Start your journey to becoming a Microsoft 365 developer
Tags: microsoft365dev, gettingstarted, microsoft
Published: 2022-09-12 16:10:57

---
title: Start your journey to becoming a Microsoft 365 developer
published: true
description: There has never been a better time to start your journey to becoming a Microsoft 365 Developer, this post will help you get started on this journey, providing you with guidance on where to find the content you need. 
tags: microsoft365dev, gettingstarted, microsoft
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There has never been a better time to start your journey to becoming a Microsoft 365 Developer.  

In the past few years, Microsoft 365 has become _the_ place for organizations to communicate and collaborate, with more than 270 million monthly active users on Microsoft Teams. 

By becoming a Microsoft 365 Developer, you can extend, integrate LOB applications and access Microsoft 365 data through Microsoft Graph, tailoring your experience to your organization’s needs. 

Whether you are a new or experienced developer, this post will help you get started on this journey, providing you with guidance on where to find the content you need. 

##🧑‍💻 Join the Microsoft 365 Developer Program

The easiest way to start your developer journey with Microsoft 365 is to [join the Microsoft 365 Developer Program](https://developer.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/dev-program?WT.mc_id=m365-72648-garrytrinder).

Joining the program is free and by becoming a member, you get a free Microsoft 365 Developer Tenant, a free-instant sandbox that comes with sample user licenses, sample content packs for Microsoft Teams, email and calendar and is pre-configured for development, so you can get started quickly.

The tenant will renew every 90 days, so if you keep using it, it will be yours forever.

## ☁️ Learn the fundamentals of Microsoft Cloud

As a Microsoft 365 Developer, you will use all three clouds of the Microsoft Cloud – Microsoft 365, Microsoft Azure, and Microsoft Power Platform – to extend and integrate with Microsoft 365 services.

While you don’t need to have a deep understanding of Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Power Platform, it is highly recommended that you gain a basic knowledge of how they integrate with Microsoft 365 and the services that they offer which you can utilize in your apps and integrations.

Checkout the below learning paths on Microsoft Learn that will give you a basic understanding of the three clouds.

- [Microsoft 365](https://docs.microsoft.com/learn/browse/?terms=Microsoft%20365%20Fundamentals&resource_type=learning%20path&products=m365&roles=business-owner&WT.mc_id=m365-72648-garrytrinder)
- [Microsoft Azure](https://docs.microsoft.com/learn/browse/?terms=Microsoft%20Azure%20Fundamentals&expanded=azure%2Cinfrastructure%2Csecurity&resource_type=learning%20path&levels=beginner&products=azure&subjects=cloud-computing&WT.mc_id=m365-72648-garrytrinder)
- [Microsoft Power Platform](https://docs.microsoft.com/learn/browse/?terms=Power%20Platform%20Fundamentals&expanded=azure%2Cinfrastructure%2Csecurity&resource_type=learning%20path&roles=business-user&WT.mc_id=m365-72648-garrytrinder)

##📚 Study the learning paths

While you don’t need to learn a specific language to build apps for and integrate with Microsoft 365, it is recommended that you have a knowledge of JavaScript/TypeScript and/or Microsoft .NET.

The following learning paths are recommended:

- [.NET](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/browse/?terms=Web&expanded=dotnet%2Cazure%2Cinfrastructure&roles=developer&levels=beginner&resource_type=learning%20path&products=aspnet-core%2Cvs&WT.mc_id=m365-72648-garrytrinder)
- [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/browse/?terms=JavaScript&expanded=azure%2Cpower-platform%2Cbusiness-applications%2Cdigital-application-innovation%2Cinfrastructure&roles=developer%2Cstudent&products=azure&subjects=development-tools&WT.mc_id=m365-72648-garrytrinder)

Once you have your developer tenant and a have a grasp of the basics of the Microsoft Cloud, the next place to go is to check out the free learning paths on Microsoft Learn, which are focused on the skills needed to become a Microsoft 365 Developer.

- [Microsoft 365 Developer Path](https://aka.ms/m365/dev/learn?WT.mc_id=m365-72648-garrytrinder)

First take the fundamentals module to understand the basics of extending Microsoft 365, then dive into the basics of Microsoft Graph, extending Viva Connections and how to develop apps using the Microsoft Graph Toolkit components.

- [Beginner Paths](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/browse/?roles=developer&products=m365&resource_type=learning%20path&levels=beginner&WT.mc_id=m365-72648-garrytrinder)

Build on the foundational knowledge you have gained in the previous and start introducing more advanced topics, here is where you will learn how to extend and build apps on Microsoft Teams, extend Viva Connections and SharePoint Online, extend Office clients with Office add-ins, as well as accessing Microsoft 365 data via the Microsoft Graph.

- [Intermediate Paths](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/browse/?roles=developer&products=m365&resource_type=learning%20path&levels=intermediate&WT.mc_id=m365-72648-garrytrinder)
 
## 🎓 Get certified!

Everyone loves to be rewarded, if you take and pass an official Microsoft exam you will be rewarded with an industry recognized professional certification, which will help validate your learning and demonstrate your knowledge of Microsoft 365.

 - [Microsoft 365 Certified: Developer Associate](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/certifications/m365-teams-application-developer-associate?WT.mc_id=m365-72648-garrytrinder)

## 🏘 Join our community

Microsoft 365 has one of the best communities in tech. With the Microsoft 365 Platform community you can benefit from an abundance of content and tools built by and shared by the community to help you be more productive, attend and participate in community calls to keep up with the latest practices and learn from community shared samples.

- [Microsoft 365 Platform Community](https://pnp.github.io/)
- [Join the weekly community calls](https://pnp.github.io/#community)
- [Learn from community samples](https://pnp.github.io/#samples)

> Learn from others how to build apps on Microsoft 365. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Focus on what truly matters for your organization.

## 📣 Keep up to date
Keep up to date with the latest announcements and best practices across official Microsoft and community channels. 

### Read

- [Microsoft 365 Developer Blog](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/microsoft365dev?WT.mc_id=m365-72648-garrytrinder)
- [Microsoft 365 Platform Community Blog](https://pnp.github.io/blog/)

### Watch

- [Microsoft 365 Developer](https://www.youtube.com/c/Microsoft365Developer)
- [Microsoft 365 Community](https://www.youtube.com/c/Microsoft365Community)

### Engage

- [Microsoft 365 Developer (@Microsoft365Dev)](https://twitter.com/microsoft365dev)
- [Microsoft 365 Community (@m365pnp)](https://twitter.com/m365pnp)
 
##👷 What will you build today? 

There is an abundance of content just waiting to help you get started on your Microsoft 365 Developer journey and what’s great, is that it is totally free.

> [Sign up for your Microsoft 365 Developer tenant](https://developer.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/dev-program?WT.mc_id=m365-72648-garrytrinder) and get building on Microsoft 365 today!