>> Certifications are a great way to advance your career.
Stick around for this episode of
the Low Code Revolution where we have Sari who's going to be
walking us through what's new in the world of
Power Platform certifications. Stay tuned.
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>> Hey, everyone. Welcome to
another episode of the Low Code Revolution.
Today, we're joined by Sari Kulthm,
a Microsoft Senior Content Developer.
He's going to be talking about a new RPA certification
that we have for the Power Platform.
Welcome to the show, Sari.
>> Thank you.
>> Can you tell everyone a little bit,
Sari, about what you do at Microsoft?
>> I create the certification program for
Power Platform here at [inaudible] app team.
>> Awesome. We talked about a new RPA certification.
Can you maybe give everyone
a high-level overview of what RPA means?
>> Absolutely. RPA is robotic process automation person,
so think about it as
these mundane tasks that are
repetitive tasks where usually there's a person down
the screen copying and pasting or just doing
very repetitive task manually.
Instead of, think about it,
putting an actual robot in there,
we move them out and click through the screens.
That's where the role name came from,
is how do we automate these processes.
>> Great. From what I've always understood as is we have
our Cloud flows which we can automate things with an API,
but what about those aspects
that we don't have an API that we can easily call?
That's where robotic process automation
really comes in and helps us
automate those legacy systems or the things on our desktops.
Super cool technology that we
have available in Power Automate desktop now for sure.
With this, you've been hard at work on
a new certification then for RPA.
Can you give us an overview of where
this robotic process automation certification fits into
the overall landscape of
the Power Platform certifications that we have?
>> Absolutely. If I can share my screen right here.
Awesome. If we look at
the Power Platform certification portfolio that we have,
we have different roles in different levels.
We start with Power Platform Fundamentals.
Hey, I'm new to this Power Platform. I heard about it.
I want to know all about,
so I can go take
the fundamental certification and explore my options.
Another option here would be the Power Platform App Maker,
and here is a little bit more about Power Platform already,
but I want to try to test the water.
I want to build new apps and I will build few automations
specifically Cloud automations in this case and I
can experience the power of that Power Platform.
That's where we call a Citizen Developer,
somebody who's a business expert
and want to make their day-to-day life
better and automate few things and build
quick app for their day-to-day business,
and that's where the app maker comes in.
Now, I said my mind is made up and I
want to work full-time building Power Platform solution,
and that's where our functional
consultant certifications comes in.
I go for that track to become a full-time, let's say,
a solution builder for Power Platform in this case and I'm
avoiding the Word Developer in here because
it's going to come later on in the portfolio.
Power BI data analysis association is
basically a certification that
focusing on the Power BI component,
it has more than just create a simple dashboard.
It has more like how do I transform the data that I have and work
little bit more in the data side
other than the other certification in the Power Platform.
The developer certification. This is where,
think about it as a code-first or traditional developer.
I studied computer science.
I'm a Computer Developer and I want to
extend the function of the Power Platform.
Basically, I know or I want to learn
what's out of the box functions that are in Power Platform,
but I want to customize how do I go about that,
and this is the Power Platform developer track.
On the same level, where you think,
hey, I am a developer.
Well, using the Word Developer here,
means that I have some experience with
coding and I want to specialize
in the automation and
specifically in the robotic process automation,
which as you mentioned is focusing more on
the desktop version and
maybe the terminal version of the automation.
That's where the new addition to the family comes in,
and this one dives deeper into
the automation and terminal
automation and the desktop automation space of things.
The last piece is,
this is the expert level and
the only expert level that we have
in the Power Platform portfolio,
it's a Solution Architect.
Usually, a Solution Architect is the person
who have earned both the functional consultant title,
so I know how to build solutions from
out-of-box functions and then I can also know
how to extend and customize these using
the developer tools and
what we have basically in
the portfolio for the Power Platform Developer.
RPA developer is not a mandatory piece for the solution expert,
but if the solution architect role required from
you that you would do desktop and terminal automation,
then we'll recommend that as well.
>> Well, this is great. I love
with the Power Platform that we have
such a robust and clear certification path
for all different features from
that fundamental layer of understanding
the different pieces of the platform and how they work
together all the way to App Maker.
Now with the new RPA certifications,
we're able to go into those more specialty areas
of the platform as well.
I would love to get your take on certifications as a whole.
For someone that is interested in getting into low-code,
whether you're coming from
a Citizen Developer space or like you mentioned earlier,
a Code-first Developer looking to get into low-code.
What is the value that you see in investing in certifications?
>> Absolutely. I'll think about it in a personal capacity.
I'll think about it in two levels.
One is the credential.
That credential could be used for myself
first and that's where I say the person on a piece of it as,
hey, when I go want to study a new topic,
so let's say I want to take the Power Platform fundamental,
it gives me a sense of achievement that, hey,
I got to a level that I can call it that I covered
the fundamentals of this topic
and I can take maybe moving to a different topic,
or if I like it,
I can continue what is the next level or
what is the next role scope in this domain,
so I know basically where to start and where to make a pot,
and that's a very personal thing.
But on the professional level,
think about this credential as a way to prove
on what level did you achieve to
your either employer or
college level if that's something that you can take credit for.
I know in some colleges and community colleges,
you can do that or it's just something that you can share
on your LinkedIn or your potential employer to say, hey,
I've taken the training and completed the exam and
certification in the Power Platform Developer role and hey,
this is my GitHub,
go see my portfolio on the projects that I've built.
That will give you a credibility on showing,
I got certification,
industry-recognized one, and also I
have my portfolio and the projects that I have built.
>> Exactly. Personally,
I always felt like certifications are
a good piece to have in your career journey.
I've taken a Microsoft certification
since I've been in the business here,
and I think it's just a great way to show growth and then
also test your own skills you alluded to.
Where am I actually at in my knowledge of some of these concepts?
Love again that we have
so many different certification paths in Power Platform.
Let us know a little bit more about the RPA certification.
What exactly does it entail and
how can someone best prepare for taking that exam?
>> Absolutely. This certification
is a good fit for you if you're, again,
coming from a developer background,
which means you know traditional coding,
and I'm going to mention a few concepts that are there.
You would see some variables,
loops, conditions,
JSON, and few other services
that you're going to have to deal with there.
The role here, you would start automating, as we mentioned,
time-consuming and repetitive tasks
by using Power Automate in various versions,
whether they're Cloud or desktop.
The way you would do this is you would work
with either Solution Architect or a business owner.
You can create and review solution requirement,
design what you want to build, develop it,
and then deploy it working with
an admin or whoever it gives you access
to Power Platform capabilities
and troubleshoot and evaluate solutions.
The RPA Developer person here would be working
with several people depending on the company size
usually or they might
be a small company they are working by themselves They're
filling several tasks and
basically create this automation for the company.
If we go here,
the slide that I'm sharing all this information is usually on
the website or the certification page.
We'll see several things that are helpful
for us to know more about the certification,
but also get ready for taking the exam or taking the training.
The topics that are covered usually
are available in the skills outline guide,
so if we go to the URL and click on it,
we would see it basically expanding on these areas that I've
talked about on how do we create the solution design,
how do we create documentation,
develop it, deploy, and troubleshoot it.
There's two ways to study for this.
There is one that is on your own,
which are self-paced learning
and the contents for that is available on
Microsoft Learn and we list all of
the specific learning paths on the website.
The other way to do it, if you want to join a course with
other folks that will have a special instructor
who is certified in
this topic where you can have the opportunity to ask
questions and work in groups with
other folks who are learning as well to the very,
let's say, more immersive experience.
You can go through a bunch of learning partners all over the world
and see what available courses they have coming up for PL-500,
which is the code name for the RPA Developer.
Once you take this training,
whether it's self-space or instructor-led,
you can take a practice exam before you
jump to your official exam and we'll also list that too.
Then once you feel you're ready,
you've built few projects
on your own and ready to tackle the exam,
you can go also through our partners and
take the official exam and earn your certification.
>> Awesome. Well, this is great.
Thank you so much for coming on the show,
Sari, to share about this new RPA certification.
I'm excited to take
the exam and go through some of the study resources.
If you want to get certified in the new RPA certification there,
make sure to check out the resources that we have on
Microsoft Learn and some of our self-guided training,
and our partner resources as well.
Thank you so much. We'll see you next time
on the next episode of the Low Code Revolution.
>> Thank you.
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