Five New Microsoft Certifications We Might Get in 2022

We’re at the beginning of 2022 and I’m sure many of you are currently looking at your certification goals for 2022! Whether it’s simply renewing your existing certifications or maybe taking a look at what new products you want to learn about this year and maybe pass a new certification in this blog we’re going to take a look at what are five new certifications that we might get in 2022! As a note – those are just educated guesses, and I have no knowledge of those coming – so at the end of the year we can go back and see how many did I get right!

1 -Power Automate Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Developer

Robotic Process automation is a huge business opportunity – and according to many studies, the market could hit over 7 billion by 2028. While Microsoft does have an RPA product in Power Automate, mostly built by acquisitions, it’s still very new in the RPA game compared to some of the competitors that have been at it for over 20 ears.

With Microsoft’s product solidified, next thing Microsoft will need is a pool of talented professionals able to actually create RPA solutions with Power Automate, and hopefully for Microsoft migrate them from competitors, in the Power Platform ecosystem. In January 2022, we had a post on Tech Community that Microsoft is considering a new certification for the Power Automate Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Developer.

Here is the role description taken from the Microsoft survey:

Candidates for this exam automate time-consuming and repetitive tasks by using Microsoft Power Automate. They review solution requirements, create process documentation, design, develop, troubleshoot, and evaluate solutions. They support the deployment of solutions to production environments.

Candidates work with business stakeholders to improve and automate business workflows. They collaborate with administrators to deploy solutions to production environments and support solutions.

Candidates should have experience with JSON, cloud flows/desktop flows, integrating solutions with REST/SOAP services, analyzing data by using Microsoft Excel, VBScript, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), HTML, JavaScript, one or more programming languages, and the Microsoft Power Platform suite of tools (AI Builder, Power Apps, Microsoft Dataverse, and Power Virtual Agents).

Given the huge market opportunity, as well as Microsoft’s investment into the Power Platform certification portfolio lately, I do believe this certification will happen in 2022!

#2 – Exchange Online (EXO) Support Engineer

Our next possible certification for 2022 is in the Support Engineer category. Back in July 2021, Microsoft announced the first certification in this new type of portfolio , and they said Teams will be the first one of many in this category – and I think we found our next one!

At the end of December 2021, Microsoft posted on Tech Community that they are considering a certification for the Exchange Online Support Engineer / Troubleshooting!

And here is the description from the Microsoft Survey!

Exchange support engineers identify, troubleshoot, and resolve issues with Exchange Online, hybrid Exchange environments, and related components, technologies, and services. The support engineer obtains log data, analyzes data to identify root causes for issues, and resolves issues.

The engineer should have significant experience deploying, managing, and troubleshooting Exchange environments, plus have hands-on experience with PowerShell and the Exchange PowerShell module. Exchange support engineers work with customers and other stakeholders to understand details of any issues and also interact with related technology administrators and peers to resolve issues.

I believe this certification will happen as Microsoft already confirmed they want more Troubleshooting certifications , and Exchange Online does make sense to be it’s own topic!

#3 – Azure Support Engineer

Our third possible 2022 certification is the Azure Support Engineer certification! This would be in the same category as the previous one, and Microsoft did post that they are considering it.

Here would be the description of the role – taken from the Microsoft survey

Candidates for this exam are support engineers who use advanced troubleshooting methods to resolve issues with Azure virtual machines (VMs), virtual networks, connectivity between on-premises datacenters and VMs, and connectivity issues with Azure services. The support engineer queries log files to identify the root causes for issues and troubleshoots complex issues.

Candidates collaborate with stakeholders to understand details of any issues. They also interact with Azure administrators and peers. Support engineers work with Microsoft subject matter experts to escalate issues for investigation. They must be able to use available tools to diagnose issues.

Azure is a huge business unit at Microsoft – and the one that already has the most certifications – but I wouldn’t be surprised if this certification gets published in 2022!

#4 – Microsoft Cybersecurity Architect

Security, Compliance, and Identity is a huge focus for Microsoft – as let’s be honest, security is now part of your job if you work in IT, whether or not it’s explicitly written in your job description! Microsoft did invest heavily in the new SCI portfolio in 2021, releasing 1 fundamental certification – and three associate certifications, however, there is currently no Expert level certification if you are a Security specialist in the Microsoft ecosystem.

In December 2021, we had another post on the Tech Community sharing that Microsoft is considering a certification for the Microsoft Cybersecurity Architect role. Given Architect in the name, we can be pretty confident that this will be an expert level certification and will fill that gap inside the SCI Portfolio.

#5 – Viva Insights Practitioner

This one is a bit more of a far fetch prediction, however Microsoft does offer two badges via it’s partner program on Viva Insights – and with Microsoft Viva recently reaching 10 million monthly active users, I think that we might see this become a real certification in 2022!

Conclusion

Those five certifications – are the five certifications that I think we might get in 2022! Do you agree? If so – which one are you most excited about? What other certification would you like to see in the portfolio? Let me know in the comments!