By Hiran de Silva
A few days ago, I set up my computer to play an online course titled Advanced Excel Automation.
Then, as an experiment, I sat my neighbour’s cat in front of the screen.
A couple of hours later, a certificate of completion was ready to download.
My neighbour’s cat is now officially certified in Advanced Excel.
I suspect he cheated — because when I checked halfway through, he’d wandered off into the garden, chasing leaves. Yet, the course continued.
Everyone’s happy.
The cat didn’t have to endure hours of confusing or repetitive instruction.
The “educator” got another completion statistic.
And somewhere in the algorithmic heavens, another course provider celebrated a tick in the box of “learner success.”
Meanwhile, the cat continues to receive promotional emails inviting him to “advance his career in Excel automation.”
He doesn’t seem interested.
The Illusion of Learning
This post isn’t really about cats. It’s about the illusion of learning — and the disturbing gap between certification and competence that has crept into modern Excel education.
The story was triggered by a post on LinkedIn from a respected colleague who had just completed a course called Advanced Excel Automation.
I congratulated him warmly — then asked a simple question.
“Do you remember the Budget Consolidation Automation Challenge I posted back in June? Now that you’ve completed this certification, how would you tackle that problem differently?”
His answer shocked me.
“Honestly… I wouldn’t. The course didn’t cover that kind of thing. I’m not even sure what you meant by automation in that context.”
So here’s the uncomfortable truth: nothing changed.
Despite hours of “training” and a shiny new certificate, his ability to solve a real, complex business problem had not improved at all.
What Does ‘Advanced Excel Automation’ Even Mean?
Let’s unpack the phrase.
- “Advanced” — in what sense?
More complex formulas? Or simpler, more elegant solutions to tougher problems? There’s a world of difference. - “Excel” — are we talking about a digital sheet of paper, or a full-fledged enterprise client connected to live databases and automated workflows?
- “Automation” — does it mean speeding up manual drudgery, or re-engineering the entire process using digital principles?
If your idea of automation is “clicking fewer buttons,” you’re missing the real transformation that’s possible.
Yet this watered-down definition has become the mainstream standard for “advanced” Excel training.
Metrics Masquerading as Mastery
The illusion of education is reinforced by numbers that look impressive — but mean very little.
Take YouTube tutorials, for example.
A recent Excel “automation” video has over 100,000 views in just a few weeks.
It has around 3,000 likes and 150 comments.
Impressive, right?
But look closer.
Only one commenter noticed that the free downloadable template in the video doesn’t actually work.
Not just for that one person — it doesn’t work for anyone other than the presenter, because it depends on her own Microsoft 365 account.
The video never mentions this.
And yet, thousands have praised it with comments like “Exactly what I was looking for!” or “Brilliant tutorial!”
That’s not education.
That’s theatre.
The metrics paint a picture of success — but the underlying data tells a very different story.
If 100,000 people watched, 3,000 clicked “like,” and only one person realised it doesn’t work, what does that say about the other 99,999?
It says that most people are mistaking familiarity for understanding, and spectatorship for learning.
Copying Is Not Comprehension
This form of education is like dictation class in primary school.
The teacher reads a sentence; the students copy it down word for word.
You can end the exercise with a neat, correct-looking result — without understanding a thing about grammar, meaning, or context.
That’s what “follow-along” Excel tutorials have become.
People copy what they see on screen, produce a superficially similar result, and leave with a sense of accomplishment — but no transferable skill.
No principle. No why.
Certifications, Cats, and the Cost of Illusion
The modern education industry — from MOOCs to YouTube — has perfected the art of looking successful without being effective.
Completion rates, engagement metrics, likes, and certificates have replaced the one measure that matters:
Can you solve a real problem better than you could yesterday?
That’s the question that separates training from transformation.
So yes, my neighbour’s cat is now certified in Advanced Excel.
And that should make every serious learner pause.
If certification has become so detached from competence that a cat can pass — what does that say about the system?
The Real Opportunity
This illusion creates a massive opportunity for those who see through it.
If you’re one of the few who actually want to learn — to create real business value, automate real processes, and build real systems that help your boss (and your boss’s boss) — then you are standing in a near-empty field of genuine competence.
While others chase certificates, you can chase outcomes.
Real learning happens not by copying, but by connecting.
Not by following instructions, but by understanding the architecture behind them.
Not by counting views or badges, but by counting results.
Final Thought
In a world where my neighbour’s cat can become a certified Advanced Excel expert,
perhaps the question we should be asking is not “What did you learn?”
but “What can you now do that you couldn’t before?”
Because if the answer is “nothing,”
then maybe it’s time to stop chasing certificates — and start chasing truth.
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