Why get certified?

Experience is great, but how do you demonstrate your knowledge and skills to employers and colleagues? Certification. But what kind? Microsoft Certification is based on industry-defined roles and on the skills needed to perform those roles. All the educational resources for certification at Microsoft Learn are aligned to these roles. That’s what makes Microsoft Certification so valuable. It demonstrates that you’re proficient in the specific, real-world skills associated with recognized industry roles. It verifies that you know how to apply technical knowledge to solve today’s business challenges. And it helps you keep up with industry changes, because the training is always being updated and new certifications are being added all the time.

Certification isn’t just for high-tech roles

There’s a high demand today for IT professionals with skills in security, networking, and the cloud—and, according to the 2018 Pearson VUE report on the value of IT certification, those are the top three fields people sought certification in last year. There’s also a rapidly growing demand for people with AI skills—in every field, including business apps.

But it’s not only developers, cloud solution architects, and cybersecurity experts, however, who need to demonstrate their skills. More and more industry roles require proficiency in specialized skills. As the business world continues its digital transformation, the need for people with skills using the latest technologies increases, which means that sales managers, marketers, brand developers, data analysts, and business apps solution developers and architects can also benefit from certification.

In this new business environment, people with Dynamics 365 and Power Platform skills are in great demand. With Dynamics 365 workloads increasing, companies need people who know how to implement, optimize, and leverage these business apps for success. That means becoming certified in Dynamics 365 Fundamentals or Power Platform Fundamentals can help land you a job and start you on a path to promotion. Getting certified at the associate level—as a Dynamics 365 functional consultant in Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, Field Service, Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Management, Manufacturing, Finance, or Finance and Operations Apps Developer—can help you qualify for a new position or a promotion. And who knows where certification as a Power Apps + Dynamics 365 Solution Architect Expert or Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations Apps Solution Architect Expert can take you?

How can Microsoft role-based certification help you?

Getting ahead is not magic, luck, or guesswork. You have to plan for success, and you can do that by following a path to certification. Whichever certification level you choose—fundamental, associate, or expert—and whichever role you want to become certified in, by verifying your skills, you’ll unlock opportunities. When you pass a Microsoft Certification exam, you’ll earn a digital badge, which you can share online with your professional network.

• Get hired—faster. Certification validates your skills, which means you’ll have what you need to stand out as a great candidate. Employers regularly use certification as a criterion for hiring. New hires who are certified reach full productivity a month sooner than non-certified hires, and they have more opportunities for advancement, too.
• Get recognized. By building or updating your skills, you can reach full productivity sooner and become an indispensable employee or team member. Compared to their peers, Microsoft-certified developers are 90 percent more productive and nearly 60 percent more efficient. In the 2018 Pearson VUE report, 36.9 percent of IT professionals claimed that certification helped them perform complex tasks more confidently. Certification demonstrates not only your skills mastery but also your willingness to embrace new technologies and your commitment to lifelong learning and growth. For these reasons, in many certification surveys a large majority of respondents report being acknowledged as a valuable employee after certification.
• Get rewarded. On average, certified employees earn 15 percent more than those without certification, are nearly 20 percent more productive, and have longer tenure. According to the 2019-20 Nigel Frank International Microsoft Dynamics Salary Survey, 27 percent of the almost 1400 professionals surveyed reported a direct increase in their salary after certification. As an added bonus, 70 percent of respondents surveyed reported that their employer paid for their certifications in full.
• Get promoted. Certification can distinguish you from other professionals and can improve your opportunities for advancement in your current role or organization. Certified employees are often entrusted with supervising their peers—putting them on the fast track for a promotion. In fact, employers regularly use certification as a criterion for promotion.
• Satisfaction. Don’t take our word for it. Listen to those who have achieved their goals. In 2018, 90 percent of people who earned certification said they would recommend it to a colleague.

Certification benefits businesses, too

Ninety-five percent of IT decision-makers believe that certification adds value to an organization.

Employees are more productive in their roles, teams drive more innovation, and the recruiting and hiring process is simplified.

Check out our next blog post, where we highlight how certification can help women achieve more.