High five Matthew Devaney—Microsoft Power Platform Conference 2022 demo contest winner

It’s National High Five Day, and we’re excited to give a virtual high five to Matthew Devaney, one of our Microsoft Power Platform MVPs, for being one of the demo contest winners at the Microsoft Power Platform Conference 2022 (and for having an awesome career-switching story too)!

You can register for the Microsoft Power Platform Conference 2023 for more inspiration from Microsoft senior thought leaders, software engineers, and community experts.

Build apps and games with Microsoft Power Apps

In addition to building apps for work, Matthew likes to build apps for fun and partnered with his wife Marie to build their first low-code game (and Marie’s first low-code app), Pipe Dream—a puzzle game with an objective to build the longest path of connected pipes you can. Pipe fragments in different shapes (such as straight, corner, cross) are offered at random and must be used in the order in which they’re presented—think Tetris with pipes. Pieces can be placed anywhere on the board, and water begins to flow from the starting point 15 seconds after the round begins. Build your path as long as possible to gain points, but don’t let any water escape or it’s game over. It’s lots of fun—we’ve played it—and you can play Pipe Dream too.

How did Matthew get to a place where he could easily build such cool apps for fun? Matthew was once an accountant spending a lot of time in Excel. When his organization was looking for help to do some dev work for them, and Matthew stumbled upon Power Apps, and he realized that building apps for his company himself, using his Excel formula knowledge, was not just a dream.

“I’m not a programmer, but I do know some concepts from working in Excel. It turned out to be an excellent starting point because the Power Apps coding language is based upon Excel functions. I started off small and worked my way up to larger and more difficult apps from there.”

Matthew Devaney

Matthew left the world of accounting and built his way up to become a consultant at Microsoft partner Hitachi Solutions using the Power Apps platform, and he now develops digital solutions for a multitude of clients. 

Matthew, now a Microsoft Power Platform MVP, helps others achieve their dreams. He’s active in the Microsoft Power Apps Community and writes a blog where you’ll find “No Ads, No Fluff, Just Power Apps Stuff,” hosting information about Power Apps, including tips and tricks, learning experiences, and other useful information. The blog is loaded with free videos, tutorials, tools, and consolidated lists of features, icons, cheat sheets, and even a “cookbook” where you’ll find simplified and code versions of how to add simple functions to your applications, outlining the “recipe” for you to follow.

Make a career switch with Microsoft Power Platform

Matthew’s story is an excellent example of how anyone can make a career switch with the right tools and determination. If you’re interested in exploring Microsoft Power Platform and starting your journey as an app maker, check out the free templates and learning resources available online. It could be the start of a brand new career for you, too.

Learn more about Matthew’s career-switching story and the Microsoft Power Up Program.

Join us at this year’s Microsoft Power Platform Conference in October and discover how Power Apps can help you achieve your dreams. Just like Matthew, you could be the next winner in the demo contest!