Empowering Tech Opportunities for You and Your Community!

With the current economic situation there is a huge opportunity for both job seekers and the technology industry to get trough this economic crises together. With this blog I want to pay forward all the opportunities and encouragement I received, by empowering you and your community. Microsoft and their partners have an extensive number of efforts which can inspire you for your next steps. With the extensive number I mean that this is a blog and opportunity collection, of which an opportunity might be for you. Feel free to scroll away to the opportunities. Before the listed opportunities I hope to offer some guidance by sharing my personal story and perspective, with an overview for your personal and your communities benefit.

As the world is changing rapidly it can be difficult to navigate because of insecurity. With all this insecurity there is technology which continues to growth relentlessly. This offers a great opportunity of work.

With goal setting, commitment to learn and grow, a career in technology can be an opportunity for you, even during corona time!

Starting my career in technology

I hope that with my story you see that anything you put your mind to you can achieve, no matter how many set backs you face!

For me setting up my career has taken me 15 years to find the ultimate job at the given time. I had lack of opportunity because of many obstacles. As the oldest child of five, my disrupted family has given me a big weight to carry. Our mother is a migrant from Israel to the Netherlands and our Dutch father left us to travel the world, while we were of young age. I have grown up in a very international environment by visiting my family in Israel as much as possible and getting involved with visitors from all over the world at the house we grew up in. I helped my mother with her work as an alternative health provider at our house in a little village in the center of the Netherlands. The people who came to our house were mostly (hard) drug addicts (and their families) and/or people suffering from trauma of which they wanted to break free from. I have learned valuable lessons from their life experiences and caring for them. I have met during this time some of my still closest friends.

From the age of twelve on wards I remember being on continuous survival mode. I left my mothers house at the age of sixteen. My financial situation was difficult because of low minimum youth income wages and the high rent in Amsterdam, where I was supposed to go to school. I was not able to finish high-school and had disappointing grades. I am dyslectic and skipped many classes because I didn't do my homework and preferred to spend time with horses at the stables.

In my twenties I dedicated myself to working and studying hard to seek stability. I did finish high-school, studied social work for one year and continued law school to prepare myself to find a job that contributes to society and human rights. During these years I have moved more than 15 times and took on any job I was able to get. This was of course not helping with my mental health. I had the feeling of being responsible for the well being of the people around me and was not being able to set healthy boundaries for myself. I was conditioned to live a life surrounded by trouble in many different ways and had accepted myself to be in unhealthy relationships with family and 'friends'. I could write a very sensational book this life of survival. The lack of information, network and guidance didn't help to find a way out.

To build a network and educate myself I went for any educational opportunity about career building or interest to build deeper knowledge. For example, I joined student society for international development, extra curricular classes on economic botany, Israeli politics, Moroccan legal system. sharia law and online classes about cyber security. From a legal perspective I have learned about the history and developments of the international world order and and how globalization has become shaped with unsustainable economic growth goals. These goals have been set by governments and companies without considering the value of life. I feel very strong about this because of my family history and the prosecution they faced during the second world war (my grandfather is the only one from his family who survived in the most dehumanizing way). I have set my goal at young age to make a difference and always offer help when I am capable to do so.

It took me a shift in mindset to consider a career in technology. When I had jobs at customer service I found an agency who placed me at the Microsoft's switchboard. I learned about technology and I perceived a working environment that was based on positive values. Trough life experience with hardship I developed strong qualities like an open mindset, creativity, emotional intelligence and adaptability. These are survival mode qualities I use today in a job that offers me stability and much more.

I truly love my job at Microsoft as it offers me an encouraging environment of positive values, colleagues and partners who truly care about my well-being, the best mentors, education, challenging work, never a dull day, freedom and trust to schedule my time and work, a great network of business relationships and a platform to build thought leadership to empower others.

Microsoft continuously challenges mindset and educates their workforce. You can start educating yourself with self discipline. Studying can truly unlock great career opportunities. The good news is that for a career in technology you don't need to go to university for many years. The hard skills you need might seem unachievable, but trust me, they can be learned! With motivation and education you can achieve these hard skills in a few months or even weeks!

Develop your skills!

You can start educating yourself with self discipline. Studying can truly unlock great career opportunities. The good news is that for a career in technology you don't need to go to university for many years. The hard skills you need might seem unachievable, but trust me, they can be learned! With motivation and education you can achieve these hard skills in a few months or even weeks!

Digital transformation

 Knowledge about the business has come by being curious and learning. Especially at Microsoft the amount of Learning opportunities for employees is tremendous. With the rapid pace of technical developments many business that work with technology are going trough a digital transformation. This means that most people see their job changing with technology and continuous learning seems here to stay. This is a big opportunity to consider for job seekers, students and people looking to change their career. Microsoft and educational institutions like Coursera, EDX and others offer online free and low-cost high quality education.

In case you are considering a job change I encourage you to research your current industry from a digital transformation perspective. These might help you bring in your work experience, network and expertise as a valuable asset to set up a new career plan.

Culture as an asset

One of Microsoft's and many other technological companies have build a strong culture for employees. This often means respect and integrity, healthy lifestyle, continuous learning and diversity. These influence every part in our being and are important to find in an employer.

Diversity has become an important part of corporate culture an supports the desired growth mindset. In the tech industry there is a lot of work to do to become a reflection of equal opportunity for all. Corporations want to cultivate inclusive behavior and equal opportunity.

These days diverse cultures in companies contribute to profitability, innovation, decision making and employee engagement. The demand for diverse people should be motivated by smart business decision making to create value of corporate health and performance.

The opportunities to empower you and your community for a career in tech!

Tech companies have set up partnerships that are actively supporting a equal opportunity. These partners guide and support communities that are not yet honorably represented in the tech industry. For example by promoting digital literacy for children, free education, skill programs and many more. In this blog I try to collect an overview of programs and organizations for your benefit! If you know about an initiative, please let me know so that I can add it in this blog.

Microsoft and Partner opportunities

The following Microsoft and partner opportunities might inspire you to commit to a new goal. The list is long and therefor a short summery of the opportunities for you to know which are most interesting for you. If you decide to pursue and you like to share we would love to hear from you!

1. Empowerment Community - LinkedIn Community to network and share opportunities. This community is for anyone who want to learn, network and/or grow. Both for those who want to grow into a tech job, looking for job/internships and those who want to offer opportunities in their network or company. We now have Microsofties, business decision makers of IT companies, talent development businesses, diversity & inclusion enthusiasts and talent who are #Opentowork!
2. LinkedIn Learning - Free training for the 10 most demanded digital jobs. Learning paths for soft skills and training to prepare for job interviews.
3. Microsoft Skills Initiative - Free technical training and certification.

• Azure - Microsoft Cloud
• Modern Workplace - Microsoft productivity software
• Power Apps - Building Apps
• Additional Microsoft Learning opportunities

4. Non-Profits: Software licenses, Certification & Training

5. Azure Academy (Refugee Talent Hub + Techionista)- The Refugee Talent Hub brings employers and refugees together with paid employment as main goal. Technionista - Techionista is dedicated to empowering women through technology. 

6. Microsoft Education - Programs, frameworks and education for schools, teachers. non-profits, families and children.

1. Empowerment Community

We have set up a LinkedIn Empowerment Conmunity for you to join and keep you informed with education and engaged with job opportunities from our partners. In the Netherlands only about 95% of the Microsoft business goes trough thousands of tech companies. Within this group we, our network and communities can connect, reach out to each other and grow together.

We need to give the community time to grow. During these time I will pitch it to my network of Tech Directors and HR to join and contribute with their knowledge! Feel welcomed to join, engage and learn about growth mindset and the opportunity in technology. #OpenToWork

2. LinkedIn Learning

The following graph reflects the 10 identified jobs that have the greatest amount of job openings in today’s economy and are well positioned to continue to grow in the future. They pay a livable wage, and require skills that can be learned online. The initiative also offers free job-seeking tools.

The LinkedIn Learning blog offers more insights. Next to the LinkedIn courses I added a random average salary for this role in the Netherlands to give you an indication of the salary base. If you know Dutch you can take a test at werkinhetvooruitzicht.nl/ to learn which of these ten training's would suit you best.

Financial Analyst - € 4.537 per month

Project Manager - € 4.400,00 per month

IT administrator (Prepare for CompTIA Network+ Certification) € 2.750,00 per month

Data Analyst - € 3.600,00 per month

Sales Representative - € 3.500,00 per month

Software Developer - € 2.500,00 per month

Digital Marketing Specialist - € 2.500,00 per month

IT Support / Help Desk (Prepare for the CompTIA A+ Certification) 

€ 2.350,00 per month

Graphic Designer - € 2.300,00 per month

Customer Service Specialist - € 1.850,00 per month (remember, this is where I started)

You can work on your soft skills in support of you pursuing a job with the following Learning Paths:

1. Job seeker - Finding a Job During Challenging Economic Times
2. Critical soft skills - Master In-Demand Professional Soft Skills
3. Digital transformation - Digital Transformation in Practice: Virtual Collaboration Tools (combination of digital fluency and remote work)  
4. Allyship and Inclusive Conversations - Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging for All

Some additional LinkedIn Learning tips and trainings:

• LinkedIn wants to empower you with #OpenToWork to clarify that you are looking for an opportunity.
• LinkedIn offers free interview prep tools, including a newly launched feature leveraging Microsoft-AI for real-time feedback on your answers.

Build a job search strategy

Recovering from a Layoff - https://lnkd.in/dfBxdip

Recession-Proof Career Strategies - https://lnkd.in/dds5iMq

A Career Strategist's Guide to Getting a Job - https://lnkd.in/dJetjSu

Finding a Job - https://lnkd.in/dfqVarZ

10 Ways to Stay Motivated While Job Hunting - https://lnkd.in/ddPVH3g

Lean on your professional network

Learning LinkedIn - https://lnkd.in/dWTcPQk

Digital Networking Strategies - https://lnkd.in/dBb_GrK

Digital Body Language - https://lnkd.in/dBb_GrK

Improve your interviewing skills

Writing a Resume - https://lnkd.in/dYX7-va

Video Interview Tips - https://lnkd.in/d5gAj3J

Engage the Likability Effect in the Job Search - https://lnkd.in/d2RinBB

3. Microsoft Skills Initiative

The Microsoft Skills Initiative focuses on both employers and job or opportunity seekers. It provides free access to learning paths and content to help people develop the future ready skills.

Watch the announcement event here and visit this site for more information.

To become a Microsoft technology specialist you can start with the Fundamentals training. These training's are offered in various ways such as on-demand at Microsoft Learn and live at the Microsoft Virtual Training Days or paid trough a partner. The Virtual Training Days are free of charge and sometimes offer a free certification voucher.

Check the Training Certification Poster and research your path of interest at Microsoft Learn for free and accessible training self-paced on-demand, online courses and learning paths and Microsoft Certifications. Check this deck for the more extended training en certifications overview. Depending on your experience you need to invest time into studying.

Microsoft currently offers discounted technical certifications for a significantly discounted fee of $ 15 available to those who self-attest that their employment has been impacted by COVID-19. . Participants will have the ability to schedule an exam from September to the end of the year, and exam takers will have until March 31, 2021 to complete the exam.

Azure

Microsoft Certifications:

• Azure Fundamentals
• Azure Data Fundamentals
• Azure AI Fundamentals
• Azure Administrator Associate
• Azure Developer Associate
• Azure Security Engineer Associate
• Data Analyst Associate

If you decide to go for the Azure Fundamentals, you can read my Azure Fundamentals Exam Prep Tips blog to help you prepare for this study and certification exam.

Modern Workplace

• Microsoft 365 Fundamentals
• Microsoft 365 Teams Administrator Associate
• Microsoft 365 Administrator Associate
• Microsoft 365 Developer Associate

Power Platform

• Power Platform Fundamentals
• Power Platform App Maker Associate

4. Non-Profits: Software licenses, Certification & Training

Microsoft offers special pricing offerings for non-profit organizations and individuals. If you are involved with a non-profit, keep this in mind as technology can help to bring your community work to a higher level. Check the criteria to be eligible.

Check out our consolidated list of free training and certifications available to nonprofits. Dozens of courses are available for any skill level from beginner to advanced. Capacity building and digital skills are increasingly important as the world remains in the midst of a pandemic and engagement has shifted to virtual.

5. Azure Academy

The Azure Academy is a program for anyone who would like to kick off a career in Tech.

Microsoft Netherlands is currently collaborating with both the ITPH Academy and Techionista, who educate diverse talent to become Microsoft Cloud specialists. These programs are intensive with focus on both the hard and soft skills to develop into strong IT professionals.

The ITPH Academy & Refugee Talent Hub brings employers and refugees together with paid employment as main goal. The ITPH Academy offers six tracks that could contribute to your business:

• Microsoft Cloud Engineer
• C# Developer
• Azure Data Engineer
• Azure Data Scientist
• Azure DevOps Engineer
• Azure AI Engineer

Techionista offers educational opportunities to become a technical specialist or data scientist with the Microsoft Azure Certified Data & AI Track (Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900), Implementing an Azure Data Solution (DP-200), Designing an Azure Data Solution (DP-201) and Analyzing Data with Microsoft Power BI (DA-100). The graduates are ready to start a job as a (junior) data scientist, data engineer, data analist, business intelligence professional or data & AI-consultant. Check out their website to understand the requirements and apply for the program!

6. Microsoft Resources

Programs, frameworks, education for schools, teachers. non-profits, families and children.

Explore curated digital skills resources from digital literacy courses to computer science tutorials and more.