Retraining to gain the skills of the future with Microsoft Azure

“Microsoft has just been in my life for as long as I can remember,” says Gemma Robson, former Northumbria University student and winner of this year’s National Azure Championship. “It’s very exciting. My life has completely changed.” It’s estimated that eighty-two percent of UK roles require digital skills. Microsoft accreditations and training programmes and initiatives like the Microsoft Azure Championship have an important role to play in efforts to meet the huge challenge to ensure the UK workforce has the skills it needs to drive national competitiveness.

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Upskilling – even without a computer science background

Gemma Robson is hoping her story will help encourage other women and people without technical or computer science backgrounds to consider going for a Microsoft certification.

Gemma Robson has always been ambitious and career driven. Following a successful career as an Education Welfare Officer and a stint as a small business owner in the North East of England, she decided to return to Northumbria University to read for a Masters in Artificial Intelligence.

“I started work as a freelance business psychologist after we sold the coffee shop,” she explains, “and I really wanted to help these businesses to thrive. To do that, I did feel that I needed more help with tech; I needed to upskill myself.”

Working with Northumbria University and Microsoft

The university worked with Microsoft to upskill and prepare Gemma and her fellow masters students for the future and to ensure that they left the course with both the qualification and the skills they needed to boost their employability.

“They provided us with the opportunity to use Microsoft Learn and acquire accreditations in cloud computing and digital capabilities,” Gemma says, “I have read that you are two-and-a-half times more likely to get employment with a certification. The AI certification in particular taught me a lot about how to use artificial intelligence within the workplace.”

Gemma’s tutors were so impressed with her work that they suggested she enter Microsoft UK’s Azure championships. Gemma’s entry to the competition featured a chatbot that she had developed.

UK Azure championship winner

When Gemma heard by email that she had won, she was surprised and delighted. Following the win, Gemma was inspired to apply for a job in Digital Skills at Microsoft.

“They were very impressed with what I’d done and what I’d achieved with the Microsoft accreditations,” she explains. Happily, Gemma was successful in her application and she is now very excited about what the future – and her new career in tech – holds.

She says, “I do put it down to the University by putting us through the Microsoft accreditations. I actually feel now that this is where I want to be.”