A High School Senior Wins The World Championship For Microsoft Excel

Jan 01, 2020 by apost team

Knowing your way around Microsoft Excel is one of those thankless skills that help people in many positions. In fact, many people lie about this skill on their resume with the assumption that there's not much more to the program than its basic functions. However, there are people who aren't lying when calling themselves Excel experts. In fact, one 17-year-old from Virginia is the best of them all.

You've probably never heard of it, but there's an international Excel spreadsheet competition that takes place every year for those with exceptional skills. This year, the competition was held in Anaheim, California. Participants could range in age from 12 to 22. John Dumoulin, a young man from northern Virginia took the crown, reports CNBC. Although he's never had actual office experience, it seems his bosses at Chick-fil-A may have to utilize his Excel skills.

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John first heard about the Excel competition while taking an IT class at his school. He received the highest score on a qualifying exam in his home state of Virginia which qualified him for the national and eventually international competition. The total prize money for the international competition was $10,000.

In an interview, John commented on the competition at the Excel faceoff. He mentioned that many of the competitors from other countries in attendance had been training for "hours on end." The Excel master said that the international students were friendly when he first met them. However, everyone put their game faces on once the competition began. John said that there was a "fire in their eyes" since everyone wanted to win, CNBC continues.

Certiport, the business behind the competition, has been holding the Excel battle for years and it is only becoming more popular. Aaron Osmond, the company's general manager, said that many people think they can use the program. However, the people in the competition really do. It's interesting to think about how many competitions there are in the world testing unique skills like this that many people take for granted.

In 2018, there were over 760,000 people participating in the event. 152 students represented 51 different places from around the world. The competition was slightly varied since competitors were allowed to choose between 2016 and 2013 version of Excel, Word, or Powerpoint. In the end, six winners came out on top. one for each category, CNN reports.

Do you think it's interesting there would be a competition for something like Excel? Do you have exceptional Excel skills, or know someone who does? Either way, be sure to tell your friends and family about this quirky, but very real championship.