Since school days, I loved participating in various club activities and events.Yeah I was leader of few clubs as well. I believe that in a community we can seek guidance through mentors, connect with developers with similar interests and stay motivated. Whenever I meet other developers,seniors, I learn a lot from them through their experiences and mistakes.

My Journey: In my 2nd sem,my seniors had conducted a event on GIT AND GITHUB(OPEN SOURCE)-HACKTOBER FEST.I came to know about this program from my seniors. I got curious to know about the program ,contacted seniors about this.Seniors were really helpful and guided me through out the process. I filled the application with my instincts and beliefs around November 2020. In January 2021, I received a mail saying that I got selected as Microsoft Learn Student Ambassador. Being a Microsoft Learn Student Ambassador, I got to be a part of such an amazing and helpful community of developers where everyone is always ready to help. Joining the community definitely has been a wonderful experience ever since.

What is the Microsoft Student Learn Ambassador Program?

• The Microsoft Student Learn Ambassador Program is a worldwide educational program to sponsor undergraduate and postgraduate students majoring in disciplines related to technology. The MLSA program attempts to enhance students’ employability by offering training in skills not usually taught in academia, including knowledge of Microsoft technologies.

• The program aims to increase awareness of Microsoft products, programs, and initiatives and hence helps to expand the user base of Microsoft products resulting in better availability of a properly educated workforce in those technologies.

What will you do as MLSA:

• MLSAs have the responsibility to build a strong technical community on their campus and share the knowledge that they gain within the community by organizing different meetups, workshops, hackathons. They also mentor other fellow students by giving presentations, solving doubts, and developing projects.

• There are three milestones within the Microsoft Learn Student Ambassadors Program, i.e, Alpha, Beta, and Gold. Once an MLSA fulfills the requirements to reach a milestone, then the MLSA is promoted to the next level and can unlock the respective benefits of the next level.

• All new ambassadors, only after completing the learning path are promoted to Alpha. After hosting their first event as an MLSA, they are further promoted to Beta. Gold Microsoft Learn Student Ambassadors are those who have done exceptional work for the community by hosting events, mentoring other students in the program, and creating a strong network.

Perks and benefits of being an MLSA

• Networking opportunities across the Globe

• Funded traveling and event opportunities

• Student Partner Milestone badges

• Engagement with Microsoft’s Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs)

• Access to Office 365, plus TechSmith Snagit and Camtasia screen capture and recording software

• Amazing swags like T-Shirt, pen drive, backpacks, and many more

• Event Support

• Visual Studio Enterprise Subscription and $150 monthly Azure Credits

How to apply for Microsoft Student Learn Ambassador Program?

Go to the official Microsoft Learn Student Ambassadors website. After logging in with your Microsoft account, read the Privacy Policy.

The application process of Microsoft Student Learn Ambassador is quite simple and easy. The steps are mentioned below:-

1. Personal Information: As the name suggests, here you have to fill out your personal information and the basic details.

2.School Information: In this section, you have to fill in details about your academics and Institution.

3.Written Sample: Your acception and rejection is completely dependent on this . It is the most important section of the application. You have to answer either with a written sample or a video made in under 2 mins. Your essays or video will display your enthusiasm and passion for community engagement as well as your communication and technical skills (to some extent) to the reviewers of the application. So, fill it very carefully. The questions are simple and based on your leadership skills and passion for technology.

4. Additional Information: In this section, you have to fill in the social links, which indicate your activity on platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Stack Overflow, Instagram, Github, etc. This section works as an achievements section on your resume. So try to make the best use of it.

5.Technical Skills: In this section, choose the technologies that interest you, whether you have worked with them or not.If you are not good in technology no issues,you can learn and then teach it to your peers.

Heading forward to the application, there is an additional box “Is there anything else you would like to share with us” which is very useful when you have to update your application for any further achievements before it goes in for review. You can list your achievements and contributions here. I will suggest making use of it.

TIPS FROM MY SIDE:

• Give enough time for the written sample and video. Think over the answers for a couple of days, don’t think to submit the application within a day. Most important, Be Honest!
• Be realistic and honest with your answers.
• Write essay is very convincing manner,and try to showcase commandable leadership skills in your application.

• Express openly about your community engagement and your future plans.
• Talk about your journey into the tech field and which technology inspires you the most and why.
• While answering the question — how you will teach a technical concept to a student who is a complete noob at it, Consider yourself to be in place of the beginner and try to choose a simple topic that you are comfortable with and can talk about it as your leadership and mentorship skills will be evaluated here. Elaborate on the ways/practices you will adopt to teach a beginner.Try to use objects while explaining,or take use of real life examples.

eg:inheritance concepts in oops,encapsulation,variables.

• You can also quote some instances to show your leadership skills and passion for technology.

*NOTE*:you must submit atleast one video for sure.

• Try to edit your videos and make it more attractive.

Selection Procedure: Once the application is filled and submitted, you can edit it until the time it goes under review.

Applications are open the whole year and will be reviewed on a quarterly basis.

Thanks for going through this article and I hope it is of some help to you.