” “Research Analyst,” or even “Data Scientist.”

I remember sitting in the interviewer’s office. He was asking me about my Excel skills. It was a fast-paced office, so the expectation level was pretty high: that you could work totally independently.
I was going on and on about all my great spreadsheet skills.

Because that’s what you do in interviews, right?
It’s not the time to be humble.

And then the interviewer was like, “Prove it. You’ve got great Excel skills? C’mon. Come with me.”

He led me to another office across the hall.

And what was waiting for me?

A glowing Excel screen!!!

With an Excel test!!!

My heart just about stopped. I was replaying everything I had just said in the past hour. What did I say I knew how to do again??

I hoped I could actually do those things!

Here’s what happened next.

Want to follow along? Download the spreadsheet here: https://depictdatastudio.com/a-real-l...

00:00 My First Real-Life Excel Skills Test
01:33 Can I Pass 10 years Later?!
02:36 The Excel Test
04:30 Question 1
08:28 Question 2
10:59 Question 3
12:44 Question 4
13:51 Question 5
15:45 Question 6
17:01 Question 7
18:42 Question 8
25:52 Question 9
26:45 Question 10
27:26 Finished! My Final Thoughts
28:24 How Did You Do?

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