Office 365 skills market?

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Kol12

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Ultimate Geek
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#252930 17-Jul-2019 14:59

Hi,

I'm having some difficulty understanding the NZ IT job market and which direction to pursue. The plethora of directions can be overwhelming. A few people had mentioned that NZ businesses are adopting the cloud and that's where opportunities would be.

I've been looking at the Microsoft certifications and really just took a stab and chose to look more into the Microsoft 365 certifications. Ultimately those 365 certs lead to the Microsoft 365 Certified: Enterprise Administrator Expert. I'm just wondering if Microsoft 356 is an in demand skill in NZ and whether those certifications are worth pursuing?

I have been studying online with Pluralsight.com and I find some of the content particularly from the Enabling Office 365 Services (70-347) exams to be a little over my head, so another question I have is are there any prerequisites skills I should learn before getting into this 365 stuff? The MS Certs I am referring to are located here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/microsoft-365-exams.aspx and here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/browse-all-certifications.aspx?technology=Office%20365 Thanks.

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#2278423 17-Jul-2019 15:44

Rather than pursuing Office 365 certification, you are better off to do Azure, Hyper-V, VMware training. Additionally you can look into Storage Spaces Direct and vSAN. Server 2019 and Active Directory certifications would be beneficial as well.

Pluralsight is great learning resource. You can also get a lot of free MS related training via https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/

Do whatever you want to do man.

Kol12

370 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#2278434 17-Jul-2019 16:07

billgates:

Rather than pursuing Office 365 certification, you are better off to do Azure, Hyper-V, VMware training. Additionally you can look into Storage Spaces Direct and vSAN. Server 2019 and Active Directory certifications would be beneficial as well.

Pluralsight is great learning resource. You can also get a lot of free MS related training via https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/

I take it this means there are more opportunities in Azure than 365? What areas of Azure would you recommend? The server 2019 and AD certs - would that be Azure Active directory and Server or traditional on premises Active Directory and Server?

Shindig

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#2278440 17-Jul-2019 16:30

I would suggest, and this is the route i'm taking. Is to focus on the Azure side of things, rather than 0365.

Get AZ-100 passed, and then move onto AZ-300 and AZ-301.

This year especially I'm seeing a real surge in demand for people with Azure skills; businesses and companies are now starting to embrace 'cloud' .

In terms of areas in Azure? Tough one to advise on! Different business objectives will require different services. At least those exams are quite broad in what you need to study.

Source:

IT contractor, Auckland, Data center and Cloud management.

The little things make the biggest difference.

Kol12

370 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#2278464 17-Jul-2019 16:52

Shindig: I would suggest, and this is the route i'm taking. Is to focus on the Azure side of things, rather than 0365. Get AZ-100 passed, and then move onto AZ-300 and AZ-301. This year especially I'm seeing a real surge in demand for people with Azure skills; businesses and companies are now starting to embrace 'cloud' . In terms of areas in Azure? Tough one to advise on! Different business objectives will require different services. At least those exams are quite broad in what you need to study. Source: IT contractor, Auckland, Data center and Cloud management.

Thanks. Do I need any prerequisite skills coming into Azure? Do I need to be familiar with other more traditional technologies or can I get in with Azure fundamentals? I don't have really any experience with Server or Active Directory. Am I diving into deep? The Microsoft learning page doesn't list AZ-100. Is that one succeeded with AZ-103?

gbwelly

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#2279021 18-Jul-2019 14:27

@kol12 Don't write off Office 365 training, there is good money to be made helping organisations not accidentally injure themselves on boarding to O365. Azure training is also highly complimentary to O365 (E.g. Azure AD drives O365) so you might want to do a bit of both.

I think it's quite common for people to think of Office 365 as like regular office with Excel, Word etc, it's not:

https://app.jumpto365.com/

Kol12

370 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#2279098 18-Jul-2019 15:24

What happened to the post from the training guy? It looked great... Come back?

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gbwelly

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#2279119 18-Jul-2019 16:38

Kol12:

What happened to the post from the training guy? It looked great... Come back?

He joined geekzone today, his first post was advertising his own training company, and his profile claimed to be from New Zealand but his LinkedIn said he was in Australia. 🤔

I don't think he's the right guy to give money to.

Kol12

370 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#2279141 18-Jul-2019 16:45

gbwelly:

@kol12 Don't write off Office 365 training, there is good money to be made helping organisations not accidentally injure themselves on boarding to O365. Azure training is also highly complimentary to O365 (E.g. Azure AD drives O365) so you might want to do a bit of both.

I think it's quite common for people to think of Office 365 as like regular office with Excel, Word etc, it's not:

https://app.jumpto365.com/

Thanks. Is the issue that NZ businesses are not adopting the cloud services of O365 hence less opportunities? How are businesses currently using Office 365? On premise with Exchange?

https://www.thrivenetworks.com/blog/2018/04/10/on-premise-exchange-vs-office-365-whats-right-for-your-business/

gbwelly

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#2279197 18-Jul-2019 18:55

Kol12:

Thanks. Is the issue that NZ businesses are not adopting the cloud services of O365 hence less opportunities? How are businesses currently using Office 365? On premise with Exchange?

Office 365 opportunities abound, particularly with public service organisations and departments being pushed to E3 or E5 licenses under the G2018 agreement. Most agencies start by configuring AAD Connect and moving to Exchange Online. Then they don't know what to do next. If you have skills in SharePoint Online and Microsoft Flow there are many lucrative paths in terms of content management and records retention and disposal. Just look at Intergen, Datacom and Provoke for some examples. Existing large MS shops will find O365 and Azure the path of least resistance. New companies and smaller companies will find it easier to go with Google Docs, which is simple, cheap and cheerful, but is not going to help you with PRA compliance, retention and disposal and complex workflows, which is where O365 dominates.

Kol12

370 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#2279272 18-Jul-2019 20:42

gbwelly:

Kol12:

Thanks. Is the issue that NZ businesses are not adopting the cloud services of O365 hence less opportunities? How are businesses currently using Office 365? On premise with Exchange?

Office 365 opportunities abound, particularly with public service organisations and departments being pushed to E3 or E5 licenses under the G2018 agreement. Most agencies start by configuring AAD Connect and moving to Exchange Online. Then they don't know what to do next. If you have skills in SharePoint Online and Microsoft Flow there are many lucrative paths in terms of content management and records retention and disposal. Just look at Intergen, Datacom and Provoke for some examples. Existing large MS shops will find O365 and Azure the path of least resistance. New companies and smaller companies will find it easier to go with Google Docs, which is simple, cheap and cheerful, but is not going to help you with PRA compliance, retention and disposal and complex workflows, which is where O365 dominates.

Thanks gbwelly, your reply's are very helpful and knowledgeable. The AAD seems to be a key part I'm missing jumping right into the 365 training and it is mentioned as a requirement in some of the videos. I don't have any experience in the IT industry and because it is so broad it can be frustrating figuring out how it all works and goes together. I have not trained in traditional Server and Active Directory and these seem to be key parts of any organization however it seems going forward you would want to learn the cloud based versions of those technologies. My question is if I study both Azure and 365 starting at the fundamentals is that going to be sufficient to be qualified in those fields? Would I be missing any prerequisites having not worked in the IT industry? I should note that I am not computer dumb, I'm a computer hobbyist, I just don't have real world IT experience. Thanks!

billgates

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#2279274 18-Jul-2019 20:43

Kol12:
Thanks. Is the issue that NZ businesses are not adopting the cloud services of O365 hence less opportunities? How are businesses currently using Office 365? On premise with Exchange?

https://www.thrivenetworks.com/blog/2018/04/10/on-premise-exchange-vs-office-365-whats-right-for-your-business/

Depends on the business. Small to medium business mostly migrate from on premise exchange to Office 365. Some big enterprises do run a hybrid cloud with mailboxes split between on premise exchange and Office 365. If you really want to practise with Office 365, just spin up a trial Microsoft Exchange server in your home lab and setup a mail server. A big bulk of the backend of exchange online uses the same format ECP backend so you will not feel alien if you do manage Office 365. The front end Office 365 management portal is fairly straight forward to use. As mentioned above, most companies are making the move to Office 365 all the way to hook into SharePoint Online, MS Teams, Sway, Workflow etc.

Do whatever you want to do man.

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Kol12

370 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#2279284 18-Jul-2019 20:56

billgates:
Kol12:

Thanks. Is the issue that NZ businesses are not adopting the cloud services of O365 hence less opportunities? How are businesses currently using Office 365? On premise with Exchange?

https://www.thrivenetworks.com/blog/2018/04/10/on-premise-exchange-vs-office-365-whats-right-for-your-business/

Depends on the business. Small to medium business mostly migrate from on premise exchange to Office 365. Some big enterprises do run a hybrid cloud with mailboxes split between on premise exchange and Office 365. If you really want to practise with Office 365, just spin up a trial Microsoft Exchange server in your home lab and setup a mail server. A big bulk of the backend of exchange online uses the same format ECP backend so you will not feel alien if you do manage Office 365. The front end Office 365 management portal is fairly straight forward to use. As mentioned above, most companies are making the move to Office 365 all the way to hook into SharePoint Online, MS Teams, Sway, Workflow etc.

Thanks billgates. I think that is my concern, not being trained or knowledgeable in the traditional on premises versions of these technologies. Is it going to hurt me that I do not already know Active Directory or Exchange? Do the cloud based versions of these certifications expect that you are already familiar with those technologies or can you learn the cloud versions with no prior experience?

timmmay

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#2279286 18-Jul-2019 21:05

A lot of organizations go to O365 and then onto Azure. I think there are opportunities in both areas. You could end up working for a consulting / outsourcing company.

What are your current skills? Are you more interested in O365 or Azure? I think there's more Azure work around than AWS - I do AWS.

billgates

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#2279431 19-Jul-2019 08:30

Kol12:

Thanks billgates. I think that is my concern, not being trained or knowledgeable in the traditional on premises versions of these technologies. Is it going to hurt me that I do not already know Active Directory or Exchange? Do the cloud based versions of these certifications expect that you are already familiar with those technologies or can you learn the cloud versions with no prior experience?

Not knowing Exchange will not hurt you but not knowing AD will. AD is bread and butter in all companies. if you do Windows Server 2019 certifications, one of the exams will cover AD. If this is your first time in IT, expect to start in helpdesk role unless you get lucky and land a Field Engineer role but getting these certifications will certainly get you interviews. You can self study for Microsoft and Cisco (CCNA) certifications. VMware though however requires that the first certification can only be sat after going through a training provider for VCP which is around NZD $6000 + exam fees for 2 papers. The foundation exam can be sat with self study but the 2nd exam requires the mandatory training before they grant you VCP. Microsoft and VMware certifications do not expire. Cisco does every 2 years unless you upgrade your exam every 2 years. Generally once you land IT job at good companies, they will re-reimburse for your exam fees if you pass and some will even pay for VMware training :) but in your case you need to fork out for exam fees now before you land a job to be considered for an interview. Best of luck. Technology sector is only growing.

Do whatever you want to do man.

grimwulf

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Master Geek
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#2279443 19-Jul-2019 09:21

Opinion:

In NZ - cloud skills, both Microsoft and Amazon flavored are in demand, Google and other players not so much in my experience. Although Google SEO and analytics etc obviously are the exception.

The plethora of options is not just confusing for you, but for the organisations moving to these platforms.

My opinion is that you have a choice to make - do you want to build applications and functionality or do you want to build/design/support infrastructure?

Infrastructure skills are generally in demand more widely and in my view are under served in the New Zealand market at present - cloud infrastructure admin, architecture and devops skills are in high demand.

Solution building skills are also widely in demand but are fragmented and tribal - you could be a fullstack .NET guy or Java gal, or front end or back end or database specialist. Or build solutions from scratch or via content management systems like Siverstripe or case management systems like MS Dynamics or be a Salesforce guru.

There's variable demand in each of those pockets - and in all honesty specialism in any one of them would pay significantly more - but you have to find your niche, specialize and become an expert and by doing so to a certain extent you close off the other avenues (although of course fullstack devs have plenty of transferable skills).

I'd recommend starting off by generalizing with one or more infrastructure related certs in whichever cloud platform you're more comfortable with. In my experience Microsoft Azure is used more in government, AWS in the private sector - but it wouldn't hurt to get certs in both.

Also most employers and recruiters will have no idea what the certs you get actually mean - so be sure to call that out when applying for roles. They'll typically be 'certs == good' - but you can squeeze out much more value from them if you highlight how those certs directly relate to the role.

Ok that's it, Friday morning coffee fueled essay ends...

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