95% of all SharePoint Developers and Architects Can't Pass the Tech Interview

I've been saying it for a while now, that most SharePoint developers will soon be out of work. Not because SharePoint is drying up and clients are moving to other platforms; it's actually the opposite. There are a lot of Office 365 and SharePoint Online jobs out there, but most of the SharePoint Developers and Architects do not qualify for these new modern roles.

They can't pass the technical interview.

The client's expectations and demands are usually much higher than the capabilities of the technology, we know this, even more so with SharePoint. But in today's modern world, the client's expectations and demands for the cloud, are higher than the skill-sets of the classic SharePoint architect and developer. To be honest, SharePoint cloud solutions are tricky, and there are some core limitations, changes, and patterns that must be understood.

Yes, you have been working with SharePoint for over 10 years, certified, and may even be a MVP, but are you ready for this new cloud-first, mobile-first era? Even if you are a well decorated, certified, and experienced SharePoint developer, at best, you are a junior developer in this new modern world.

The game has changed, the tooling is drastically different, and the thought process to solve common SharePoint problems are not the same.

Let's take a brief glimpse the skills needed for a Modern SharePoint Developer, Architect and Admin. Let's start with a developer, since the changes here are the most drastic.

As a Modern SharePoint developer, you should understand the three main development patterns, and which ones are appropriate for which scenarios. I'm talking about the difference between the following:

• 'Ole School' Feature Framework (WSPs, Event Receivers, Full Trust Code, XML XLST)
• Office-Add-in Model (which is no longer recommended by Microsoft, except for edge-cases). They were famous for the Provider Hosted model, and how they were similar to the C# full-trust solutions we all loved.
• SharePoint Developer's Framework aka SPFx. The new kid on the block and the now, go-to for custom web parts; page layouts; extensions (which replaces JSlink, display templates & xslt); and asset (list, site columns, content types) deployments.

Modern SharePoint developers are disciplined and resist the temptation to try to use C# and CSOM dlls to solve most of their customizing problems in the cloud. Unfortunately, this is why the Provider Hosted model was so abused. Though they provided a great segue for the classic SharePoint developer to dip their toe into the cloud world, some developers bastardized their solutions just to avoid JavaScript.

The Modern SharePoint Developer will know, at minimum, two JS frameworks (e.g. Angular, React, Backbone, Vue, or alike). They will know the difference between a UI framework (Bootstrap, OfficeUIFabric, Foundation...) and a client-side development framework. They will know how to create custom WebAPIs and understand the different authentication and authorization Azure AD patterns needed to properly secure them. They will be well abreast of the different Office 365 apis (SharePoint restAPI, Management Activity restAPIs, graphAPIs) the limitations of each and when to create a custom WebAPIs to overcome gaps and avoid "chatty" solutions.

Finally, the Modern SharePoint Developer will know the difference between Remote Event Receivers and Webhooks, and why webhooks are more stable, but have some limitations where RER are still needed. Modern SharePoint Developers should know when to customize and when to hold (most likely because the feature is coming soon OOB). Most importantly, they will be aware of what's happening at Microsoft thru the Microsoft PnP team, Office 365 roadmap, open-source samples, and the super awesome PnP site provisioning engine.

For the Modern SharePoint Architects, they should know the core differences between a Office 365 Tenant and an 'ole school' SharePoint Farm. They should know the general settings available in the basic admin modules (e.g. the SharePoint Admin & OneDrive Admin, Tenant Admin). They should understand the basics with compliance, governance, & security and the proper places to configure retention, DLP, and Mobile Management policies (hint, it's no longer in the Site Collection). They should be aware of the different migration tools needed to move content from onprem to the cloud and how Azure Storage plays a critical part in this process. They should know which components of Azure (that comes OOB at no additional charge) and are required for certain Office 365 features. They should understand the pros, cons and limitations with Azure Web Jobs, Azure Functions (a.k.a sever-less solutions), App Services, and Azure AD (i.e. they should not be creating Azure VMs just to host custom Web APIs).

For the Modern SharePoint Admin, they should know the new upper limits with SharePoint Site Collections, Document Libraries, and Lists. They should be a true ninja with Remote PowerShell and different cmdlets needed for different situations. They should be able to articulate and understand the differences with MS Teams, Communication Sites, Modern Team Sites, Classic Team Sites with Modern Site Pages, and Yammer Groups. They should understand the differences in the security models with Modern Team Sites and Classic Team Sites. They should know to stay away from Publishing Sites, custom master pages, and page layouts, except for edge-cases. The Message Center will be the Modern Admin's best friend, and they should have a process in place to update the organization of "key" changes.

Yes, there is a lot, and it is forever changing. The worst thing you can do is try to force your classic skill-set & thought process to create a modern-cloud solution.

How can I stay up-to-date?

First, it is going to take a lot of "off-hours" time and commitment. Be open to change...because as soon as you get this down, there will be something else. Have the discipline to not chase everything shiny. There are frameworks that will come and there are frameworks that will go. It just takes experience and patience to see what's a new pattern .vs what's a fad.

1. Create your very own Office 365 tenant for free: Join the Developer Program for Office 365. You will actually be given a "Developer's tenant" which gets the new features first, and in some cases, even before the "First Release" tenants. Use this to play and tinker. You will get all the same features as an E3 o365 subscription, and you will get 20+ user licenses to call your own (i.e. to test out collaboration, different user roles, and to create different profiles).
2. Microsoft Office 365 Pattern and Practice Group: Subscribe to their YouTube Channel, and check out their code samples frequently. There are a lot of great building blocks here. Again, every developer should be aware of the PnP Provisioning Engine. This will be your new go-to that replaces the need for Site Templates and Site Definitions and... it has a much better maintenance story.
3. My o365DevChallenge : I created this series of videos around my experience with the SharePoint Developer's Framework. I'm adding to this constantly as new development features and capabilities surface. I am a bit behind, and plan to catch-up soon.
4. Season 1: Migrating to Office 365: These videos are mostly geared towards Power Users and Admins. But I highly recommend Architects and Developers consume them as well...more on that later. In this series I demo new features and capabilities as they surface in Office 365 and SharePoint.
5. Microsoft Office 365 Road map: Here you will get the a sense of what's in development at Microsoft, what is scheduled to be released, and what Microsoft is cooking (what's in the backlog). This is essential for staying updated with what's coming so you don't make this mistake of customizing too early (i.e. creating a feature that will soon be OOB).
6. Microsoft Azure Resources Page: You think Office 365 is evolving at a fast pace, Azure is moving much faster. Microsoft has collaboration, communications, & compliance on lock with Office 365, their nearest competitor is safely at a distant second. But, in the cloud space, Microsoft is playing catch-up with Azure (Amazon & Google were born there), thus Azure is changing at warp speed. Hold onto your hat as you try to stay up-to-date with what's evolving in the Azure world.

OK, that's it for now. Obviously you have work to do.

Trust me, my head is not in the clouds, and I appreciate that some organizations are moving faster than others. But best believe, you need to be ready. In my next series, I will show you a high-level architecture design with how to can start using cloud principles and patterns for those SP2013 and SP2010 on prem farms that you may be stuck in.

DM me if you have questions, I am pretty active in this space and love to help.

~DeShon