Train future AI artisans
Aware of the need to act and convinced that the employment opportunities generated by AI should not be reserved for an elite, Microsoft created in March 2018 the first Microsoft AI School on the Issy Campus. les-Moulineaux, in collaboration with the social and solidarity enterprise Simplon.
Today, spread over the entire territory, these schools are aimed at people who are far from employment and offer them the opportunity to benefit from a free specialization to become an “Artificial Intelligence Developer”.
This program comes in two stages:
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- 7 months of intensive training dedicated to code and AI technologies
- 12 months of work-study training for each of the learners, thanks to a professionalization contract within a Microsoft partner company.
Committed to diversity and inclusion, Microsoft also supports the presence of underrepresented audiences in IT professions. In addition to recruitment that is intended to be systematically open to all, for all promotions, two courses have been specifically adapted:
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- Feminine Ambition: a promotion made up of 80% women, inaugurated in 2019
- Atypical Intelligence: a class that included 15 neuroatypical learners, inaugurated in 2020.
The key numbers
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- A network of 37 schools spread over 11 French regions
- More than 700 learners trained since 2018
- 275 partner companies
Hackers
To enable more women to access digital professions, Microsoft supports the SAS Hackeuses program, operated by the social and solidarity organization Simplon.
A training program – ranging from 6 to 7 weeks – upstream of a professional training course to enable women to discover the career opportunities offered by digital technology. From 2022, Microsoft has partnered with the launch of the program in 4 cities: Issy-les-Moulineaux, Toulouse, Lyon and Bordeaux. SAS Hackeuses supports learners in defining their professional project by introducing them to a first programming language and offering them mentorship with digital professionals. As a continuation of this initiation, learners can continue their journey by becoming more professional with the Microsoft IA School by Simplon.
Promoting equal opportunity in cloud professions
In the field of the cloud, companies are looking for new qualified profiles to support their transformation but find themselves faced with a talent shortage. This is what encouraged Microsoft and Simplon to develop training courses dedicated to innovative professions, to meet the needs of companies in the regions while promoting the return to employment and inclusive recruitment.
Thus, after the IA Schools, Microsoft France and its partner Simplon have once again joined forces to offer a training program for Cloud professions, aimed at people far from employment.
Accessible free of charge to learners, regardless of diploma or technical knowledge, the Microsoft Cloud School by Simplon promotes equal opportunities.
Two choices of training paths
Two courses, free for learners are offered, Cloud Developer or Cloud Administrator FinOps specialty, depending on the recruitment needs of companies in the targeted territory:
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- The Cloud Developer course, deployed in December 2020 in Aulnay-sous-Bois and Castelnau-le-Lez, offers a period of 6 months of intensive training followed by a year in a professionalization contract. 29 learners were selected without technical prerequisites, on the basis of their motivation and their ability to project themselves into employment.
- The Cloud Administrator course, a training course in 4 months of intensive courses followed by 15 months of work-study, meeting the criteria for the level 6 professional title of DevOps system administrator registered in the national directory of professional certifications since December 1, 2021.
The first two promotions of Cloud Developers started in Ile-de-France and Occitanie in December 2020. With respectively 20% and 38% of learners without professional activity for more than 12 months, the promotions from Aulnay-sous-Bois and Castelnau-le-Lez are part of a dynamic of inclusion and support for employability.
Train the future talents of enterprise application programming
In 2021, Microsoft inaugurated an inclusive and professional school dedicated to the development and mastery of business applications: the Business Apps School. Created in partnership with Social Builder and WebForce3, this school tends to reduce the digital divide and make training a lever for inclusion.
Accessible to job seekers (minimum bac+2) wishing to become a designer and developer of applications, the Business Apps school’s main objective is to open access to new professions for people in retraining to meet skills needs. and new business challenges in companies undergoing digital and organizational transformation.
The DNA of the project is based on the diversity and inclusiveness of profiles in the digital sector to contribute to more inclusive tech and a healthy and sustainable work environment for all. Increasing the number of women in the digital ecosystem is also a major ambition.
The school places its values of inclusion and diversity at the heart of its practices by training the entire ecosystem (pedagogical teams, collaborators) in inclusive work practices.
A 100% professionalizing program designed for inclusive tech
The Business Apps school is structured around 2 pillars: a HUMAN skills pillar, enabling the acquisition of fundamental professional skills and posture (in particular to contribute to inclusive tech), and an APPS skills pillar enabling the acquisition of the fundamentals business techniques, but also fundamentals in terms of accessibility and inclusion of applications. Its active pedagogy and mentoring by professionals place the learner at the center of the system, thus ensuring successful and lasting socio-professional integration.
Another specificity of this school is its 100% professionalizing program: 6 months of training (supported by Pôle Emploi), followed by 12 months of professionalization contract in a Microsoft partner company. Following the validation of the achievements and the passage of the title, the learner may be offered a job offer on a CDD/CDI.