I'm building a platform to test Excel skills of job applicants

[u/igeligel]

I am a software engineer building a comprehensive platform called sheetsinterview.com to streamline the process of evaluating Excel skills for job applicants. Similar to how LeetCode or HackerRank offer coding assessments, my platform focuses on Excel proficiency.

The problem I am trying to solve is quite obvious: Most jobs these days require Excel knowledge, otherwise, this subreddit would not exist. But most often I would not test those Excel skills in the interview process. If I do, I will send over an Excel file with a specific task to solve.

The platform is solving that by giving you, as interviewer, a variety of tasks that you can send to the candidate, testing their Excel skills. Once you have emailed the candidate, they can open a link and enter a passcode to start the task. You can set a time or give them unlimited time. All works in the browser with our own "Excel IDE" where most formulas are supported. It's not perfect but I am looking for feedback and some alternatives - I currently use FortuneSheet but might use univer soon which has better support for pivot tables for example which the platform currently does not support.

Looking for feedback overall here from the sub. If you want to sign up and use the platform for free, you can use the link: https://sheetsinterview.com/login/reddit-excel

[u/HariSeldon16]

Just kind of curious what excel skills you’re testing for, see how I measure up ;)

[u/igeligel → u/HariSeldon16]

Mostly hard-skills. I might extend the platform to submit your own tasks, but currently we offer the following three:

• Calculate the total conditionally You are expected to fill in the value for "<expected result>" in the cell D2 with the data from column A, B, and C. It should show the sum of all profits that are having the difficulty easy.
• Our orders table is usually split into two tables that you can see in this spreadsheet. We want to have the order status on the left table though. Could you please get the data into the place where it says <expected_result> without copying and pasting the results?
• Welcome to the SaaS Fees task. You can find a dataset with the columns A to G describing a dataset. There are different kind of fees and refunds in that table but some rows have invalid data. We want the data cleaned in the columns I to O. Please clean the data as good as you can. If there is no way to fix the data for you, please remove the rows.

Screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/ejE0bIO.png

Happy to add any tasks that you would like to see.

[u/RodyaRaskol → u/igeligel]

"Remove the rows"?  I think that's a terrible idea or at least much too specific an instruction...invalidate/remove/formulaicly ignore

[u/igeligel → u/RodyaRaskol]

We are looking for a filter solution obviously

[u/RodyaRaskol → u/igeligel]

There are scenarios where remove would make sense such as preparing a database upload where a faulty value could ruin the entire commit.  I stand by remove is much too specific.

[u/igeligel → u/RodyaRaskol]

Thanks for the feedback. Will reword the task.

[u/HariSeldon16 → u/igeligel]

Such simple tasks lol.

I don’t ask my interviewees to do specific tasks, but I do ask them to verbally describe the most advanced excel function/feature they know. Gives me a good gauge of where they are.

I’m working my way through building my array function acumen, and recently delved into the fun world of power query :)

[u/Some-Random-Hobo1]

The pricing is wild. Makes me think it's a scam. So does the layout of the website.

My most recent job that I started this year is the first one to actually use Excel regularly. They gave me a self-made test that consisted of actual tasks they needed Excel for.

I do think that testing people is a good idea, I just don't think that anyone who knew how to use excel would need to pay someone else to test recruits' ability to use excel.

[u/igeligel → u/Some-Random-Hobo1]

What pricing would you suggest? Per interview pricing like $0.20 per conducted test?

And I agree about the testing part. Self-made is how the world works currently but to weed out people it might be a big effort actually.

[u/Some-Random-Hobo1 → u/igeligel]

I mean, I feel like I would pay for this service unless I didn't know how to use excel. And in that case, I obviously wouldn't need it for the job I was advertising, so the product would be redundant.

It's so easy to get a real life example, remove any sensitive data and make that your test, that I didn't see the point in paying for a test that is going to be less specific to the job.

[u/sancarn → u/Some-Random-Hobo1]

It's so easy to get a real life example, remove any sensitive data and make that your test, that I didn't see the point in paying for a test that is going to be less specific to the job.

I mean the same is true for leetcode too. So I don't see where this argument comes in personally.

[u/390M386]

Also taking an excel test on a browser based version doesn’t suit. Other things I’m looking to test are, are they using shortcuts, are they using the mouse a lot, what formulas are they using, are they utilizing helper cells, etc.

I took a browser based test before and it was not at all what I was expecting. Was super basic. I guess it depends on what profession it’s for.

[u/igeligel → u/390M386]

Yeah it depends on the role obviously. I think testing the formulas the candidates use and utilizing helper cells can be checked on though. The rest I would not test actually and just do so by restricting time. I think it does not really matter if they use shortcuts or not as long as the candidate knows how to solve the problem quickly.

Btw. I also created a shortcut learning tool here for free: https://sheetsinterview.com/free-tools/excel-shortcuts-learning-tool (each day 5 random shortcuts to learn)

[u/390M386 → u/igeligel]

Shortcuts are a key element in being able to work proficiently - at least in a financial role, which excel is typically the heaviest users.

[u/sancarn]

I love the idea of a leetcode for excel and I do think this would be doable, but I think the main problems you will have are:

1. Difficult to test Excel skills without Excel.
2. Difficulty in grading solutions. You might be expecting a filter() but a index-match / aggregate formula might be smaller, faster, or better in some way. I'd love it if there were different grades for footprint, speed, "elegance" etc.

[u/Clear-Apple-9625]

Finally, a tool that respects Excel as the powerhouse it truly is! #ExcelArmy

[u/ifnbutsarecandynnuts]

spreadsheet sample

Anyone can help solve this, Attached is example of data I manually highlighted yellow to match with my end goal.

If column A and B are duplicates, then ignore any duplicates in those entire rows, unless a value from H, I, or O is found where A and B are different then to highlight them all.

Hope that makes sense. Thanks again 🙏