I am a small, independent software developer. I have been a Microsoft supporter and have been working professionally with/on their products since 1985. My company has been a partner since 1996. My relationship with Microsoft has had some bumps along the way, but it has sunk to a very clear all-time low.
Frustration #1: The program has changed quite a bit through the years, and rules have changed occasionally as well. Until this year I have managed to keep up. For many years I was an ISV partner, but that changed and more recently I've been a Silver level partner with an "Application Development" competency. Recently the rules changed yet again and, despite my long history with Microsoft, I was unable to fulfil the demands. The real frustration is that the requirements are simply ludicrous. There is a reasonable list of certification exams that are accepted as qualification. However, of the 9 possible routes, 5 are expired, 3 are irrelevant or too specialized (e.g. Azure Administration or Dynamics 365), leaving essentially 1 reasonable route for a developer. The one route that is open to general developers is "Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate", so if you develop for anything other than Azure, you're out of luck. Fortunately I have done quite a lot with Azure, and have used it extensively for many years. So I began work on the test. I tried the practice exams over and over again. They seemed to have very little to do with actual software development, but I plowed ahead, hoping the actual exam would be better. Eventually I wrote the actual exam and nope - it too had very little to do with actual development, and much more to do with Azure administration. Fortunately I squeaked by, but when I described the experience to my employees (Microsoft requires two people to certify), I was unable to convince any of them even to attempt it (which makes sense since they don't have nearly as much experience with Azure as I do). So, my Silver level partnership expires today, and I just remember fondly the sound of Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's second CEO, chanting "developers, developers, developers...". At least we have that in our mythology now. I guess I'll be telling my grandchildren about a time when that might have been true, because in technology terms, that's right up there with T-Rex: dead for a very long time.
Frustration #2: For reasons quite unknown to me, my main account is unable to communicate in this forum. I raised a ticket on 3/26/2022. On 3/28 I received an email with instructions that didn't work. After that I received another email saying Microsoft Customer Service & Support couldn't help, providing me with an email address, and closing my case. I tried the email address and it bounced!?! Subsequent attempts to contact Microsoft about this have received zero responses. Everything I send seems to go into a black hole. In order to post here I had to create a new account! It's a good thing I can create as many email aliases as I like!
Frustration #3: Because I was unable to retain my Silver membership, I purchased an Action Pack. When I tried to activate the Azure benefits provided by the Action Pack, I'm told I can't have both active at once. So, there will be a gap when the dozens of services I have in Azure will go dark while I wait to be able to activate my other benefit.
!!!!!-----!!!!!-----!!!!! This is the one that has me the most irritated!!!!!-----!!!!!-----!!!!!
Frustration #4: On February 1, 2022, SOMETHING changed and I could no longer update the applications I have in the Microsoft Store. I raised a ticket. It took over two weeks to get help on that, and when I eventually did I found I was communicating with the wrong department. I had to raise another ticket which I did on 2/25/2022. The issue? "Employment Verification"! Yeah, if you peruse this forum you'll find dozens, perhaps hundreds of people facing the same problem. I had my partnership verified in 1996, and occasional domain verifications throughout the years since!!! Now there's a separate tab for "Developer", and a new verification process. The new verification process makes no sense. There are so many reasonable verification processes that could be used. Instead, they want PDF documents and screen shots!?! Anyway, I've supplied a steady stream of those, trying various different combinations and permutations, all to no avail. The last response from Microsoft logged on the "Activity" page is from 3/17/2022. Every three or four days I get an email trying to convince me they're still working on it. I've tried escalating this in any/every way I know how, including phone calls, emails, notes in the activity log, and even Twitter. For weeks, now, I've started my work day wondering how I could get action on it. Everything I try just seems to go into a black hole. I've even been trying to figure out how to get the attention of the press to expose the rotten core of the Microsoft Partnership program, especially given how many other people are reporting the same problems. Except for the fact that my livelihood depends on this, I'd have given up weeks ago. I really have no idea what to do.
!!!!!-----!!!!!-----!!!!! This is the one that has me the most irritated!!!!!-----!!!!!-----!!!!!
Frustration #5: The partnership web site is so... incredibly... SLOW!!! I assume it's hosted on Azure, which sure reflects negatively on what I assume is Microsoft's flagship at the moment.
Well, that's my sorry tale. I suppose I could say I'm in the twilight of my software development career. Given how my career is pretty much intrinsically tied to Microsoft, and given the state of Microsoft these days, I suppose that's a good thing. At least I was around during the good times. Too bad it may end like this.
