Make yourself invaluable to technology employers by getting certified in the right stuff
As a technology professional I always think of my primary skillset as being someone who can learn new technologies quickly and then build robust systems around their implementation and maintenance.
As a Microsoft Partner (MSP), the landscape for partner recognition has recently changed significantly and MSPs have new requirements to maintain their recognition as Microsoft Partners in certain areas. As a result, I have recently started a new round of Microsoft Certifications to try and meet these requirements and it's also made me realize that when it comes to landing a job in a technology field, it pays to know how vendor/partner relationships work so you can leverage this to your own advantage.
Microsoft Partnership can mean a great deal to technology organizations like consulting firms, software vendors and managed service providers. It gives a legitimacy to their Microsoft based services and can provide a direct line to Microsoft led opportunities... in other words BIG dollars for those who are qualified enough to land these deals. To ensure that partners are properly versed in their solutions before Microsoft will send them work, partners are required to meet certain criteria such as "customer success", "net new customers" and "total spend" on the Microsoft platform.
The key message for job seekers is that MS Partners also need to train and maintain a certain number of certified individuals that are related to the area of expertise for that partner. This means that if you are a jobseeker that holds certain Microsoft certifications it makes you significantly more attractive to a Microsoft Partner that is looking to be recognized in that area, especially now that new pathways have been announced.
To illustrate my point, lets look at the "Solutions Partner for Data AI" certification requirements for Microsoft Partners looking to be recognized in this field. the first thing you will notice if you look at the Microsoft Documentation is that it takes some time to interpret all the requirements, but to simplify it I'll break it down below.
To achieve this accreditation (assuming you meet all the other criteria), partners must first have two individuals certified in AZ-104 Azure Administrator Associate. These two certifications enables the partner to be recognized for the below "intermediate" certifications.
Second the partner must have up to five individuals with intermediate certifications, you earn points in intermediate certifications for every individual who has obtained any one of the following:
- Azure Database Administrator Associate - DP-300
- Azure AI Engineer Associate - AI-102
- Azure Data Scientist Associate - DP-100
- Azure Data Engineer Associate - DP-203
- Data Analyst Associate - PL-300
Third, the Partner needs to qualify for advanced certifications so that means two AZ-305 Azure Solutions Architects
Finally they need to earn points in advanced certifications for every individual who has obtained any one of the following:
So that means if you are looking to work in technology and have any of the above certifications, you are probably being highly sought after by MS Partners who want to be recognized by Microsoft in Data and AI
There are also "Advanced specializations" in the Partner world that unlock more benefits and earning certifications like the Azure Data Engineer Associate - DP-203 can count towards these too which makes it even more attractive to prospective employers who need these so they can claim to be Microsoft "Experts".
In summary, it pays to understand how the vendor/partner relationships are measured if you are looking to find work in technology. This isn't just a Microsoft thing, every vendor (e.g. Google, Amazon) has it's own way of recognizing partners and if you can find out how this is done you can leverage this to build skills that employers are desperately seeking.
So far this has been a really interesting journey for me, and if you are looking for work and have any of the certifications above then PLEASE send me a message :) but if not, using the Microsoft Learn platform to earn certifications is much easier than it used to be so get out there and get some certifications!