The Power of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Community

Introduction

This post is part of my series on the journey from being an End-User to becoming Microsoft Partner-Side Consultant.

Here I’m reflecting at the Microsoft D365 Community. I have a simple message, and I cannot stress this enough, join in with your local User Group and get along to some of the national all-day free events if you can!

The Power of Community

Soon after landing my first job as a consultant I decided to pop along the local Cambridge D365 User Group meeting.

I don't recall the specific topics presented on the night, but I came away with a feeling of being warmly welcomed, a bunch of new contacts and a big list of resources to check out. I was encouraged by those who I had just met to come along to some of the all-day events.

Another interesting and somewhat unique aspect of this community is that people love sharing solutions to common problems. They not only explained their approach to the problems and the possible solutions in detail, but also often blogged about it, creating a super handy resource. This really resonated with me and highlighted how this community is full of people with an abundance mindset.

A Welcoming Environment

In my experience, the D365 community is super welcoming and friendly, no matter your experience or seniority - if you are a Junior Associate Consultant, Microsoft MVP or Senior Director of a large partner organisation - people at these community events are all there to learn, share and have fun.

Learning Opportunities

Many of the community events also provide direct access to Microsoft people who may present updates on the latest release waves, new features and trends - helping you stay ahead and understand the future direction of the platform.

Other presentations from experts working across the stack naturally can directly contribute to your learning, the biggest benefit of these talks is that they often have a practical angle and naturally you can ask questions or go and chat with the person afterwards!

Networking and Collaboration

Most of the Microsoft community people use LinkedIn, following those who are active in your areas of interest soon turns your LinkedIn feed into a very useful news source! This is great for two main reasons - lots of great functional resources for your area of interest, but also all the people movements and organisation news for the channel.

Groups, Events & Conferences

To make this blog post actually useful for someone, here I will try to list out as many of the D365 community resources I know about for Local, National, Global and Online community events & conferences; free, low cost or paid!

I’m a UK based D365 Business Central person so this list below is likely to be a biased in that direction!

Conclusion

Get along to some events, join the community! You will have a lot of fun, meet some great people, & learn a lot. For sure it will only be a good thing for your career & professional growth.

What do you think?

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments

Connect or follow me on LinkedIn to get all my updates Andrew Wingate | LinkedIn