As a student, one of your dreams is to
complete school successfully and get a well paying job. Others may also want to
take the route of starting their own jobs after completing. In either case,
there are 3 types of software that every graduate is required to have a mastery
over.
The reason why you need a mastery of
these types of software are but not limited to:
Every company you go to uses one or
more of these software
It will save you time and energy
Learning these while a student is way
easier than having to juggle learning of these software with the actual work
when you have various deadlines to meet.
You may also need these software for
your personal projects
You may not fully comprehend the
importance of knowing about them until you finally land yourself in a job that
requires them or start your own business.
The 3 types of software that every
student should master before graduating are:
A spreadsheet application
A word processing application
A software for creating presentations
Now, let’s delve into the details of
each and find out why you need them and which specific ones you should be
using.
What are the software that students
need to master
For each type of software, I will only
make mention of the most popular ones since that is what most companies are
likely to be using.
Spreadsheet application
Microsoft Excel
Google Sheets
Word Processor
Microsoft Word
Google Docs
Presentation Maker
Microsoft Powerpoint
Google Slides
Apple Keynote
Spreadsheet applications and why
students need to master them
A spreadsheet application is basically
any application that allows you to present a set of data in a tabular form for
storage or analysis purposes.
Most of the data collected in
companies needs to be stored and analyzed. Even though there are more advanced
means of data storage and analysis, the majority of the companies, especially
governmental organizations, have stuck to the use of spreadsheets.
For that matter, if you are going to
work for any of such organizations, you must master how to use them.
Using spreadsheet applications is
quite easy and free to use hence the reason for not abandoning spreadsheets in
the face of more robust data storage and analysis tools.
When you get an upper hand over the
use of these spreadsheet applications, you will find out how easy they are and
how simple they make your life.
Spreadsheet applications are
calculators by default and allows you to automate your calculations.
Imagine being a sales rep of your
company and need to produce weekly profit and loss reports for the company. If
you do these things manually, you will go through a lot of struggle.
But with the help of spreadsheet
applications, these calculations become way easier to do and within a few
minutes you will be done.
Now let’s talk about the two most
popular spreadsheet applications.
Microsoft Excel
This is the most commonest and that is
what people think about when they hear spreadsheets. Microsoft Excel is
available in 3 different forms:
A desktop application
A mobile application
A web-based app
Check this video out where I introduce
you to all the three options and how to get each of them:
Introduction to Microsoft Excel - Excel for Absolute
Beginners 1
Also, you can check the whole playlist
for the Excel for Absolute beginners course that
I created.
I have also written a lot of tutorials
on the Techpady blog that you can check
out to help you master Microsoft Excel in a few days.
Google Sheets
Google sheets has become an
alternative to Microsoft Excel and now a lot of companies and individuals are
gradually shifting to it.
The interface isn’t that much different
from that of Microsoft Excel. Hence, if you already know how to use Microsoft
Excel then you will probably be able to use Google Sheets too.
Google Sheets is however popular among
people who work remotely or work that relies heavily on collaboration. It
allows multiple people to work on a single spreadsheet at the same time without
conflicts.
Another important reason why a lot of
people have also started choosing to work with Google sheet is the history
control feature in it. With this feature no change that is made to your
spreadsheet is lost.
You can always track what changes were
made over time and who made those changes. You can also revert back to a
previous version of your spreadsheet if you want.
I have also created a few videos on
Google sheets, so you can check them out here.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRKBQyzCSrVDUyHWksna3Wc-wwHIFbhhN
Word Processing applications and why
students need to master them
As a student, I bet you have used a
word processing application in one way or the other. If you have ever been
asked to submit a softcopy of an assignment then you probably used a word
processor application to type your assignment.
Word processing applications are
software that allows you to create, edit and print documents which contain
texts and some graphical elements (if needed).
These are tools that are used in every
organization irrespective of the size of the organization. Almost any time that
you think of writing something, the first thing you will look at is having
access to a word processing software.
Whether you are to write a letter or
document the minute for a meeting or draw an outline for an upcoming program,
you are likely to use word processing software.
The two most popular word processing
software out there are Microsoft Word and Google Docs.
Let’s take a look at each of them.
I can bet that you have used this tool
before if you ever used a Windows computer. It is very common because it is
available to all PC users by default.
Microsoft Word is quite easy to use
and the menu layout of Microsoft Word is similar to most common software you
find out there. Hence, navigating around in it isn’t difficult at all.
If you haven’t ever used it before
too, the learning curve isn’t steepy at all. With a few efforts you will be
able to master them.
However, there are some special
activities that may require that you learn how to do them. One such that a lot
of students keep asking me about is how to create a table of content and how to
add different page numbers to different sections of a document.
Don’t worry if you don’t know how to
do any of the above. I have actually created a playlist on YouTube for Microsoft Office Word Tips and Tricks.
Just check them out to help you master Microsoft Word.
You can also check out this category
that I published on a UK
website teaching some of the tricks and helping you solve
some common problems you face when using Microsoft Word.
Just like Google sheets, the interface
of Google Docs isn’t much different from that of Microsoft Word. An ardent user
of Microsoft Word can easily switch to Google docs without any struggle and
vice versa.
Also, just like Google Sheets, one
reason Google Docs has begun gaining so much popularity is because of how easy
it is for collaborating with others and also the inbuilt version control
system.
All changes made in Google docs are
never lost and multiple people can be working on the same document at the same
time. It has become the go to Word processing tool for people who work
remotely.
My team and I have switched to Google
Docs and that’s what we use when writing blog posts.
To help you master Google docs, I have
created a lot of tutorials on it and currently have a number of them in the
pipeline.
You can check out the Google Docs category on Techpady if
you like reading tutorials or use the videos I published on YouTube.
Presentation Makers Applications and
why students need to master them
This category of software is also very
important for students and graduates alike. Just as you are taught to do
presentations in school, you will be required to do the same in the corporate
world.
Even if you decide to go the
entrepreneurship route, you still can’t escape this because you have to create
pitch deck presentations to attract investment. You may also have to present
your ideas to your co-workers or potential customers.
If I were you, I would start learning
how to use these presentation making software as soon as I finish reading this
article.
The three most common presentation
making applications out there are:
Microsoft Powerpoint (available to
users of the Windows OS)
Apple Keynote (available to users of
the MacOS)
Google Slides (Good for people who
work with a remote team)
Unfortunately, I haven’t created much
content on these sort of applications but I look forward to publishing some
soon and may update this article as soon as some are ready.
However, one of the popular videos I
have on YouTube is about how to convert a word document directly to powerpoint and
you can also check a post we published on how to make
a powerpoint in portrait form which many people didn’t know
was possible.
Indeed knowledge of these three types
of software has gotten me into positions that I could never have imagined and
granted me a lot of access during my previous work at a government hospital.
You really need to master at least
three of these software with one from each category and I have provided you
with resources to do just that.
Did I miss any important software
group that students need to master?
Now it’s time to hear from you too:
Which of these software are you going
to learn first or did I miss any important group of software that you think
students must learn?
Either way, let me know by leaving a
comment below and also share this with your friends, they may thank you later.
Author Bio:
Written By: Dr. Ehoneah Obed
(Pharmacist, Content Creator, Full
Stack Developer & AWS Certified Practitioner)
Bio of Dr. Ehoneah Obed
Dr Ehoneah Obed is a Pharmacist by
profession and a technology enthusiast who likes to teach on various
technologies, software and mobile applications. In his spare time, he creates
content on any of the above categories or writes various health related
content.
He currently manages a number of blogs
in the Tech and health niches and manages a YouTube channel called Digital
school Academy as well. He has also created a community (IKRATE COMMUNITY W/
DR. EHONEAH) of digital enthusiasts where he conducts regular training sessions
for members.
These applications are used by both
undergraduate and postgraduate almost all Higher Institutions of Study in Ghana
and globally. For example on the global scale Microsoft word is widely engaged
at the for submission of thesistation, assignments and online Quizes by some
students at top universities such as Harvard, Yale and Add all.
Source:modernghana