{"id":25563,"date":"2023-07-24T08:29:33","date_gmt":"2023-07-24T16:29:33","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-07-03T04:48:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T11:48:14","slug":"microsoft-power-apps-and-generative-ai-helps-citizen-maker-upskill-and-transform-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/microsoft-power-apps-and-generative-ai-helps-citizen-maker-upskill-and-transform-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Power Apps and generative AI helps citizen maker upskill and transform career"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Miyu Takai from Tokyo, Japan, began her career with zero IT experience and is now in a technical specialist role that she never imagined possible for herself, thanks to the Power Platform and the power of AI. Miyu leveraged her existing Excel skills and used the GPT-powered Power Apps Ideas<\/a> capabilities to easily generate Power Fx<\/a> formulas and wire together logic for her Power Apps solutions. She is now exploring the recently announced Copilot<\/a> capabilities to continue building impactful solutions and enabling others in her community to do the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story explores Miyu\u2019s career transition – from processing fax orders to building apps and automation, her passion for technology, and how Power Apps with generative AI has aided her rapid upskilling and success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWith Power Apps, all I needed to do was give examples. I knew what I wanted to do, and I didn\u2019t need to explain in detail on what I wanted to achieve. It was just magical.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Miyu Takai, Technical Support Engineer, Sentreseau, Inc.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Career progression<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 2015 Miyu started her career in Tokyo, at an office branch of a food container manufacturing company. She was responsible for entering the sales orders received via fax machines into the ordering system. After several roles in the same company, she landed in the marketing department and gathered data using Excel for marketing activities in Tokyo, and then expanded to Osaka and other sales regions. \u201cThis was my first time I started to gain interest in optimizing processes with automation. I learned some basic Excel equations and some basic macros,\u201d says Miyu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the global pandemic hit in 2020, her company accelerated the move to the cloud. Since Power Platform was available through Microsoft 365, that started her low code journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI was always curious to try out new things. I immediately started trying out Power Automate and SharePoint, trying out things like deadline reminders. I was using it to an extent that one of the folks from IT asked if I could help by making some how-to videos for them.\u201d<\/em><\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Miyu Takai, Technical Support Engineer, Sentreseau, Inc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pivotal career moment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 2021, Miyu connected with the RPA community in Japan. \u201cI randomly found a post on Twitter, and it was the Japan RPA (robotics process automation) community<\/a> \u2013 where they were talking about their virtual RPA Advent Calendar<\/a>.\u201d Miyu contributed a blog post<\/a> to the series and shortly after, presented to the RPA community. This ignited her passion for the Power Platform and opened the possibility that she could pursue a career in IT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was interested to be involved in IT, but I never felt I could land a job in IT. I had very little IT skills, but at the same time I was really interested in Power Platform,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eight months later, she came across the consulting company, Sentreseau<\/a>. They had a Citizen Development Department that hires talent for Power Platform roles, who can help empower their customers with citizen development by providing training courses, facilitating hackathons and more. Miyu had doubts she would be accepted, given her minimal programming experience, and was delighted when she was accepted. In her role today as a technical support specialist, she helps customers with their Power Platform journeys. She builds solutions, provides Power Platform related training, and supports companies to build their own in-house communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rapid upskilling with Power Apps AI capabilities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Prior to being hands-on with Power Apps, Miyu relied on books, blogs, and Microsoft Learn to upskill in Microsoft 365 and Power Platform. To help kickstart her learning, Miyu turned to the AI-powered Ideas feature built directly into Power Apps Studio. She could describe in natural language what she wanted to do, and the necessary Power Fx formulas were automatically generated.  This helped her quickly build apps and more easily learn advanced concepts in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn order for me to build apps, I needed to know what functions to use, but often I didn\u2019t know what they were. Some of the blogs and articles were too technical for me or had assumptions that required background knowledge with Power Fx. With Power Apps Ideas, all I needed to do was give examples. I knew what I wanted, and I didn\u2019t need to explain in detail what I wanted to achieve. It was just magical. I learned Power Fx this way much faster.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some examples of how Miyu used Power Apps Ideas:<\/p>\n\n\n\n