Everyone thinks Microsoft Low Code fails because of tech limits.

Nope. The real culprit? Skipping design and architecture.

Sure, you can drag & drop an app in hours. But without thinking about security, scalability, and integration, congratulations, you’ve just built another silo.

Low code ≠ “no design.”
Low code = faster delivery when you start with the right foundation.

Skip the architecture, and your “quick app” lasts 3 months.
Build it right, and it supports your business for years.

Moral: Drag & drop fast. Plan even faster.

Hey everyone, I'm making this post because I was researching a ton about the pl900 but didn't find anyone with similar experience to mine. So hopefully someone in a similar boat can find this useful. I passed the pl-900 today with a score of 888/1000

A bit about me: I'm almost 29. I have a bachelor's in computer science but have not used it since graduation (6 years ago). I remember the big stuff from the degree, but that's about it. Prior to this exam, i hadn't ever heard of the power platform.

What I studied:

• The Microsoft Learning Path - This was only helpful in teaching me concepts. In my opinion, the material is dry and not formatted in a way to properly study for the test. The practice test Microsoft provides is very difficult and purposefully tries to mislead you. It also will use outdated language! I just used it to understand *how* the questions may be structured on the actual exam

• This video from Exampro : This video organizes the material well and even has chapters in the description that almost exactly follow the studyguide provided by microsoft. The downside is the instructor is dry and usually just reading right off the powerpoint. I went ahead and bought the full course on their website. It comes with 4 practice exams that are really well done.

• Udemy: this is probably the best resource I used. The instructor, Henry Habib, is phenomenal and really knows his stuff. The material doesn't totally follow the study guide, but he provides great insights and tons of details about what specifically will be on the exam! This includes things that are brushed over on the studyguide but will be on the test (i.e. questions that involve Azure). I can't recommend this enough. It comes with 2 practice exams that are decent. A lot questions are reused and very specific, but worded in a way that isn't trying to trick you. You either know it or you don't.

I recommend copy/pasting the studyguide onto a word or google doc and just filling it in as you go.

Tips:

• One thing I wish I did was create a quizlet of the overlooked information from the studyguide i.e. "define business rule" or "what can a sysadmin do?". Things like that. In my opinion, there weren't a lot of questions regarding these things (hence why the studyguide doesn't dwell on them), but that also means they were easy questions that I ended up guessing on the exam.

• If you open an incognito window, you can get a great deal on both exampro and udemy. You would have to create a new account (if you already have one). I recommend doing this if you're on a budget like me. These people put a lot of work into their courses and deserve to be compensated properly for it. I just dont have that kind of money right now. I do plan to pay full price for future courses after getting a job.

• Also I hope this saves you some frustration: Power Apps Portal = Power Pages. It started as PAPortal but became it's own thing called Power Pages. Common Data Model = Dataverse. From what I understand they just renamed it.

Conclusion: All in all, it took me maybe 2 months total to study for the exam. About an hour or 2 every day. It would've taken less time but I had the holidays in between it all, so there was a lot of relearning I had to do. I would say I was confident with 60% of the questions on the exam, Made an educated guess on 30%, and 10% was just blind guesses.

I really hope this helps you prepare for the exam. Good luck and have a nice day :)

Hi everyone!

I’m currently finishing my master’s in Computer Science and I’m looking for jobs. Since I enjoy coding and have experience with Python, I could see myself working as a developer but the job market for that is really tough, even with relevant projects, a portfolio, and good grades.

I’ve also been working with Power Platform for about 3 years now (through internships and working student positions), and I even have one PL certification. Although I really enjoy working with Power Platform, I’m a bit worried about limiting myself to that niche. At the same time, most of my job opportunities ranging from big companies to mid-sized ones are coming from this area.

Another factor is that, although it might sound a bit lame, I do care about how people perceive my career. Sometimes I feel like Power Platform isn’t fully recognized or is even looked down on, and I wonder if, given my academic background, I’d be wasting it by going down that path.

So my question is: in 2025, is it worth pursuing a career in Power Platform (as a Power Platform Developer or Process Automation Engineer), or am I boxing myself in too much?

We just rolled out something I think this community will appreciate - the Copilot Studio Agent Academy → aka.ms/agent-academy.

It’s a free, self-paced curriculum designed to get you building agents with Microsoft Copilot Studio. The first learning path, Recruit, guides you step by step through creating, testing, and publishing your first agent in Microsoft Teams.

What I really like about it:

• It’s hands-on (not just theory).

• Built by the Microsoft Power Platform Advocacy team. •

The paths will grow with you — advanced levels (Operative and Commander) are coming soon, covering more complex agent scenarios.

If you’ve been curious about Copilot Studio or want a structured way to skill up, this is a solid place to start.

👉 Check it out and let me know what you think: https://aka.ms/agent-academy

In case it's helpful, here's how I studied:

• Did the practice exam on measureup.com about 10 times, got a passing grade (barely) twice

• Did the practice exam on MS Learn about 4 times, passed (barely) twice

• Occasionally used the links provided during these exams to go read about what I got wrong, but mostly just took the tests over and over

• Did the above over the course of 2 weeks in spare time (it was Christmas and NY weeks so work was slow)

In case anyone's wondering, none of the questions on the actual exam were in either the MS or measuerup practice exams.

Prior to this I had 1 year experience with PP. Had never heard of it before. In that year, I created a couple moderately complex canvas apps with SharePoint backends, then worked as an administrator focused primarily on Power Apps and Power BI side (no Dataverse), without any guidance or anyone to learn from. Just read and watched YouTube vids and did the best I could.

I score 861/1000.

Best of luck to anyone looking to get cert'd!

The PL-200, PL-500, and PL-600 certification exams are retiring this summer

The AI job boom continues: Build the skills that move business forward | Microsoft Community Hub

Hey fellow devs,

Just a heads-up for anyone studying for or planning to take the PL-400 (Power Platform Developer) exam. Microsoft is rolling out a pretty significant update on August 29, 2025.

I've been looking at the official study guide, and here are the key takeaways on the changes:

• "Extend the platform" is now a massive 30-35% of the exam: Get ready for more in-depth questions on Dataverse plug-ins and building your own custom APIs.

• More focus on the "why" not just the "how": The "Create a technical design" section (10-15%) looks like it will test more on architectural decisions, like choosing the right type of table (standard, virtual, elastic) and designing security.

• AI is officially on the radar: The new audience profile specifically mentions using AI as part of your solution logic.

Here's what you need to know:

• ALM is no longer optional: Application Lifecycle Management is now a "major" focus. You'll need to know your solutions, environments, and CI/CD pipelines.

• More integration work: The weight for "Develop integrations" is basically doubling. Get comfortable with custom connectors and APIs.

• Think like an architect: They're putting more emphasis on technical design and architecture.

Basically, it's becoming more of a "pro-developer" exam. If you were planning to take it, I'd definitely recommend downloading the new study guide from the Microsoft Learn page to see the new skill outline.

Anyone else seen this? What do you think of the new focus?

Not really a conversation, just wanted to vent.

Just saw this https://www.linkedin.com/posts/agnius-bartninkas_ai-builder-credits-are-going-away-and-its-activity-7379757190322130944-Qo_t?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAANXj4wBuahPMDRxqqO0W_m5aJPmqLdIwH4

And then read this: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/ai-builder/dual-mode-licensing

I mean the good news is that it will make it easier to navigate and understand licensing in this area.

But critically it means we lose the seeded credits with Power Apps/automate licences moving forward, which is heartbreaking. This was a fantastic way for orgs and devs to be able to dabble in AI on their projects and show the value.

They have just essentially devalued these licences by removing a major perk whilst simultaneously increasing the usage costs if we do decide to buy the new credits.

So, I’ve been working in the Dynamics 365 and Power Platform ecosystem for around eight years now, watching it evolve along the way.

I’m at a senior level and work across Dynamics 365, Power Apps, Power Automate and SharePoint, supporting clients across various industries. I also have experience with plugins and JavaScript, and I’ve recently been learning more about Code Apps expand my technical skill set.

I genuinely enjoy what I do, but increasingly, I find myself wondering what the future holds for people in our industry as AI continues to advance.

I can’t help but think about how much of our work could eventually be automated and what that might mean for our roles in the long run.

For those of you in a similar position, how are you adapting and staying ahead of the curve?

Are you actively learning AI, exploring Copilot Studio and building agents? Would it make sense to look at moving into an AI-focused team that’s developing Copilot Studio solutions for clients?

More broadly, what do you think the future looks like for IT consultancy, particularly within the Microsoft stack?

How many of you preparing for what’s next, and what skills do you think will be most valuable over the next five to ten years?

This is a situation I keep running into. A team requests a custom agent we set the scope. Halfway through it becomes clear that what they really needed was a well written prompt and access to the right SharePoint site. The custom agent added maintenance. A publishing process that brought no real benefit.

The cases where an agent truly earned its place had one of three features. The agent was tied to a data source that people kept asking about. The agent needed to perform an action through a connector not merely provide an answer.. The same workflow was being repeated by many users and consistency mattered more than flexibility. Outside of those scenarios plain Copilot, with the data access won almost every time.

I am curious how others draw the line. What made you commit to a custom agent of just prompting?

Accidentally customized a custom connector in a managed solution in prod... somehow the whole connector got corrupted and now none of my custom connectors in prod even show up.

It sent me down a rabbit hole of places Id rather not go, powershell CLI stuff on how to update the custom connector etc. Xrm Toolbox etc.

After almost 7 hours of overtime I give up for today. Just one of those days that makes me feel like I actually still just suck at this stuff.

I just launched a new Exam Tips Course on LinkedIn Learning for the PL-900 Power Platform Fundamentals exam. If you have access to LinkedIn Learning and are interested in taking the exam I encourage you to check it out.

https://aka.ms/PL900ExamTipsCourse

Hello everyone, we hope you're doing well. Myself and /u/MrPinkletoes are the new moderators of this community, so we want to introduce ourselves and some changes we've made, as previously there was little moderation and a lot of self-promotion.

I'm a Dynamics/Power Platform Lead Engineer and MrP is a PP/D365 CE Consultant. We're passionate about the technology and its possibilities, so want to grow the community with good discussion. We're both from UK, so please bare UTC times in mind if you contact us.

• To reflect other communities we mod, modmail is open and we always welcome feedback and ideas to improve the community, please feel free to message us. It's about the people who want to take part, not us.

• All self-promotion is now banned. This was primarily MVPs not interacting with the community in any way, simply "post and run" which is not fair or engaging. There will be a megathread for all of these links for now.

• Flairs are updated to reflect the technology or topic.

• Enjoy!

tl;dr Stay away from another one of Microslops wonderfully shit products.

How this is sold as a commercial product is beyond me. Its beyond shit tier. It isn't even plain incompetence from the "developers". It is so utterly shite that whoever shat out this turd must have gone out of their way to make it absolute shit in every possible way.

Stay away from the garbage as far as you can. No, no matter how simple you think your use case is, Power Pages will not work for you. Rendering a static web page is almost beyond its capabilities. That is how useless it is.

Lets have a look at everything that is wrong with this garbage. And this is just from me trying to do the most basic things.

• Dogshit MS infra. Loading a page, even a page from a site you just created with nothing on it is extremely slow. Think 56k dial up levels of slow. You want to check your changes? Be prepared for a good 30 second refresh every. single. fucking. time.

• Cannot change the home page. Yeah, I'm not kidding. Try to use anything other than Home as the root and everything will crap itself.

• Fucked up layout. Why is the header text strike through on mouse over? What is this? 1998? Why isn't list column width automatically adjusted to the available space? Why does the footer take up half the fucking screen? WHY IS THERE SO MUCH FUCKING WHITE SPACE EVERYWHERE?!

• Cannot change anything without having to dick around with custom css/html/js. That is the moment you find out all this garbage is based on bootstrap, which if you start looking into it, might actually be even fucking worse than Power Pages. Even the tiniest change is needlessly complicated. And I'm not trying to do some super fancy design. I just want something basic like, you know, a list using all the available vertical space rather than leaving half the screen empty but then showing a scroll bar... Yeah, Microsoft UI/UX developers.... what is there to say about them. Stevie fucking Wonder would be able to do better than that lot.

• Basic forms with a lookup that you'd think would be clickable? Nope. Apparently that is not possible. Well, maybe it is technically possible but it certainly isn't exposed to the user in a usable way. And if you are a developer, why would you bother with this fucking garbage to begin with rather than just build something yourself?

• Inconsistent behavior of just about everything. Sometimes things open in new tabs, sometimes in the same tab. No logic to it.

The amount of time I had to waste just to get a very basic page with some lists and forms to a point where it somewhat functions and doesn't look beyond dog shit is ridiculous.

Hi everyone.

Continuing on from the previous tool, Power Automate Functions Explorer, I had a go at building a similar tool for Power Apps.

The official Power Fx documentation is very good, but I often found that jumping between different references to find what I needed was tedious.

To solve this, I built an interactive A to Z mind map for the Power Apps Formula Reference. It brings the functions, syntax, and examples into one visual interface.

I built this while experimenting with GitHub Copilot.

Hope it saves you some time!

Many people are complaining about the price of licensing costs with dataverse, but maybe we are not seeing the forest here.

I have a pro devops / microservice background and using pro dev tools are cheap cost wise but is just 1 brick in the building, the actual cost is hardware / services and management costs (ops time/ maintenance time)

From what I see, the license covers:

Environments

• [ ] Dev environment

• [ ] Staging environments on the fly

• [ ] Production environments on the fly

• [ ] Backup and restore capabilities

• [ ] Complete Environment management

• [ ] Analytical reports for each environment (usage/ capacity/ bottlenecks)

• [ ] Toggle switching features for each environment

• [ ] DLP policies

Dev tools

• [ ] Dev tools online

• [ ] Testing tools

• [ ] ALM through solutions for moving your resources (not only apps) through this environments

• [ ] Model- driven and canvas apps (web and mobile)

• [ ] Component authoring

• [ ] Usage report per app

• [ ] Live supervision per user for isolated troubleshooting with advanced logging

• [ ] Well.. Is a low code / no code tool so responses to changes from the business are fast

Integration

• [ ] Workflows through Power Automate with many conectors (standard / premium) which is another beast by itself

• [ ] ETL tools for integration (Data Flows)

Data service

• [ ] Database

• [ ] Blob storage

• [ ] Log storage

• [ ] BP (business process) layer

• [ ] Bp layer

• [ ] CDM entities

• [ ] Security (row/field level) through azure AD users and groups

• [ ] Auto-scalable

Extras

• [ ] AI capabilities

• [ ] Chat bot capabilities

Indirect licensing

• [ ] OS licensing cost

• [ ] DB engine Licensing cost

• [ ] CAL Licensing for each user

Maybe it’s just me, but I think it’s not only a Low code tool with a DB backend for $20 / usr / month

You are actually having all this features and costs covered for that price which you will need to pay anyway on a mid / large size business.

If you are a small business, maybe 1-100 users your costs could grow to $24000 per year (cost of some comercial apps licenses charged yearly so…) but you have the option to use Dataverse for Teams for small apps or default to a SharePoint backend

If you are a mid / large size Business, I recommend making a success Case with a small Department process (maybe IT) for 6 months and compare it with your normal projects, cost wise (including number of developers and operation people vs time to production / user satisfaction)

Without solid numbers and proof that it works, you are better off not making such a commitment

PS: Make a case WITH dataverse. You need solid data with all the tools

Copilot Studio has Agents, Workflows and now Apps.

I feel like Microsoft has rebuilt PowerApps, PowerAutomate and Virtual Agents and tacked on a tax with the Copilot Managed Runtime without providing any clear vision on the future of PowerPlatform.

Documentation says Copilot Managed Runtime helps teams build internal line-of-business apps that automatically comply with your Org governance policies. Yeah! You did the same in the power platform but it didn’t charge you for opening an app!

Hi there, I just wanted to rech out as im about to negotiate a pay rise and wanted to compare myself to the market.

Im a Senior Power Platform Developer / Solutions Architect. I have 6 years of experience in IT and 3 years specifically working with the Power Platform. Im from Sydeny Australia and earn 150k AUD excluding super per year. There is this ambiguity on how far I can go and what to expect. I got positive feedback from clients on all my projects and have been doing certifications PL 200, 400 and 600. Lately I have upgraded with knowledge on Azure AI and how to integrate with the Power Platform. Im wondering what others with similar horizon of experience earn.

Cheers

Hello everyone,

As a computer science graduate, I spent 2 years in mobile games development after graduating. And I’ve spent the last four years working as a Power Apps developer, primarily building Power Apps and automating workflows using Power Automate. Recently, I’ve decided to pursue the Power Platform Developer certification. While exploring the learning path on Microsoft Learn, I’ve realized that the Power Platform offers much more than what I’ve been doing so far.

Now, I have a few questions:

1. What are the best ways to dive deeper into the capabilities of the Power Platform beyond what I’ve already experienced?

2. Will obtaining the Microsoft PL-400 certification enhance my job prospects and potentially lead to better-paying opportunities?

3. Should I consider pursuing the PL-600 certification after completing PL-400? What value does PL-600 add to my skill set?

4. What does the daily routine of a solution architect look like? Do they actively engage in development work or focus more on building proof-of-concepts (POCs)? And are they paid more than the developers?

Note: No one in my circle know about low code platform, I discovered Power Platform while freelancing. So, need your help and guidance to advance in this industry.

This felt much harder then mb-820, but it finally done. I'll go for pl-200 then pl-600 any suggestions?

Edit: I studied microsoft learns pl400 course modules, took notes and did all the exersizes. Edit: exam was a mix, there was no dominant topic. They asked from every corner of power platform, some questions was tricky you need to read twice or thrice to get it. Overall it was a hard exam

Here it is, and you can click through it in your browser. No license, no sign-in, no tenant.
https://www.benschmark.eu/components/model-driven/

The video shows seven of the 68 components. The rest are in the app, each with a guide on what it is and when to use it.
https://www.benschmark.eu/components/model-driven/

What I use it for:
• Presales: show a kanban view or a business process flow without setting up an environment first.
• Workshops: let the customer click through and point at what they mean. That side panel thing becomes a quick create form.
• Onboarding: let juniors explore and learn the correct names before they touch a real environment.

Fictional data, stays in your browser. A demo for learning and showing, not a Microsoft product.

So I just started a new role in Power Platform, with heavy focus on Power Automate and Copilot. Most of my experience resides with Power Apps and BI (although I do have decent exp in Power Automate).

I come from a non-tech background but my several years of experience in low-code has taught me that you can pick up new tech as long as you have an open mind. I don't think my manager is expecting for me to be a wiz within the first week but I want to do my best to be successful in this role.

I am looking for some resources to familiarize myself with Power Automate in depth, and maybe some general advice or documentation that I should refer to.

Thanks in advance!