Categories
Growing your career: permanent & freelance IT Consultants

A Microsoft Technologies Careers Guide

Learn all about Microsoft careers and the various paths one can take within the Microsoft Technologies ecosystem with this guide.


It was not that long ago that Microsoft seemed on track to take a more secondary role in the future of enterprise technology.

Software sales had been sluggish for some time, and the company seemed unable to keep up with the pace of innovation of its competitors. Well, things change quickly, especially in IT.

To the surprise of some, Microsoft has managed to bounce back in just a few years. It has indeed delivered its finest OS to date, Windows 10, created a new line of successful hardware products like the Surface. Thus it become a top contender in the cloud wars. Moreover, Microsoft is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the current situation. Being incredibly fortunate with cloud-based collaboration tools ranging from Azure and Office 365 to Microsoft Teams.

Hence, investing time and resources in pursuing one of the many Microsoft careers is a solid career bet. Here is a little roadmap that we hope helps guide you on your journey to personal and IT professional success.

Microsoft careers: a solid IT career investment

Microsoft careers: a solid career investment

The surge in remote work caused by COVID-19 has greatly helped the cloud industry. Microsoft’s Azure business keeps on growing, consolidating the company’s position as the world’s second-largest cloud provider with only Amazon ahead. In turn, the increased demand for cloud know-how has led to a severe drought of talent, especially in areas like cybersecurity. Both cloud and security are highly coveted these days.

Additionally, in a world dominated by data, business intelligence is key. Here, Microsoft also reigns supreme with tools like Microsoft Power BI — a business intelligence platform that caters to business users. As an IT professional, knowing your way around MS Power BI will make you a great asset in today’s enterprise. There will always be someone in need of an expert to set up the environment, train end-users and troubleshoot.

Finally, Microsoft’s sheer size and reach, as well as its tools and platforms focused on developers. This means that a vast amount of applications and solutions are developed using Microsoft’s technology.

Ubiquity, scalability, flexibility and endless possibilities are the words that come to mind when trying to explain what Microsoft stands for in this day and age.

In addition, the Redmond, Virginia company is almost everywhere and in everything, connecting the world economy across industries, practices and solutions.

This Microsoft careers guide connects the dots and providing a holistic perspective on the Microsoft ecosystem and the various career paths one can take within.

The Microsoft Technology Stack

Microsoft careers: The Microsoft Technology Stack

Ubiquity, productivity, scalability, flexibility. These are some of the words that come to mind when trying to explain what Microsoft stands for in this day and age. The Redmond, Virginia company is almost everywhere and in everything, connecting the world economy across industries, practices and solutions. Cloud, operating systems, repositories, collaboration tools…

But, as an IT professional, you would encompass more than enough by focusing on the company’s core solutions. Here are the principal technologies in the Microsoft Technology Stack.

The different IT career paths within Microsoft

Microsoft careers: The different career paths within Microsoft

Given the breadth and depth of Microsoft’s tech stack, the number of jobs and specialties that the environment comprises is practically impossible to capture completely and concisely at the same time. There are just too many.

However, you can identify a series of recurrent role across the various technologies. The company itself highlights these common career paths in its training programs.

Also explore our article on Microsoft career paths for an overview of the different career paths within the Microsoft ecosystem.

Developing your Microsoft expertise

Microsoft careers: Developing your Microsoft expertise

As with other proprietary families of technologies, the best way to go about learning the basics and getting a foot in the door is through official Microsoft certifications. These provide you with a solid technical foundation while validating your expertise in front of recruiters and the overall industry.

In conclusion, there is a myriad of certifications one can obtain, based on desired role or IT career path, or depending on the specific skills you would like to acquire.

Here’s a quick guide to the world of Microsoft certifications.  

Connect by Mindquest Newsletter
Categories
IT Decision-makers Tips & errors to avoid

The Microsoft Technology Stack for Business

When it comes to enterprise technology, the Microsoft Technology Stack reaches almost as far as the eye can see. From operating systems and development tools to cloud computing, the company owns an extremely diversified portfolio of solutions that can be hard to keep track of as an IT professional.

Don’t get lost in the clutter. These are the principal platforms that make up the Microsoft Technology Stack.


.NET

An open-source, cross-platform development framework used to build all sorts of applications. .NET, allows developers to choose among a wide variety of programming languages, code editors and libraries, giving users the flexibility and scalability to build solutions for everything from web and mobile to IoT.

It is these broad capabilities that make .NET one of the world’s most popular developer platforms. As such, it benefits from the support of a vast community and an extensive repository of libraries.

GitHub

GitHub has been part of Microsoft since the company acquired it in 2018. The platform is used by both amateur and expert developers to host code, review it and collaborate by focusing on version control and following a continuous integration, continuous delivery (CI/CD) philosophy. 

Its impressive community is what really fuels GitHub. Millions of programmers upload their work and review each other’s code through the platform. As such, GitHub is one of the world’s largest open-access repositories and collaborative projects platforms.

Furthermore, the fact that is used by hobbyists, corporations and top professionals alike has turned GitHub into a sort of LinkedIn for developers and tech enthusiasts. A place to showcase one’s talent and concrete achievements.

Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 is one of today’s leading cloud-based productivity platforms. It combines the traditional MS Office suite with a set of collaboration tools and features like cloud-based storage and Teams to provide organizations and individuals with the means to get things done wherever they are located.

It is a mix of software like Microsoft Teams, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, with flexible and scalable cloud storage and security and world-class security. From an IT perspective, it requires companies to deploy, maintain and update an infrastructure that is adapted to business needs while preserving security and a nimble spirit.

Microsoft Careers

Dynamics 365

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems are all-encompassing software toolsets with capabilities extending across marketing, sales and customer service. As a leading CRM, Dynamics 365 allows organisations to easily plan and execute operations from a single platform. The speed, efficiency and cohesiveness derived from its use have made CRM a staple of today’s business management – as well as one of the most profitable specialisations in the IT world.

Dynamics 365 is a scalable solution that allows for advanced customization, making it adaptable to the needs of each company. It is the job of technical MS experts to set up, customize and maintain this environment in a way that maximizes efficiency, user satisfaction and customer loyalty.

Test these upcoming Dynamics 365 features

Azure

Microsoft Azure is the company’s public cloud computing platform. A competitor to Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, and IBM Cloud, Azure provides companies with a wide range of cloud services, including computing, storage, analytics and networking.

Azure is an open-source-friendly, adaptable and scalable platform that fits the needs of every customer. Furthermore, Azure is industry-specific, providing dedicated tools to sectors like healthcare, e-commerce or retail. It offers 4 different types of cloud computing: infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), software as a service (SaaS) and serverless.

A whole army of professionals is needed to design, deploy and maintain such cloud ecosystems.

On Learning Azure IoT and Being an Active Member of the Community

Microsoft Power Platform

The Microsoft Power Platform enables businesses to create and deploy custom-made workflow apps and reports that help them easily extract, process, and analyse data. The Power Platform is integrated with the rest of Microsoft’s ecosystem of platforms as well as with other third-party apps.

It is a key tool in today’s data-driven business world, providing actionable insights in real time. It requires a team of technical experts to deploy, maintain and expand, as well as to train end-users and offer them support on a daily basis.

Microsoft SQL Server

SQL Server is a relational database management system (RDBMS) by Microsoft. Also called MSSQL, it serves as the backbone to data registering, accessing and manipulation for its enterprise customers.

It is protected by high-grade encryption and caters to a variety of businesses depending on size and data needs.

Learn more about the QlikView Developer Job

Visual Studio

Microsoft Visual Studio is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that can be used to build anything from the ground up. In a way, IDEs are the word processors of the programming world, allowing developers to create applications for a multitude of platforms from a single place. Visual Studio includes debugging, automation and team collaboration features, creating a holistic environment to conceive and deliver high-quality applications.


Learn more about the Microsoft Technology Stack and the various roles within Microsoft Technologies in our comprehensive Microsoft Technologies Careers Guide

Sign up to to Mission Contol Center Newsletter