Microsoft promotes training and certification initiatives to alleviate the lack of developers in Spain

• On the occasion of the local Microsoft Build session, the company has reiterated its commitment to training professionals in Spain to alleviate a situation in which up to 86% of organizations have difficulties finding technical talent to build applications.
• Microsoft has already trained and certified 300 Spaniards -employed and unemployed- in Power Platform and Power Apps, putting special focus on the development of low-code/no-code applications, which allow business solutions to be built in weeks.
• Microsoft's app development platforms and initiatives such as “Create the Future – Alumno 4.0” are key pieces to achieving IDC's forecasts, which indicate that, in the next 5 years, 500 million apps will be built, more than all applications developed in the last 40 years.

The European Statistical Office Eurostat estimates that, between 2018 and 2030, it will be necessary to cover about 1.6 million jobs in the field of ICT in all Europe. Among the most in-demand professionals are developers, one of the professional categories with the most projection in Europe and also in Spain.

The pandemic, on the one hand, has revealed the potential of developers when it comes to accelerating the digitalization processes of the Spanish business fabric, enabling, for example, teleworking or electronic commerce in record times. But, on the other hand, The health crisis has also revealed that there is a gap in professionals and a lack of talent : 86% of organizations have difficulties to find technical talent to build applications.

Microsoft is aware that one of the keys to the future is to invest in and enhance digital capabilities that differentiate and enhance the competitiveness of each company and profile. Hence The company has launched various free training programs that help Spanish professionals acquire digital skills that requires the new economic context based on data and Artificial Intelligence.

Initiatives to promote employability and reskilling

Within the framework of Build, the international developer event, Microsoft has organized a local conference in which it highlighted that, currently, Companies are accelerating their digital transformation thanks to the development of low-code/no-code applications that allow business solutions to be built in weeks, and not months . According to IDC forecasts, 500 million apps will be built in the next 5 years, more than all the applications developed in the last 40 years. Companies' IT departments cannot meet the demand for apps that has multiplied by 5, according to Gartner. Given this scenario, Microsoft, together with the Channel, has already trained and certified 300 Spaniards -employed and unemployed- in Power Platform and Power Apps , a service for the quick, simple and customized development of all types of applications, without the need to use code, which has as objective to cover all the needs of a company regardless of the sector it belongs to.

All of this has been possible thanks to “ Crea Futuro – Alumno 4.0 ”, an initiative that emerged in 2017 through which Microsoft joins forces with numerous institutions, universities and business centers to train young people from all over Spain and turn them into professionals of the future that our partners need. “ Through “Create Future – Student 4.0” We train and certify in Microsoft technologies with the aim of improving people's employability . "We are very proud to have trained in Power Platform and Power Apps, tools that have opened a new professional horizon in an agile way in a context like the current one," comments Lidia Mora, Program Manager of CreaFuturo.

In the ambitious project of Crea Futuro – Alumno 4.0, Microsoft works hand in hand with the International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners (IAMCP), Generation Spain, the European Union through the Entrepreneurship and Youth Employment Strategy, the Government of Spain through the School of Industrial Organization (EOI), in addition to other institutions such as ESIC, the Complutense University of Madrid, the University of Malaga, the Alfonso X El Sabio University, the Francisco de Vitoria University, CEU San Pablo University, Unir, etc.

A broad commitment to improving employability

Furthermore, aware of the real needs of the market, Microsoft is betting on a new training model and certifications role-based , rather than product-focused, to help professionals prepare to address present and future challenges.

To do this, it has renewed its certification program, which has been available since this March and for free at Microsoft Learn . It is an open platform organized by itineraries which has the objective of helping anyone (professionals, students, etc.) to obtain the most in-demand digital capabilities at zero cost). In this way, we provide those professionals who already have an official qualification with access to specific training to update their skills and extend the validity of their certifications.

There is also training for developers, such as AI School or the Microsoft Professional Program for Artificial Intelligence , which offers job-ready skills and real-world experiences for engineers and anyone who wants to improve their AI and data science skills.