by Contributed | Jun 30, 2021 | Technology
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
Meet Kiki, a 6-year-old Southern Resident orca living in the Salish Sea. She is a member of the Southern Resident orca population which has been declining in numbers to the point of being listed as an endangered species. What are the factors contributing to this decline? Let’s use data explore this question.
Orca swimming just under the surface of the water. Image courtesy of Karoline and Gary Cullen.
Data science is an essential 21st century skill and one of the fastest growing fields. Through the Day of Data program, introduce your students to important data skills using engaging interdisciplinary subjects. With Day of Data: Orcas, coming soon on World Orca Day (July 14th), students engage with data to better understand Kiki, her family, and factors contributing to the decline of the Southern Resident orca population. These self-contained, standards-aligned lessons are suitable for in class, remote, and hybrid learning.
“We need to teach data literacy in order to prepare our students for the future workforce.”
Middle School Educator
Using the Day of Data: Orcas lessons, students will learn transferrable data literacy skills. Students conduct data-driven research and analysis while interacting with multiple sources of data including data types powered by Wolfram. Students use this information to provide evidence for explanations and to generate new questions that can be answered using data.
Today’s learners will enter a world defined by data. Analyzing and extracting key insights from data will become necessary and expected skills for the workforce of the future. Prepare your students by tapping into their creativity and curiosity with Microsoft Hacking STEM – go swimming with the orcas!
by Contributed | Jun 30, 2021 | Technology
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
Welcome to the monthly Healthcare and Life Sciences blog recap, June edition! Check out the highlights below:
Azure API for FHIR
- Supporting CMS Interoperability and Patient Access Final Rules: Learn how the Azure API for FHIR now has features that will help customers achieve compliance for the Interoperability and Patient Access final rule. Click here to read the post.
Power BI
- Power BI Premium Gen 2 Webinar: Learn how the Premium Gen 2 service update increases the value your organization gets from Power BI Premium. Watch the webinar here.
- Free Power BI Training: Interested in hands on Power BI learning for business users? Click here to register.
- Planning for Secure and Scalable Power BI Enterprise Architecture with Sensitive Data: Learn best practices for planning secure and scalable Power BI Enterprise Architecture with Sensitive Data at the core. Click here to learn more.
COVID-19
- COVID-19 Healthcare App Challenge: IQVIA and Microsoft have partnered on sponsoring the COVID-19 Healthcare App Challenge Hackathon. The hackathon is open to participants worldwide and provides a great opportunity to assist with the medical community by also compete for prizes. Click here to learn more.
- Vaccine Volunteer Management: Learn how to create role-based scheduling with Shifts in Teams and the Power Platform. Click here to read the post.
Microsoft Viva
- How Microsoft Viva Can Enhance Your Employee Experience: Interested in learning more about Microsoft Viva? In this webinar, learn how Viva Connections, Viva Topics, Viva Learning, and Viva Insights can enhance your employee experience. Click here to watch.
Confessions of Health Geeks
- The Future of Nursing 2020 to 2030 Health Equity: On this episode, Dr. Vickie Tiase, Director of Research at New York Presbyterian Hospital discusses how technology can help achieve the goals outlined in the 2020 to 2030 Health Equity report. Watch the episode here.
- Jaimie Fox – Top 50 Technical Visionary by Intercon: Learn how Jaimie Fox has helped a large EMR company leverage the Microsoft Clouds and how she earned the Top 50 Technical Visionary Award by Intercon. Click here to learn more.
- Meet the Microsoft Managing Director of the Health and Life Sciences Industry Team: In this episode, Kathy Van Enkevort shares her extensive health background and a few of her ideas on how to transform healthcare. Click here to watch.
MidDay Café
- PowerPoint Live in Teams, PowerPoint Recording, and More: On this episode, the MidDay Café crew breaks down some of the cool things you can do with Microsoft PowerPoint in Teams presentations. Click here to watch.
- Accessibility: Learn about Microsoft accessibility features including the Microsoft Immersive Reader, Dictation in Microsoft Outlook and Word in iOS, and accessibility settings within Microsoft Windows and Power BI. Click here to learn more.
- Operator Connect for Microsoft Teams: In this episode, learn how to connect to existing phone carriers with Microsoft Operator Connect in Teams. Click here to watch.
HLS Show Me How
- Leveraging Rich Media in Microsoft Viva Connections: Learn how to kick your next generation Intranet up a notch by adding video from Microsoft Stream and YouTube to your Microsoft Viva Connections portal. Click here to watch.
Surface Podcast Series
- The New Surface Podcast Series: Join in weekly to learn about the current state of Surface hardware and how it fits into the world of Health and Life Sciences. Click here to learn more.
January’s HLS Blog Contributors:
Michael Gannotti, Principal Technical Specialist, Microsoft Teams
Claire Bonaci, Director, Business Development, Health and Life Sciences
Vasu Sharma, Senior Customer Success Manager, Microsoft Teams
Kendra Burgess, Senior Technical Specialist, Business Applications
Linishya Vaz, Product Marketing Manager, Health and Life Sciences
Greg Beaumont, Senior Technical Specialist, Intelligence
Alfred Ojukwu, Senior Surface Specialist, Health and Life Sciences
Thanks for reading and let us know how else our Microsoft team can help!
Erin Spencer, Technical Specialist, Microsoft Teams
by Contributed | Jun 30, 2021 | Technology
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
Welcome back to Reconnect, the biweekly series that catches up with former MVPs and their current activities.
This week we are thrilled to be joined by none other than 10-time MVP titleholder Jonathan Kehayias! Based in Tampa, Florida, Jonathan counts more than 10 years of experience in database design, development, administration, virtualization, performance tuning, disaster recovery and consolidation.
Currently, Jonathan is employed as a Principal Consultant and Trainer for SQLskills, one of the best-known and most respected SQL Server training and consulting companies in the world.
Jonathan is a performance tuning expert for both SQL Server and hardware, and has architected complex systems as a developer and business analyst. He also has extensive development (T-SQL, C#, and ASP.Net), hardware and virtualization design expertise, Windows expertise, Active Directory experience, and IIS administration experience.
Jonathan is also keen to share this knowledge with the local community, with current projects including speaking at public events local to Tampa and taking part in the Tampa SQL Users Group.
Outside of tech, Jonathan is a Drill Sergeant in the US Army Reserves and is married with two young children. On most nights he can be found at the playground, in a swimming pool, or at the beach with his kids.
For more on Jonathan, check out his blog and Twitter @sqlpoolboy
by Contributed | Jun 30, 2021 | Technology
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
If you’re a functional consultant or data analyst, or even a developer or solution architect, this is a very useful certification to have on your résumé and to help you earn the recognition that you deserve. In this post in our series on discovering your career path with Microsoft Power Platform certifications, we explore the benefits of achieving a Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate certification. Use this Microsoft Certification to validate the applicable skills you’ve worked so hard to hone—whether you’re just starting out, looking to advance, or wanting to change to a new, in-demand career. And we point out other certifications you can earn, depending on your career path.
If you’re hoping that certification can help you advance your career, you’re not alone. In fact, 61 percent of respondents in the Nigel Frank Microsoft Dynamics Salary Survey believe that certifications give you an edge in the job market. In addition, a functional consultant certification from Microsoft is recognized worldwide, so you can let employers everywhere know that you have the skills they need.
The functional consultant role and certification
What does your workday look like? A typical day for a functional consultant might include gathering requirements for a Power Apps project and collaborating with solution architects, designers, and business stakeholders to understand and flesh out those requirements. As the project moves forward, functional consultants could be analyzing data, automating processes, creating and configuring application enhancements, building custom user experiences, creating virtual agents, or designing seamless integrations with third-party applications. Functional consultants iterate and incorporate feedback from the team to improve the product and add extensions as needed.
Does this sound like you? To qualify for this certification, you’re likely to be a functional consultant, a data analyst, a developer looking to hone your consulting and configuration skills, a solution architect, or an IT professional with knowledge and experience configuring Microsoft Power Platform. You can leverage your Dynamics 365 model-driven applications skills and data modeling principles. This certification lets the world know that you’re considered qualified to build and implement solutions that use Power Apps, Power BI, and Power Virtual Agents.
As a functional consultant, you can use this certification to market yourself more effectively for projects and other engagements. This certification lets organizations know that you can build solutions requiring no code or low code, which would normally require developer expertise.
Benefits of certification
In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, certifications can demonstrate that you’re technically agile. It’s important to have a holistic understanding of several domains. In Benefits of Role-Based Certifications,[1] IDC reports that skilled IT professionals typically have multiple roles and that certifications based on their roles better prepare them for real-world responsibilities. The research demonstrates that professionals with a role-based certification perform on average 26 percent better than their colleagues without certifications.
The Global Knowledge 2020 IT Skills and Salary Report[2] notes that 87 percent of IT professionals have at least one certification, and nearly 40 percent are pursuing another one. To remain competitive and prove to employers that your skills are up to date, certification makes a lot of sense.
In addition to highlighting your specific technical skills, certification also indicates that you’re willing to put forth effort to learn new technologies to get ahead and stay ahead. Employers are building tech-intensive organizations where people have not only the necessary skills but also a willingness to embrace a culture of learning.
Other certifications for you
As you can see, there are many paths to the functional consultant certification. Depending on your path, you might consider several different Microsoft Certifications. Many IT professionals hold multiple certifications—they indicate a breadth of knowledge and skills.
If you haven’t gotten the fundamentals certification yet, consider adding it to your portfolio. The Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Fundamentals certification proves your basic skills across Microsoft Power Platform. It highlights your familiarity with computer technology, data analytics, cloud computing, and the internet.
If you come to the functional consultant role via the traditional development path, take a look at the new Microsoft Power Platform Developer Associate certification. To learn more, read New certification: Microsoft Power Platform Developer Associate.
Those who come to the functional consultant role as data analysts with Power BI expertise might want to explore earning the Microsoft Certified: Data Analyst Associate certification. Or, if you have a lot of functional consultant experience, your logical next step would be to earn the Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Solution Architect Expert certification.
How do I get started?
People who become functional consultants are flexible technical experts who love creating, building, and extending applications, and they understand the value of collaborative work between business and technology. As you’ve seen, there is more than one path to this role. However, if you aren’t far enough along to be ready for certification, there are several things you can do to prepare. Here are some suggestions:
- Work on a Microsoft Power Platform or Dynamics 365 model-driven app implementation project.
- Shadow a functional consultant or a solution architect who works with Power Apps.
- Build a basic productivity app using Power Apps.
- Create a basic productivity flow using Power Automate.
- Put together a basic dashboard using Power BI.
- Take available learning paths on Microsoft Learn.
- Sign up for an instructor-led training course.
If you’re ready to get started on your path to certification, check out our Microsoft Power Platform Associate Functional Consultant certification journey map. You can also find it in the resources section on the associated certification and exam pages.
To plan out your path, follow the sequence on the Microsoft Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate journey map. Start by deciding whether this certification is a good fit for you.
Next, choose the training you’ll need to be prepared. To understand what you’ll be measured on when taking the exam, review the Exam PL-200 skills outline guide on the exam page. Then sign up for the training that fits your learning style and experience:
A practice exam is available for this certification. Take a trial run with Microsoft Official Practice Test PL-200 Microsoft Power Platform Functional Consultant. All the exam objectives are covered in depth, so you’ll find what you need to be ready for any question.
After you pass the exam and earn your certification, you can continue to broaden your technical expertise by taking one of the other certifications described in this blog post or by exploring other certification offerings. Consider our intermediate and advanced certifications when you achieve the next milestones on your career journey. Map out the possibilities with Microsoft Power Platform and Dynamics 365 certification paths.
Where’s my community?
Join a community to network with other functional consultants, share ideas, and ask questions. You can also find news about Microsoft events and learning opportunities.
Related blogs and other resources
Celebrate with the world: Post your badge on LinkedIn
When you earn a certification or learn a new skill, it’s an accomplishment worth celebrating with your network. It often takes less than a minute to update your LinkedIn profile and share your achievements, highlight your skills, and help boost your career potential. Here’s how:
- If you’ve earned a certification already, follow the instructions in the congratulations email you received. Or find your badge on your Certification Dashboard, and follow the instructions there to share it. (You’ll be transferred to the Acclaim website.)
- To add specific skills, visit your LinkedIn profile and update the Skills and endorsements section. Tip: We recommend that you choose skills listed in the skills outline guide for your certification.
It’s easy to renew your certification
When your Microsoft Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate certification expires, you can renew your certification by passing a free renewal assessment on Microsoft Learn—anytime within six months before your certification expires. For more details, read our blog post, Stay current with in-demand skills through free certification renewals.
Plus, effective June 2021, a certification is valid for one year from the date you earned it. This shift aligns with the rapid evolution of cloud technology and skills. Get more information in our blog post Is your certification expiring soon? Renew it for free today!
Ready to discover your career path?
You’re a skilled technical professional. Are you ready to explore where Microsoft Certification can take you? See how a functional consultant certification can highlight your skills, as you innovate, turn good ideas into great solutions, and take the next steps on your Microsoft Power Platform career path.
[1] Source: IDC white paper, sponsored by Microsoft, Benefits of Role-Based Certifications, #US46572820, June 2020.
[2] Global Knowledge, 2020 IT Skills and Salary Report, 2020.
by Contributed | Jun 30, 2021 | Technology
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
> This is based on the Git Hub curriculum https://github.com/microsoft/Web-Dev-For-Beginners
There are 16 million developers in the world today. Roughly half of those, 8 million are web developers. Web development is therefore a good skill to have as you are looking to land that first job and build a career in tech. But where do you begin to learn all that? With this path
Web dev for beginners path.
It covers everything from HTML, CSS, JavaScript to Accessibility.
Intro to programming
What even is programming? Well, it’s a way to instruct your machine to do things for you. By running statements, you can things like creating a web a page, a simple script or why not a computer game. The possibilities are endless. You do need some kind of text editor to type it all in, we provide that to in this first module.
Intro to programming
Accessibility on the Web
Not everyone has perfect eyesight or see the colors you do or can even see at all. As a developer you need to realize that when you build programs, you should include everyone. There are specific tags and approaches you can use to make your app usable by anyone, regardless of disability. Be inclusive and build better apps.
Web accessibility
JavaScript variables and data types
One of the most popular programming languages right now is JavaScript. JavaScript can be used in the browser to create an interactive experience, but it can also be used on the backend to create APIs, application that can talk to other services and even databases. Learn how to think in programming by being introduced to the concept of variables and data types.
JavaScript variables and data types
Functions
When you start out, you might have all your code statements in one file. But there is a way to organize your code so it can be made more readable but also reusable. What you can do is to create named areas, functions, which can be called whenever you need them to carry out a task for you.
Functions in JavaScript
Decisions with IF/ELSE
Your code can execute differently depending on the values of different variables or some other condition. Having that flexibility makes your application useful in many different scenarios. Learn about IF, ELSE and much more.
Decisions with IF/ELSE
Arrays and loops
Sometimes your data takes on the form of a list. Imagining a recipe, or an ice cream menu or why not a receipt of things. Lists make it possible to store more than one thing and there are constructs that make it possible to operate on lists and get what you need from them such as their sum, or maybe the highest value and so on.
Arrays and loops
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