Do you know there are more than 50,000+ SharePoint and Power Platform job openings in the United States of America? And a mid-level SharePoint developer earns more than $100,000 a year. Similarly, a mid-level Power Apps developer in the United States makes between $100,000 and $135,000 a year. And guess a Power BI senior level Data analytics consultant makes over $150,000 annually.
Here is a screenshot of the LinkedIn SharePoint job search.
Do you want to become a SharePoint developer? Or a Microsoft Power Platform Developer or a SharePoint framework developer?
I will guide you through your journey! I will make you a successful SharePoint and Power Platform developer. I will explain from beginning to end what you require to become a SharePoint expert.
Even if you are new to SharePoint, a fresher, or an experienced professional, I will guide you!
Keep reading.
What do you require to become a SharePoint Developer?
The first thing you need to become a SharePoint developer is to know the basics of SharePoint, starting with what SharePoint is. Then, you might consider knowing why companies are using SharePoint. Its benefits and how organizations can use SharePoint?
What is SharePoint?
SharePoint is a collaboration platform from Microsoft for your organization. A lot of organizations use SharePoint to create sites easily. We can use SharePoint to store, organize, and manage information securely and documents across the organizations. And most importantly, you can access SharePoint anytime from any device.
Want to fast forward your learning? Check out the Complete SharePoint Developer Training (including Microsoft Power Platform and SPFx)
What is SharePoint used for?
Here are a few reasons SharePoint is used for.
- SharePoint is used to create sites easily. Like, you can create sites individually for each department. For your HR team, you can create a team site that can be accessed and managed by your HR department. In the same way, you can create sites for IT, Finance, and Training departments.
- You can create libraries to store, share, and manage documents securely in a SharePoint site. You can create a SharePoint document library to store your project documents; only your project team members can access it. You can even create a separate document library and share it with your external vendors through SharePoint’s external sharing features.
- If you want to store your employee information, product information, or vendor details, you can easily create a SharePoint list and store it on a site.
- If you want to build an attractive home page, then you can use various SharePoint web parts like the hero web part, the Planner web part, the quick chart web part, and the Organization chart web part to create stunning pages.
- Suppose you want to show news and updates. In that case, you can use the news web part or use various visuals in a SharePoint team site or communication site to display important information inside your organization.
- Easily search documents or files and find people from your intranet by using the SharePoint search feature.
- You can also use SharePoint with Microsoft Power Platform to transform your business processes.
- Power Apps: Use Power Apps to develop apps quickly that you can use on mobile, tablet, or even laptop devices. Apps you can develop without any coding knowledge and investing days. Within a couple of hours, you can develop an app that your users can start using.
- Power BI: Power BI is an analytic and reporting tool. Using Microsoft Power BI, you can present your boring data with attractive visuals.
- Power Automate: Use Microsoft Power Automate to create automated flows for your day-to-day tasks. From sending emails to approvals or reminder emails, you can use Power Automate all your business processes inside your organizations.
- Power Virtual Agents: Built chatbots easily by using Microsoft Power Virtual Agents so that it will automatically interact with your customers without your presence.
- Power Pages: Use Microsoft Power Pages to create external-facing sites to showcase your products.
- Access SharePoint on your mobile through an Android or iOS app.
Here is also a video you can check out, which I have made on what SharePoint is and why organizations are using SharePoint.
Check out an article on What is SharePoint and Benefits of SharePoint?
How to Access SharePoint?
There are two ways you can access SharePoint.
- SharePoint Online
- SharePoint On-Premise
SharePoint Online: If you are familiar with the cloud service from Microsoft, which is known as Microsoft 365, it will be easier for you to understand. SharePoint comes as a part of the cloud service in Microsoft 365, popularly known as SharePoint Online. As an organization, you can take licenses according to your requirements, and Microsoft will take care of the infrastructure, updates, etc. Many Microsoft 365 plans are available, and you can check them out here.
SharePoint On-Premise: The Organization will install and use SharePoint, and Microsoft will not be responsible for anything. In this case, you as an organization will be fully responsible for installing hardware and software to install and update SharePoint. You can purchase SharePoint licenses and build your farm for your organization based on your requirements and user base.
The latest on-premise version of SharePoint is the SharePoint subscription edition. And a few previous on-premise versions are:
- SharePoint server 2019
- SharePoint server 2016
- SharePoint server 2013
- SharePoint server 2010
- MOSS 2007, etc.
Check out a complete tutorial on SharePoint Online vs on-premise. I highly recommend this tutorial to know in depth about the SharePoint on-premise and online environments.
SharePoint Online Sites or Site Collections
As a SharePoint developer, the next thing you should know about the SharePoint Online sites or site collections.
A SharePoint site is a place where you can store and display information or documents. This is the starting point for your organization to use SharePoint.
We can create two types of sites in the modern SharePoint.
- SharePoint Online team site
- SharePoint Online communication site
In a nutshell, SharePoint team sites are meant for a particular team inside your organization. Let us say one of your project development teams can create a team site so that they can collaborate and share information with the team members.
Organizations use SharePoint Online communication sites to share news or updates with a larger audience. For example, you can create a communication site to display event details that will happen in your organization. This information is not specific to any team but rather meant for the entire organization.
Want to fast forward your learning? Check out the Complete SharePoint Developer Training (including Microsoft Power Platform and SPFx)
Here are a few articles you can look at, all related to SharePoint Online sites.
| Name | Details |
|---|---|
| SharePoint Online team site vs. communication site | Learn the difference between a SharePoint Online team site vs. a communication site |
| Create a SharePoint Online Team Site | Learn how to create a team site in SharePoint Online. |
| Create a SharePoint Online communication site | Learn how to create a SharePoint Online communication site. |
| Delete a SharePoint site | Learn how to delete a SharePoint Online team site or communication site. |
| Change a SharePoint Online site URL | Learn how to change a SharePoint team or communication site URL. |
| Make a SharePoint site public | Learn how to make a SharePoint Online site public. |
| Share a SharePoint Online Site | Learn how to share a SharePoint online site with external users. |
| SharePoint Online site owner | Learn how to find the site owner of a SharePoint Online team site or communication site. |
| SharePoint site usage report | Learn how to check SharePoint Online site usage report. |
| Add Discussion Board to SharePoint Online | Learn how to add a discussion board to a SharePoint Online site. |
| Add a Planner to SharePoint Team Site | Learn how to add a planner to a SharePoint Online team site. |
| Change classic to modern in SharePoint | Learn how to change classic SharePoint to modern SharePoint. |
| SharePoint Team Site vs Project Site | Learn the difference between a team site and a project site in SharePoint. |
| Recycle Bin in SharePoint Online | Learn how to work with a recycle bin in SharePoint Online. |
| Change SharePoint Online Team Site to Microsoft Teams | Learn how to change a team site to Microsoft teams in SharePoint Online. |
SharePoint Lists and Libraries
The next thing you should know as a SharePoint developer is about SharePoint lists and libraries.
SharePoint lists are like tables in a database where we can store information. If you want to store information about a Product, then you can create a list with the columns below:
| Column Name | Column Description |
|---|---|
| Product ID | Single line of text |
| Product Name | Single line of text |
| Product Description | Multiline of text |
| Price | Currency |
| Availability | Yes/No |
In the same way, you can create libraries to store documents or files in a SharePoint Online site. If you want to store policy-related documents for your organization, you can create a SharePoint document library as HR Policies. There are a lot of features the SharePoint document library provides, like versioning, security, views, etc., that you should know.
Here, you can check out two videos where I have explained what is SharePoint list and how to create a list in SharePoint Online. Another video explained a SharePoint document library and how to create a document library in SharePoint Online.
Here are a few tutorials on SharePoint lists and libraries you can look at.
Want to fast forward your learning? Check out the Complete SharePoint Developer Training (including Microsoft Power Platform and SPFx)
| Name | Details |
|---|---|
| SharePoint Online List Examples | This tutorial contains 15 real-world SharePoint list examples with different data types. |
| SharePoint Online list vs document library | Learn the difference between a list and a library in SharePoint Online. |
| Title Column in SharePoint Online List | Learn how to work with the title column in a SharePoint list. |
| Add Person or Group Column in SharePoint List | Learn how to add a person or group column in the SharePoint Online list. |
| Indexed Column in SharePoint Online List | Learn what is an indexed column in a SharePoint list. And also how to create an index column in the SharePoint Online list. |
| Delete a Column in SharePoint List or Document Library | Learn how to delete a column in a SharePoint Online list or library. |
| SharePoint Online List Version History | Learn about SharePoint list version history and how versioning works in a SharePoint Online list. |
| Export SharePoint List to Excel | Learn how to export SharePoint Online list to Excel. |
| Import Excel into SharePoint online list | Learn how to import an Excel to a SharePoint Online list. |
| sort columns in a SharePoint Online list | Learn how to sort columns in a SharePoint Online list. |
| SharePoint Online List View | Learn what a list view is in SharePoint and how to create a list view in SharePoint Online. |
| Create a Calendar View in SharePoint List | Learn how to create a calendar view in a SharePoint list. |
| SharePoint Online List Vs Excel | Learn the difference between SharePoint Online List and Excel. |
| Add Attachments Column in SharePoint List | Learn how to add an attachments column to a SharePoint list. |
| Create a Lookup Column in SharePoint Online List | Learn how to create a lookup column in a SharePoint list. |
| SharePoint list conditional formatting based on a date | Learn how to implement list conditional formatting based on a date in a Sharepoint Online list. |
| SharePoint list calendar view formatting | Learn everything about the SharePoint Online list calendar view formatting. |
| Format a SharePoint Online List Column using JSON | Learn how to format a SharePoint Online list column using JSON. |
| Rename a SharePoint Online List | Learn how to rename a SharePoint Online list. |
| SharePoint number column without comma | Learn how to format a number column without commas in the SharePoint list. |
| SharePoint Phone Number Validation | Learn how to do phone number validation in a SharePoint Online list. |
| Rename a Document Library in SharePoint | Learn how to rename a SharePoint document library. |
| SharePoint Online document library examples | Here are 12 real examples of SharePoint document libraries. |
| Create a Folder in SharePoint Document Library | Learn how to create a folder in a SharePoint document library. |
| Set a Custom Template for a SharePoint Document Library | Learn how to set a custom template in a SharePoint Online document library. |
| Co-authoring documents in SharePoint Online | This tutorial explains how co-authoring works for a document in a SharePoint document library. |
| Add a Thumbnail View in SharePoint Online Document Library | Learn how to add a thumbnail view in a SharePoint document library. |
| Add Comments to a SharePoint Online Document Library Files | Learn how to add comments to a file in a SharePoint document library. |
| Create Shortcuts in SharePoint Document Library | Learn how to create a shortcut in a SharePoint document library. |
| Pin a SharePoint Document Library to Quick Access | Learn how to pin a SharePoint document library to quick access. |
| Sync SharePoint Online Document Library with OneDrive | Learn how to sync a SharePoint document library with OneDrive. |
| Share files with external users in SharePoint | Learn how to share files with external users in a SharePoint Online document library. |
| Export SharePoint Online Document Library to Excel | Learn how to export a document library to Excel in SharePoint Online. |
| Add a SharePoint Document Library in Microsoft Teams | Learn how to add a document library to Microsoft Teams. |
| Add a Link to SharePoint Document Library | Learn how to add a link to a SharePoint Online document library. |
| Lock a File in SharePoint Document Library | Learn how to lock a file in a SharePoint document library. |
| Search for documents in a SharePoint document library | Learn how to search for documents in a SharePoint Online document library. |
| Set up alerts in SharePoint list and library | Learn how to set up alerts in SharePoint Online list and document libraries. |
| Move or Copy Files in SharePoint Document Library | Learn how to move or copy files in a SharePoint Online document library. |
Here are a few tutorials on SharePoint calculated columns that we can use in a list or document library. Check out the below SharePoint Online calculated column examples.
SharePoint Permissions
Permissions are one of the most useful features of SharePoint. With permission, we can ensure content on your SharePoint site is available and visible to the right audience.
Suppose you have a document library where you have uploaded a few documents and want those documents to be available for the right set of people. By using permissions, you can only give access to those people so that other people cannot access that SharePoint document library.
In SharePoint, we can manage permissions at the site level, list, and libraries level, and we can manage permissions at the item or file level.
As an organization, you can create a site for your IT department, which can only be available to those users belonging to the IT department. You can even share a file with a single user; other users cannot see the file.
Here are a few tutorials you can check out related to SharePoint permission, SharePoint list, and library permissions.
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| SharePoint Online Site Permissions | Read everything about SharePoint Online site-level permissions. |
| SharePoint list item-level permissions | Learn how to implement item-level permission in a SharePoint Online list. |
| How to set up and manage SharePoint access requests? | Learn how to set up and manage access requests in SharePoint Online. |
| Add Members to a SharePoint Online Site | Learn how to add members to a SharePoint Online site. |
SharePoint Online Web Parts
As a SharePoint Online developer, you should next know what web parts are in SharePoint and how to add and use web parts on the SharePoint Online site page.
SharePoint web parts are the building blocks. We can easily create an attractive, mobile-friendly, and responsive page by using various modern web parts in SharePoint Online.
If you are a classic SharePoint developer, then just to let you know, we can use classic web parts in a classic SharePoint site page, and modern web parts we can use in modern SharePoint site pages.
Here is a list of web parts in SharePoint Online, and I have explained how to use these web parts in a site page in SharePoint Online.
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Document Library Web Part in SharePoint Online | Learn how to show a document library on a SharePoint site page using a document library web part in SharePoint Online. |
| List web part in SharePoint Online | Learn how to show a list using a SharePoint list web part on a site page. |
| Group Calendar Web Part in SharePoint Online | Learn how to show a group calendar on a SharePoint Online site page. |
| Quick Links Web Part in SharePoint Online | Learn how to add quick links on a SharePoint Online site page. |
| Organization Chart Web Part in SharePoint Online | Learn how to display an organizational chart using an organization chart web part in SharePoint Online. |
| Quick chart web part in SharePoint Online | Learn how to display a quick chart on a SharePoint site page using a quick chart web part. |
| Hero Web Part in SharePoint Online | Use a SharePoint hero web part to learn how to display visually attractive items using images, text, and links. |
| Highlighted Content Web Part in SharePoint Online | Learn how to dynamically display content like documents, pages, news, videos, etc., using a SharePoint Online highlighted content web part. |
| Events Web Part in SharePoint Online | Learn how to add and display events using SharePoint Online events web parts on a site page. |
| People Web Part in SharePoint Online | Learn how to display a few people or a group of people with their profiles using a SharePoint people web part. |
| Planner Web Part in SharePoint Online | Learn how to add a team’s tasks and assignments using a Microsoft Planner web part. |
| SharePoint online countdown timer web part | Using a SharePoint online countdown timer web part, we can display a countdown timer on a SharePoint site page. |
| SharePoint Online Sites Web Part | Learn how to show sites or selected sites on a site page using a SharePoint Online sites web part. |
| File and Media Web Part in SharePoint Online | Display files and media using a file and media web part in SharePoint Online. |
| SharePoint Online Code Snippet Web Part | You can display a code syntax as text on a SharePoint site page using a code snipper web part. |
| SharePoint Online Image Web Part | Learn how to display images on a SharePoint site page using an image web part. |
| Embed Code Web Part in SharePoint Online | Learn how to embed content on a SharePoint site page using an embed web part in SharePoint Online. |
| Text web part in SharePoint Online | Learn how to add texts, paragraphs, and tables inside a page using a text web part in SharePoint Online. |
| Button web part in SharePoint Online | Learn how to add a button control in a SharePoint site page using a button web part in SharePoint Online. |
| SharePoint Online Weather Web Part | Learn how to show current weather using the SharePoint weather web part. |
| Site Activity Web Part in SharePoint Online | Display recent site activities using a SharePoint Online site activity web part. |
| Office 365 Connectors Web Part in SharePoint Online | Learn how to use Office 365 connectors web part in SharePoint Online. |
| SharePoint Online Page Properties Web Part | Learn how to display page details like title, date, content type, etc., by using a page properties web part in SharePoint Online. |
| Recent Documents Web Part in SharePoint Online | Learn how to display recent documents using a SharePoint Online recent documents web part. |
| SharePoint Online My Feed Web Part | Learn how to display the current logged user’s feed by using a SharePoint my feed web part. |
| Microsoft Forms Web Part on SharePoint Online | Learn how to create surveys, polls, etc., using a Microsoft Forms web part in SharePoint Online. |
| Image Gallery Web Part in SharePoint Online | Learn how to display a collection of images using an image gallery web part in SharePoint. |
| SharePoint News Web Part | Learn how to display news on a SharePoint site page using a news web part. |
| Bing Maps Web Part in SharePoint Online | Learn how to display a Bing map using a SharePoint Bing maps web part. |
| Call To Action Web Part in SharePoint Online | Learn how to add a button with a call to action using a Call to action web part in SharePoint. |
Here are a few SharePoint web part videos you can look at.
SharePoint Object Model
As a SharePoint developer, you should next know the SharePoint object model.
SharePoint object model is the programming thing that we can use to do various operations in SharePoint, like creating sites, list, libraries, adding items, uploading files, etc. Whatever we are doing by using the browser, most of the things we can achieve using the SharePoint object model.
There are two types of SharePoint object model we can use.
- SharePoint server object model
- SharePoint client object model
SharePoint server object model
In the case of the SharePoint server object model, the code will run on the SharePoint server, and that is the reason we can use this kind of code only in the SharePoint on-premise version. Microsoft does not allow server-side code in SharePoint Online. So, we cannot develop any solution or web part using server-side code for SharePoint Online.
To work with the server object model, we must first add the Microsoft.SharePoint.dll. Once you add the DLL, various classes are available to work with the SharePoint server object model. Here are below:
- SPFarm
- SPServer
- SPWebApplication
- SPContentDatabase
- SPSite
- SPWeb
- SPList
- SPListItem, etc.
I have written a complete article on this; you can check out the SharePoint server object model.
SharePoint Client Object Model
We can use different kinds of SharePoint client object models in both the SharePoint Online and SharePoint on-premise versions.
- Managed Client Object Model (csom)
- JavaScript Client Object Model (jsom)
- Rest API for SharePoint
You can connect to a SharePoint site using CSOM from a client application using the below DLLs.
- Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll
- Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll
I have written a complete tutorial on the SharePoint client object model and SharePoint Rest API. , also you can check JavaScript Object Model (JSOM) in SharePoint Online.
Want to fast forward your learning? Check out the Complete SharePoint Developer Training (including Microsoft Power Platform and SPFx)
PowerShell SharePoint
You should know PowerShell if you want to become a SharePoint developer. We can use PowerShell in SharePoint on-premises and SharePoint Online Office 365.
To work with SharePoint Online, you need to download and install the SharePoint Online Management Shell and connect to SharePoint Online.
You can also do this from the PowerShell cmdlets:
Install-Module -Name Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShellIf you want to work with SharePoint On-premises versions like SharePoint Server 2019 or SharePoint Server 2016, then all the PowerShell cmdlets are available once you install SharePoint server.
Microsoft Power Platform
The next important concept nowadays is the Microsoft Power Platform.
By using Microsoft Power Platform, you can build apps, can automate business processes, analyze your data, and communicate with customers using virtual agents.
- Power Apps: Build Apps using Microsoft Power Apps
- Power Automate: Automate Your Business Processes
- Power BI: Analyze Your Data
- Power Virtual Agents: Build Chatbots To Engage Your Customers
- Power Pages: Build low-code business websites
You can also check a video tutorial on what is Microsoft Power Platform.
SharePoint Framework (SPFx) Development
If you are working with modern SharePoint, then the SharePoint Framework (SPFx) is the only development model you can use to work with modern SharePoint sites, lists, libraries, etc.
If you want to start with SPFx development, first, we must set up the SPFx development framework.
Here, we have a lot of tutorials on SharePoint Framework (SPFx).
You can also check out a few SPFx video tutorials below:
Conclusion
I hope you have an idea of what you want to learn to become a SharePoint developer or a Microsoft Power Platform developer. From this page, you can start and be an expert in SharePoint, Power Platform, and SharePoint Framework (SPFx).
Also, you can check out our premium course on SharePoint development.