The unsung hero of startups? Yep… it’s Excel.

*This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you decide to sign up or make a purchase—at no extra cost to you. I only share tools and trainings I genuinely believe are helpful (and I’ve vetted this one myself!).

When you think “health tech,” your brain probably jumps to AI, machine learning, or some glossy dashboard investors drool over. But let’s be honest—behind the scenes, the tool quietly holding half of the industry together is a spreadsheet.

Yep. Excel.

If you’re a clinician eyeing a career pivot into tech, Excel might actually be your lowest-effort, highest-impact starting point for skills to learn. And no, you don’t need to be “good at math.” You just need to know what data matters.

Where Excel quietly runs the show in health tech

Behind every predictive model or workflow automation, there’s usually a spreadsheet that got the ball rolling. Here’s where Excel still reigns does a lot of heavy lifting:

• Data Cleaning: EHR exports, survey responses, or raw data from wearables? Excel’s often the first stop for cleanup and review.
  
  
• Dashboards: Fast-moving teams (especially in scrappy startups) use Excel for KPIs, outcomes, and ops reports.
  
  
• Project & Resource Management: Need to plan a pilot? Scope onboarding? Budget a new feature? It probably starts in a workbook.
  
  
• Clinical QA & Audits: Think infection trackers, incident logs, chart reviews—organized by your friendly neighborhood clinician.
  
  
• Financial Modeling: From product pricing to ROI projections, Excel’s still the go-to before anything hits a BI tool.
  
  

Why clinicians are built for this

If you’ve built a call schedule, tracked patient outcomes, or wrangled staffing data—you’re already using the concepts of Excel like a pro.

You bring:

✅ Contextual intelligence – You know what actually matters on the ground
✅ Pattern recognition – You’ve spotted clinical trends long before a dashboard told you
✅ Clarity mindset – You explain data, not just present it—huge win in cross-functional teams

You’re not just making spreadsheets. You’re telling stories that shape decisions.

And honestly? This is taking what you do everyday and taking it up a notch. If you’re used to analyzing patient data on a case by case or individual level, learning some basic Excel skills could position you to be able to use this critical thinking for at a patient group or population level which is a desirable skill in leadership positions whether in a health system or at a tech startup.

Top Excel skills that actually show up in job descriptions

The truth is, even when you aren’t working in a role that is analytics-specific, being able to collect, sort, and analyze data is a worthwhile skill. And you’ll likely find that hiring managers are excited to find candidates that are able to make data-driven decisions no matter the role. If you’re feeling like you’re a little light on actual technical skills in the skills section of your resume, Excel can be a great place to start. 

If you’re going to level up, these are the Excel tools to know because they show up everywhere from operations to analytics. 

• VLOOKUP / XLOOKUP – Combine datasets (think patient IDs with visit outcomes)
• Pivot Tables – Instantly group data by provider, diagnosis, region, etc
• Power Query – Clean up messy CSVs without doing it line by line
• Conditional Formatting – Find outliers by automatically flagging metrics outside thresholds
• Charts + Slicers – Build clean, interactive dashboards without needing Tableau
• Bonus: Basic Macros – Automate your audit reports, onboarding trackers, or budget updates
  
  

Pros and cons of leaning on Excel skills in your nonclinical job search

✅ Pros

• You can start today and learn basic skills quickly—no new tools or licenses needed
• Used across every part of health tech: startup, growth-stage, enterprise which makes this skill flexible in a slew of settings
• Easy to showcase in interviews (hint: bring a mini portfolio)
• Translates into product, ops, and data workflows
  
  

❌ Cons

• Is so widely used that Excel skills alone won’t be enough for you to stand out
• Can be seen as “entry-level” if you can’t show real world impact
• Doesn’t scale well to big data projects
• You’ll eventually want to add tools like SQL or Power BI
  
  

Let’s debunk a few myths

“Excel isn’t real tech.”
Cool. But guess what people use when the dashboard breaks? Or when leadership needs a data snapshot yesterday? Yep.

“It’s just intern work.”
Sure, if your intern is planning a multi-site pilot, tracking ROI, and making workflow decisions.

“You need to learn Python.”
Eventually? Maybe. But Excel teaches you logic, structure, and clarity—the same thinking behind every tech tool that comes next.

Want a fast, fun, no-overwhelm way to learn Excel?

You don’t need a boring course or a thick manual to master Excel.

If you have to learn a new skill anyway, why not making it fun and engaging? My recommendation for the go-to resource for making Excel fun? Miss Excel. 

Miss Excel’s trainings are made for people like you—busy professionals who want to do, not just watch.

• Learn the exact skills that show up in health tech job postings
• Build a project you can show off in interviews
• Upgrade your confidence, not just your spreadsheet game

Since launching in June 2020, Miss Excel has grown a community of over 1,000,000 people on TikTok & Instagram (@miss.excel) through viral Excel tip and trick videos infused with creativity, music and dance.

👉 Click here to check out Miss Excel’s free VBA and Data Cleaning workshop —because your career pivot deserves a head start, not a hurdle.

Honestly? Your pivot table might just be the first step in your pivot plan.