Microsoft Student Partners

Ever come across girls blabbering about technology?

Seems odd n out of place right? Not in this era though.. You might wonder what I’m hinting at here- M trying to introduce a new group of guys n gals that I’m blessed to be a part of- which is the "Microsoft Student Partners".

Technology as we all know is the spice of life. Laptop and Internet is like the bread-butter combination in this upcoming era. So what is the first thing that generally strikes us when we talk “technology”? I suppose it’s quite often Microsoft. Microsoft has devised a wonderful way of involving students to learn and share their technical know-how with one and all. MSP (Microsoft Student Program) is an educational and promotional program to sponsor undergraduate and graduate students of Computer Science stream. This program mainly aims at increasing students’ awareness about Microsoft technologies.

The MSP program is available in most countries and students from all colleges and universities are eligible to apply for the same. The selection parameters however need to be satisfied in order to be able to get this wonderfully inspiring chance of being recognized as a Microsoft Student Partner—The one representing Microsoft at the campus level, “A proud moment indeed for an MSP”, to be recognized so among an infinite number of students. Generally about 2 MSPs per college are recruited and their span of work lasts until they pass out of the college. The process of recruitment involves a series of tests and interviews conducted by representatives from Microsoft itself or Lead MSPs (as the MSP program is an academic level program).

Student partners are, however, not employed by Microsoft.
Microsoft does not offer stipends to members of Student Partners program, but various software and hardware packages are distributed for testing and promotional purposes. Student Partners are also given access to MSDN Premium Subscriptions to support their promotional activities. The premium accounts allow access to all licensed Microsoft software for student benefit. We maintain something called as an MSDN AA (Academic Account) for students of respective institutions so that they too get an access to all licensed Microsoft Software. The account allocation and maintenance is a job of an MSP along with ensuring that students do not face any problems while downloading and using the software. Other than these benefits, at times, Student Partners are invited to technology-related conferences - We have Boot camps, pre-boot camps held at the Microsoft Office in Mumbai each year where we have one-to-one knowledge enhancing sessions from experts at Microsoft itself. So it’s like Microsoft makes software and we learn it directly from them.

We as MSPs conduct sessions throughout the year about various upcoming technologies and try to keep students of our institution well versed with all the recent advancements under Microsoft. We even call down experts from Microsoft if we are unable to deliver a session on a particular topic so as to ensure that students from the institution do not miss out on anything in terms of technological updates. We encourage student participation in various competitions organized and sponsored by Microsoft-like the Imagine Cup, etc. We conduct Academic Developer Conferences (DevCon) each year wherein we have MSPs from other colleges coming down and conducting sessions for the benefit of students all over the city. These DevCons are generally held city wise.

The satisfaction in terms of technical knowledge and the ability of being able to share it with everyone is the most mesmerizing. We as MSPs are really grateful to Microsoft for having given us an opportunity like this at such an early time in our lives! Truly, it’s our time To Shine!

The MSP program does not however end here. A well deserved MSP; on the basis of his/her work throughout the recruitment span gets a chance to become an MVP-Microsoft Most Valued Professional. This indeed can be safely assumed to be the first step to a successful life. As a whole, the program aims to increase awareness of Microsoft products, programs and initiatives. Consequently, the program helps expanding the user base of Microsoft products, and results in better availability of properly educated workforce in those technologies.
The MSP program had a start in COE,Pune with Sumedh Sakdeo and Shaizeen Aga as the first recruited MSPs. I, Piyusha Dani ,have now had this uniquely dignified position of an MSP after Sumedh’s graduation from this institution. Hope to see many more MSPs lighting up the path of technology!