Getting ready for your first Microsoft Certification

Certification is a great way to demonstrate your competency, knowledge of best practices, and with free recertification, Microsoft is ensuring certificate holders stay abreast of the latest and don't become irrelevant at no cost to the individual to keep their certificate from expiring. 

On top of that, I've been able to show off my badge in my email signature which has began to make some of my coworkers wish to attain the same. This is great since we're actively moving to the Azure Cloud, Dynamics, Office 365, and Power Platform where I work! We have had resistance to change, but by actively becoming a champion of change with a badge (and more coming!) in my email signature, others are becoming more confident because they feel they have a mini Microsoft certified expert to make sure they can feel supported during the process of trying new stuff out. It may seem silly but it's a psychological thing that I've personally witnessed since being the first at my organization to get a certification. Also, it gamifies the learning experience so important in our field and I'm a millennial and a sucker for that sort of thing. We love our awards! 😂 

In short, certifications provide benefits to the individuals holding them, their employers, Microsoft, and the customers consuming services written using the proven and tested standards Microsoft has spent years perfecting, documenting, and writing up for us to consume as learning modules with some of the greatest experts in their field.

I encourage employers to consider investing in training and certification across the organization to maximize the benefit to us all through nature of the butterfly effect alone! Many of you may already have certification discounts available in the Microsoft Enterprise Skills Iniative site. You can check by signing in with your work account. Wouldn't hurt to try and see!

Wishing you all the best and happy learning!

 - Ed