It’s been a while since the last post, I know. Been busy re-imagining spreadsheets (btw follow me on Medium!) over the last few months, but had to make a quick plug for the upcoming Modeloff 2018 competition. For those of you who don’t know, Modeloff is the #1 financial modeling competition in the world. If you’ve been following this blog you’ll know I started covering the competition in 2013, and every year the team comes up with more interesting questions and formats.

Source: Modeloff

New Formats

The first round is October 6th, but unlike previous years, the competition will be much more accessible and enjoyable. Here’s what I like about this year’s changes:

• Access Round 1 questions anytime within a 24-hour period, and you have 12 hours to complete the questions
• There is an “open” Round 2 where anyone can try and answer the questions, but you won’t be considered for the Modeloff Finals
• Enter as a team (up to 6) in either Round 1 or Round 2 (but teams aren’t eligible for the Finals)If you want to have a chance to make it to the Finals in London, you still have to go through the Round 1 and Round 2 “official” path, but for newbies to Modeloff, the Open rounds are a good way to go. See this link for the full details about these new formats. These new formats should make you feel:

Why These New Formats Matter

In the past, Modeloff definitely felt a bit exclusive, meaning only the best financial modelers should be able to enter and compete. At the core of the competition, this makes total sense, and the best financial modelers in the world should still compete since there is still a path to the finals. As an observer and learner, the opportunities to participate in Modeloff is at the very end during the Finals event and GTC (Global Training Camp). The Global Training Camp has become a production in itself, giving up and coming financial modelers an opportunity to learn from the best and brightest in the industry.

Observers also have the opportunity to review previous questions on the Modeloff website, but this is usually a few months after the competition takes place. To capitalize on the excitement around the actual competition starting next week, I believe being inclusive of all skill levels is the right way to go and should encourage more participation in GTC and future Modeloffs. So if you are just learning about financial modeling or on a team of analysts, enter the Open rounds and see how you stack up with the rest of the community!

See You Next Week!

Although I’m working at a place that is re-thinking the building blocks of spreadsheets and docs, my first love will always be Excel. How often do you see “first love” and “Excel” in the same sentence? Some of you Excel nerds out there feel what I’m saying :).

I’ll be entering the competition this year for the very first time, and looking forward to flexing my financial modeling muscles which I haven’t done in years. It should be a very humbling experience, but I think it’s good to stay on top of your Excel skills no matter how much or little you use the tool at work or in your personal life. What I’ve gained using Excel has carried over into work with databases, web development, and programming. Hope you join me next week!