You have 20 hours over 2 weeks to prepare for this role. I would not spend that time collecting certifications or watching long courses from beginning to end. I would focus on building one realistic Microsoft AI automation project that demonstrates the main skills the employer needs.
Your existing experience with APIs, Python, Azure, and automation is a useful foundation. The biggest areas to prioritise are Power Automate, Copilot Studio, SharePoint Online, Microsoft 365 integration, and enterprise security.
The role asks for 3+ years of Power Platform experience, so two weeks will not replace that experience. However, you can use the time to build a working portfolio project, practise technical discussions, and demonstrate that you understand how to take a business process from an idea to a deployable solution.
1. What to study first
1. Power Automate
Highest priority
Learn triggers, conditions, approvals, expressions, error handling, retries, connectors, and HTTP/API integrations.
Target: 5 hours
Create an agent with Copilot Studio | mslearn-copilotstudio
2. Microsoft Copilot Studio
Learn to build an agent grounded in company knowledge, connect actions and flows, configure topics, test responses, and apply access controls.
Target: 4 hours
A comprehensive guide to Microsoft SharePoint for not-for-profits
3. SharePoint Online and Microsoft 365
Learn document libraries, lists, metadata, permissions, Microsoft 365 connectors, and how SharePoint supports business workflows.
Target: 3 hours
キャンバス アプリでスクリーンを追加して移動する - Power Apps | Microsoft Learn
4. Power Apps
Build a simple form for submitting and tracking requests. Learn basic controls, forms, data sources, and integration with Power Automate.
Target: 2 hours
Exploring Microsoft Graph - CloudNetDevOps
5. APIs, security and deployment
Practise REST calls, JSON, authentication, permissions, environment variables, connection references, monitoring, and safe handling of business data.
Target: 6 hours
The remaining time is for revision and interview preparation. Azure AI Foundry, Azure OpenAI, Dataverse, and Power BI are worth exploring, but they should not distract you from the core Power Platform requirements.
2. Best crash courses and video resources
These are the resources I would actually use in your position. Start with the official Microsoft Learn hands-on material, then use YouTube when you need to see someone build a solution in the interface.
Create a Parallel Approval Process Using Power Automate
A. Power Automate - complete this first
Microsoft Learn · 2 hr 39 min
Covers cloud flows, expressions, HTTP connectors, troubleshooting, and error handling. This is the strongest match for the role's day-to-day workflow development.
Start the Power Automate learning path
Approvals and automated processes
B. Copilot Studio - build an AI agent
Microsoft Learn · 45-minute module
Learn how to create a knowledge-enabled agent, add sources, configure generative answers, and test it. Then try the newer agent creation experience.
Build intelligent agents with knowledge
Hands-on lab: create an agent in the new experience
Agent lab: knowledge, tools, and topics
Criar um Canvas App com dados de uma lista - Power Apps | Microsoft Learn
C. Power Apps + SharePoint
Microsoft Learn · 41 minutes
Learn to connect a SharePoint list to an app, create a basic interface, and understand publishing and security.
Build your first Power Apps and SharePoint solution
SharePoint developer documentation
Get the expiration date of application secrets and certificates in Entra | blog.atwork.at
D. REST APIs and Microsoft Graph
Microsoft Learn · Interactive API exploration
Practise reading JSON responses, understanding delegated versus application permissions, and calling Microsoft 365 services.
Microsoft Graph and third-party API integrations
Foundry Agent Service | Microsoft Azure
E. Azure AI and AI Foundry
Microsoft Learn · Optional extension
Focus on the concepts behind deploying AI models, building agents, evaluating responses, and implementing guardrails. Do this after the Power Platform work.
Get started with AI applications and agents on Azure
Microsoft Foundry training catalogue
What about YouTube?
Use these targeted searches rather than watching random AI news or broad Power Platform playlists:
- Power Automate full course for beginners
- Copilot Studio full tutorial: build and publish an agent
- Power Automate HTTP connector and REST API integration
- SharePoint Online permissions and document libraries
- Power Platform solutions, environment variables and deployment
I recommend watching with the Microsoft interface open and reproducing the steps. Watching alone will not prepare you to troubleshoot a broken flow or explain why an agent is accessing the wrong data.
3. Your 10-day study timetable
This gives you exactly 20 hours: 10 weekdays, 2 hours per day. Every day should produce something you can demonstrate or explain.
Week 1: Learn the core tools
Monday to Friday · 10 hours
01
Mon
Power Automate fundamentals
- 45 min: cloud flow triggers, actions, conditions and expressions.
- 60 min: build a flow triggered by a new SharePoint list item.
- 15 min: test it and inspect the run history.
Deliverable: a working automated notification flow.
02
Tue
Approvals and business workflows
- 30 min: approval-flow concepts.
- 75 min: build a request and approval process.
- 15 min: test approved, rejected and failed scenarios.
Deliverable: a working approval workflow.
03
Wed
Copilot Studio fundamentals
- 45 min: learn agents, instructions, knowledge and orchestration.
- 60 min: create an HR or operations FAQ agent using sample documents.
- 15 min: test questions it should and should not answer.
Deliverable: a knowledge-grounded agent prototype.
04
Thu
SharePoint and Power Apps
- 30 min: lists, libraries, columns, metadata and permissions.
- 75 min: build a simple request-tracking canvas app using a SharePoint list.
- 15 min: test submission and access restrictions.
Deliverable: a simple business request app.
05
Fri
APIs and integration
- 30 min: REST, JSON, HTTP methods and authentication.
- 60 min: call a test API from Power Automate, or explore Microsoft Graph.
- 30 min: practise troubleshooting status codes, permissions and timeouts.
Deliverable: an API integration you can explain.
Week 2: Build something production-minded
Monday to Friday · 10 hours
06
Mon
Connect the agent to actions
- 30 min: understand agent tools and Power Automate flows.
- 75 min: connect your agent to a flow that submits a request or looks up a record.
- 15 min: test success and failure cases.
Deliverable: an agent that can perform an action, not just chat.
07
Tue
Document processing
- 30 min: understand document extraction, classification and confidence.
- 75 min: create a flow that receives a document and routes it for review. Use AI Builder or an available document-processing action if your environment permits.
- 15 min: test incomplete or ambiguous documents.
Deliverable: a document intake workflow with a human review step.
08
Wed
Security and deployment
- 30 min: permissions, least privilege, environments and data loss prevention policies.
- 60 min: learn solutions, connection references and environment variables.
- 30 min: document logging, retry behaviour, ownership and failure alerts.
Deliverable: a deployment and security checklist.
09
Thu
Finish and test your portfolio project
- 60 min: connect the components and fix issues.
- 30 min: test permissions, invalid inputs and failed integrations.
- 30 min: record a short demo and write setup documentation.
Deliverable: a demonstrable end-to-end solution.
10
Fri
Interview preparation
- 45 min: practise technical and architecture questions.
- 45 min: explain your project and demonstrate the business outcome.
- 30 min: revise gaps in APIs, permissions, error handling and governance.
Deliverable: a clear technical walkthrough and interview notes.
4. The portfolio project I would build
Build an AI-Powered Business Operations Assistant using Microsoft Power Platform. This is more valuable than building a chatbot that only answers questions because it demonstrates the combination of AI, workflow automation, APIs, and business process design that the employer wants.
Microsoft Power Platform Scale & Service Trust (May 2025)
Operations Assistant
Example scenario: employee requests, HR questions and operational approvals.
Copilot Studio
Answers questions from approved policies and helps users submit requests.
Power Automate
Validates requests, calls APIs, routes approvals and sends notifications.
SharePoint / Microsoft 365
Stores request records, approved documents, status and audit information.
Power Apps
Gives staff a form to submit and track requests.
Illustrative architecture, not a deployed solution.
Minimum features to implement
- An agent that answers questions from a sample HR or operations policy document.
- A Power Automate flow that creates a SharePoint request record.
- An approval process with approved, rejected and pending states.
- Email or Teams notifications where the relevant connectors are available.
- One API integration, even if it uses a public test API.
- Error handling, execution history, and an explanation of permissions.
- A short README explaining architecture, setup, limitations, and business value.
For a stronger demonstration, measure request-processing time before and after automation using simulated test data. Report actual measured results rather than inventing productivity improvements.
Microsoft's practical agent labs cover knowledge sources, tools, publishing and testing, which align well with this project.
mslearn-copilotstudio+2
5. Set up your learning environment before Day 1
This is important because some Microsoft services require an eligible account, tenant permissions, a trial or a paid licence.
- Open Microsoft Power Automate.
- Open Microsoft Copilot Studio.
- Open Microsoft Power Apps.
- Check whether you have access to SharePoint Online and a Power Platform environment.
- Confirm that you can create flows, agents, SharePoint lists and connections.
If you do not have an eligible Microsoft 365 tenant or Copilot Studio access, resolve this first. Do not assume a personal Microsoft account gives you access to all the required enterprise features. Some connectors and AI capabilities also require additional licences or usage capacity.
6. Interview topics you must be able to explain
By the end of the two weeks, practise answering these without reading notes.
| Interview question | What a strong answer should cover |
|---|---|
| How would you build an AI agent for HR? | Business requirements, approved knowledge sources, agent instructions, actions, testing and permissions. |
| When would you use Power Automate instead of an AI agent? | Deterministic workflows for fixed business rules; agents for conversational interactions and selecting appropriate tools within defined boundaries. |
| How would you integrate a third-party API? | HTTP methods, JSON, authentication, connection configuration, pagination, throttling, retries and error handling. |
| How would you secure a SharePoint-based AI solution? | Least privilege, SharePoint permissions, identity, data access, DLP policies and protection against unintended data exposure. |
| How would you deploy a flow from development to production? | Solutions, environment variables, connection references, service ownership, testing and controlled deployment. |
| How would you measure business value? | Time saved, error rates, processing time, adoption, successful completion rate and operating cost. |
| What happens when an AI agent gives a wrong answer? | Ground responses in approved sources, evaluate outputs, constrain actions, use escalation and monitor failures. |
For enterprise deployment, familiarise yourself with Power Platform environment variables and deployment settings. For AI governance and responsible deployment, review Microsoft Foundry training.
Microsoft Learn+1
7. What I would not study in these two weeks
Avoid spending your limited time on:
- Preparing for several certifications.
- Learning Power BI in depth.
- Building complex custom Azure OpenAI applications before learning Copilot Studio.
- Advanced Power Apps development.
- Watching entire playlists without building anything.
- Memorising every connector or Power Platform feature.
Your goal is to be able to build a small solution, explain your design decisions, debug it, and identify what would be required before deploying it to a real organisation.
My recommendation: allocate roughly 70% of your study time to hands-on Power Automate, Copilot Studio and SharePoint work, 20% to APIs, security and deployment, and 10% to interview practice.
One final point: do not present yourself as having three years of Power Platform experience if that is not your actual background. Position your existing software engineering, API integration and automation experience honestly, and use the project to demonstrate how quickly you can apply those skills to the Microsoft ecosystem.
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