Here is a very nice utility for processing Excel tables in Java with an annotation-based approach: the yava Excel stripper.  all that you will require to give this functionality a test run is Excel file, the yava-excel-stripper library, and the Apache POI library of your choice. This tutorial has plenty of code snippets to illustrate, and it covers how to read string columns, non-string columns as well as handling custom conversion when internal conversion fails. This is another what I would call longtail solutions that are contained within the incredibly complex code.google.com website. You may already be aware of this library if you are a Java developer but I thought it was worth posting anyway.
for developers
Entry Level Programming Jobs
One thing that is attractive about computer programming or web development as a career is that you can acquire many of the skills that you need to do it professionally without first convincing someone to hire you so that you can get work experience. Entry level software jobs are something that you can create yourself.
Creating and executing your own projects is a way to display your talents for any future employer. Obviously breaking into the industry still won’t be easy if your work is of poor quality, but having no formal work experience doesn’t have to be a strict barrier to entry, as it would be in many industries.
Lou Franco over at Atalasoft has an excellent list of seven ways to get software work experience without having to actually be hired by anyone.