Microsoft Dynamics Profile: The evolution of AX/D365 technology fuels an MVP's career path

As a freelance software architect, four-time Microsoft Dynamics AX MVP Martin Dráb spends his days doing development for clients, providing training to Microsoft partners (and anybody else) on Dynamics AX architecture and development, and doing code reviews. His current role may not have been part of the career path he expected years ago, but the evolution of AX (now Dynamics 365) as a technology platform has provided a range of opportunities in this space.

Of all the work he does for clients today, code reviews may be the most important, but also the most neglected.

"I review somebody else's code and tell them what's wrong, what they need improve or if everything is alright," says Dráb, who is based in the Czech Republic. "I think that's a very important piece of work that's often underestimated. In some companies, people just write this code and never get any feedback on if they are doing it the right way or not. So this is an opportunity for them to learn as well as for me sometimes to learn from somebody else or get some ideas."

For different projects, Dráb says he is called on to perform different services. For example, development architecture, including leading development teams, is an important part of his work as is application lifecycle management (ALM).

"For application lifecycle management, I do source control versioning and for partners I help them automate the build process," he says. "They write some code and they have to convert it to something that they can actually ship and they need to verify that it all fits together. ...