What My Engineering Mind Discovered About the State of Excel Education
By Hiran de Silva
My engineering mind has always worked in a particular way.
It doesn’t just ask “Can this be improved?” — it asks “Why does the old way not work?”
When something doesn’t behave as expected, I need to know why.
When a process seems inefficient, I don’t just leap to a new method — I stop to understand the failure of the old one.
It’s that same mindset I bring when I watch Excel or technology tutorials on YouTube.
I don’t just look for better ways of doing things.
I find myself asking:
“Why is he doing it that way?”
And that simple question has taught me more about the current state of Excel education than any course, book, or conference ever could.
1. The Context: It’s Not Meant to Be the “Best Way”
The first realization is that most social-media Excel tutorials are not designed to show the best or even a better way.
They are designed to excite a particular audience — an audience of novices.
These are people who have “just arrived in the room.”
They are inside their own small box of experience, unaware of the vast opportunities that lie beyond it.
And that’s fine — everyone starts somewhere.
But here’s the problem:
There is very little content for the people who want to move beyond that room.
Those who want to grow from basic familiarity to true capability.
Those who are ready to progress from primary school to university.
I’ve lived the other side of that journey.
I’ve seen and built the opportunities that most of these new learners don’t yet know exist.
And so, when I watch a video that “teaches Excel,” my mind can’t help but ask, “Why is it being done that way?” — because I know there’s another way that scales, automates, and actually delivers what businesses need.
2. The Literal vs. The Lateral
The second realization is about medium and method.
YouTube tutorials are constrained by what can be shown on screen — that is, what can be seen literally.
You can’t film the invisible flow of data between Excel and an external database.
You can’t easily record the concept of a client–server architecture in a two-minute screen capture.
So what gets taught is what can be shown.
And what can be shown tends to be literal, not lateral.
The problem is that enterprise-scale Excel — the kind that runs global budgeting systems and consolidates data from dozens of departments — happens in that “invisible” space.
It’s about data flow, not cell formulas.
It’s about architecture, not keystrokes.
Social media doesn’t reward lateral thinking.
It rewards what looks impressive on screen.
3. It’s Not Even Education — It’s Engagement
A third realization followed quickly:
Most popular Excel videos are not created primarily to educate.
They are created to generate engagement.
That’s measured by clicks, not comprehension.
A “view” simply means someone clicked to start the video — not that they understood it, applied it, or benefitted from it.
Most people click because of the thumbnail, the headline, or the face of the influencer frozen in mid-shock.
They click because others have already clicked.
They click because it looks like something worth watching.
But none of those metrics measure usefulness, truth, or relevance.
And so we get a self-reinforcing loop:
Creators produce more of what gets clicked, not more of what helps people grow.
4. My Case Studies of Confusion
Let me give a few examples from my own observation.
- Oz du Soleil’s “Christmas Expenses” video (2019) — within seconds I could see the solution that was being overlooked. Yet the video continued in another direction entirely. A week later, Miguel Escobar joined Oz to “improve” it, and again I was astonished — the principle they needed was right there, but unseen.
Why were they doing it that way? - Mark Proctor’s “Compare Two Lists” video (2024) — a perfectly fine demonstration for novices, but conceptually stuck in the 1980s. Power Query was being used for a side-by-side tick-and-bash reconciliation — the digital equivalent of paper registers.
But since the 1990s, we’ve had the ability to append, flip, and summarize lists to reveal unmatched items instantly.
Why was that understanding missing?
Because the audience being addressed was still thinking in paper terms — and the content was designed to please them. - Cascading dropdowns tutorials — virtually every one online sources its data from the same workbook.
Yet in any real business, that data changes constantly and lives elsewhere.
Why are they doing it that way?
Because it’s simpler to record on screen. It creates a self-contained demo. But it bears no resemblance to how actual enterprise systems work.
These are not bad teachers or bad intentions.
They are simply creating for a particular audience — the people who have just arrived in the room.
5. The “Primary School” Analogy
This is where my analogy comes in.
You have primary schools and primary school teachers.
They do an essential job.
They teach the basics — arithmetic, reading, physical activity — and even fantasy, like the school play at Christmas.
But the point is that pupils move on.
They grow up.
They go to secondary school, and then to university, and then into the real world.
If all of education were run by primary school teachers, the entire population would remain in primary school forever.
And that’s what’s happening in Excel education on social media.
The influencers are catering to the newly arrived, and nothing is being built for those who are ready to move up.
6. A Construct Like Father Christmas
The same is true of belief systems we give to children — the Tooth Fairy, Father Christmas.
They serve a purpose.
They inspire imagination and joy.
But we all understand that at some point, you grow out of it.
You may continue the story for your children and grandchildren, but you no longer believe it literally.
If you’re thirty years old and still believe in Father Christmas, something has gone wrong.
And yet — that’s precisely what’s happening when adults continue to follow Excel tutorials that never progress beyond the kindergarten level of understanding.
7. The Exchange with Mark Proctor
I once discussed this directly with Mark Proctor.
He said he understood and admired what I was teaching, but that his audience “did not have access to databases.”
Fair point.
But it assumes they never will.
It assumes they will stay in primary school forever.
In reality, many of those learners will one day move into management.
They will see the larger picture of business process and collaboration.
They will start to notice the limits of workbook-based methods.
And they will look for something more scalable, auditable, and integrated — exactly what I teach.
So the question is not whether today’s novices have access to databases.
The question is whether their teachers have the foresight to prepare them for the moment when they will need to.
8. The Positive Conclusion
The answer to my original question — “Why are they doing it that way?” — is now clear.
Because they are speaking to the children in the room.
But those children will grow up.
Some will want to move beyond copy-paste tricks and into real digital thinking.
For those people, there must be a path — a bridge from the simple to the sophisticated.
And that’s where I stand.
I don’t criticize the primary school teachers; they have their place.
But I teach for those who are ready for secondary school, university, and real-world industry.
For those who are ready to see that Excel is not a toybox, but a platform.
That it’s not about cells but about systems.
For those who still believe in Father Christmas, enjoy the story.
For those who are ready to grow up — welcome.
There’s an entire world of opportunity waiting outside the classroom.
Hiran de Silva
Enterprise Excel Architect | Educator | Systems Accountant
“Excel isn’t the problem. It’s the underused solution.”
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