Microsoft x Female Founders: Creating a More Equal Future in Tech

In light of International Women’s Day 2023, we are thrilled to partner with Microsoft to provide greater access, and our personal recommendations for tech skills that will boost you forward in your career. Together, we can create a more equal future in tech!

Microsoft is strongly committed to diversity and inclusion and has a long history of supporting initiatives to achieve this. Alongside a focus on ethnicity and age, they strongly support female talent, particularly in innovation and tech.  As part of their broad skilling and investment program for the coming local cloud region in Austria, Microsoft has started collaborating with Female Founders in 2021 to foster female entrepreneurship.

Making a difference through shared goals and values

It is our shared values and goals to create positive change in the tech and innovation industry that have allowed us to have real impact on the communities we are working in. At Female Founders we are on a mission to create an equal future through equal opportunities in both the startup ecosystem and the wider tech space. We believe that in a world facing more challenges than ever, tech and innovation will play a huge role in finding solutions. For that reason, the people who are building new tech, and driving innovation need to be as diverse as our global population. Plus: we truly believe that it’s finally time to access the untapped creativity and potential of women.

Supporting more females to start their entrepreneurship journey and career in tech

We are thrilled to announce that our partnership with Microsoft is taking a step further, thanks to our great working relationship, the trust we have built, and our shared values. In order to support more women in their journey to start their own businesses or pursue careers in technology, Microsoft is promoting free access to LinkedIn courses, Microsoft Career paths, and Microsoft Certifications to all members of the Female Founders Community! Digital skills are more important than ever, almost every job requires some level of digital fluency, and the pandemic has only accelerated that change. Everyone will need digital skills to pursue in-demand roles and build livelihoods in this changing economy, just as fluency in sustainability is becoming a needed skill for careers.

Microsoft x Female Founders

In order to support more women in their journey to start their own businesses or pursue careers in technology, Microsoft is promoting free access to LinkedIn courses, Microsoft Career paths, and Microsoft Certifications to all members of the Female Founders Community!

Through these valuable resources, trainees can gain tangible knowledge and access the right tools to help them succeed in their entrepreneurial journeys. We’re excited to continue working with Microsoft to empower women and promote diversity and inclusion in the field of technology.

Learning new skills with LinkedIn Learning

LinkedIn Learning is a great place to get started to develop software, creative and business skills through video courses by industry experts. For our community we picked some of the most relevant courses: 

  • Entrepreneurship (Entrepreneurial Learning Pathway)
    What do you need to succeed as an entrepreneur? Learn the basics, including how to find and test your business idea, and even how to market it!
  • Digital Literacy and Productivity (Digital Literacy and Productivity Learning Pathway)
    Develop your computer skills to be able to explain the hardware, applications, productivity tools. How can you work and collaborate online, and safely and responsibly browse the web.
  • Business Analyst (Career Essentials in Business Analysis)
    What skills do you need to thrive in a business analyst role? Explore the foundational concepts, master software tools, and develop your skills to leverage your techniques!
  • Project Management (Career Essentials in Project Management)
    Looking to succeed as a project manager? Learn best practices for any size project, including scheduling, budgeting, and communication, all within the Microsoft 365 suite of tools.

Find your new Career Path

You want to go beyond learning new skills and are looking for a new career path in a technical field for yourself? Then you can get started with Microsoft Learn Career Path and make the first step towards your career in tech:

  • AI Engineer
    All the skills you need to build a successful career as an AI Engineer. Develop and deploy machine learning, cognitive services, and knowledge mining solutions to help organizations thrive in this fast-paced environment.
  • Data Scientist
    For those interested in applying both social sciences and technology. A training to develop your skills to be a successful data scientist, experiment and develop solutions to complex business needs with big data.
  • Developer
    As a developer, you design, build and test the software and systems behind everything from commercial apps to cloud solutions. Use this training to develop the skills you need to build a successful career as a developer.
  • Functional Consultant
    Functional consultants help others implement the latest in tech solutions to drive success. Serve as a bridge between the business problem and technical options to create elegant solutions. Develop the skills and expertise to become a successful functional consultant!

On top of the career paths, you can also learn new technical skills using Github Skills which is designed for both experts and beginners, the courses offer a complete overview including: introductions, the workflows, continuous integration, deployment, JavaScript actions and more.

Microsoft Fundamentals

Next to LinkedIn Learning and Career Paths, you can also get started with Microsoft Fundamental Courses to learn some of the basics of Microsoft 365 and Azure.

How you can access the courses

All the courses can be accessed via the links in this article – all content is provided for free to support your learning and development of new skills. In case you want to also get a certificate a cost contribution of $ 99,- will be charged.