Hernan Acosta

Hi! Nice to meet you.

I’m Hernan! :D

I build AI tools.
And help people do their next big thing.

At Microsoft, I turn “there has to be a better way” into working tools, help global teams tackle new technology, and share what I learn. A good problem and good people? Count me in.

Spotlight Product The human behind the projects
Hernan Acosta, professional portrait
Hernan AcostaIT Technical Trainer at Microsoft
Say hi!

A few stops
along the way.

  • CurrentlyMicrosoft

    Learning & AI tools

  • PreviouslyPayPal

    Merchant experiences

  • PreviouslyAmazon

    Operations & internal tools

Spotlight Product

Meet Practice Lab Studio.

My “what if?” projectAI-assisted authoring

Goodbye,
blank worksheet.

A manual is not a training exercise. Someone still has to turn all that information into something people can actually practice. I was doing that work—and started wondering how much of the repetitive part a tool could handle.

So I built one. Source documents become a structured first draft. Authors review, edit, and get a Word document they can use. Less worksheet wrangling. A person still in charge.

Get the backstory Try the demo
Practice Lab Studio showing a fictional source alongside a structured training worksheet
A real workflow you can inspect: source, draft, human review, editable document.
The part I owned
The problem, the working build, the prompts, the demos, and the redesign for reliable use.
The part I wouldn’t skip
Human review. Unknowns stay visible, and a changed draft needs a fresh approval.
The part you can play with
Edit a draft, break the source on purpose, and download a reviewed Word document.

Real project. Public adaptation. The original work was built at Microsoft using Copilot Studio and Power Automate. This separate browser demo uses fictional sources and pre-authored responses. No live AI or internal systems are connected; editing, review, and local exports work.

More from my Microsoft chapter

Not all my work comes
with a download button.

Sometimes I’m building an agent. Sometimes I’m helping another team teach the tricky stuff. Here are a few of those stories.

Global curriculum leadership

Great training shouldn’t need me in every room.

As a lead in global curriculum work, I turn hands-on engineering knowledge into guides and train-the-trainer programs. The best handoff is another team feeling ready to teach it themselves.

Here’s what I actually did

The challenge. Knowing how new technology works is different from helping another team learn, practice, and teach it.

My contribution. I worked alongside engineers and program managers, authored hands-on guides, designed one- and two-week learning programs, and helped trainers from different regions prepare to deliver locally. Field questions fed back into the guidance.

The lesson. A scalable program needs more than good content. It needs clear practice, a way to check readiness, and someone equipped to own the next delivery.

Mobility & new-technology readiness

New tech. Real people. Let’s get hands-on.

My mobility-team work brings technical learning closer to new-technology readiness. It’s a good reminder that a plan has to work around actual equipment, actual schedules, and actual people.

Here’s what I actually did

The challenge. A training plan has to work around real equipment, people, and operational constraints—not just look complete on paper.

My contribution. Alongside my training role, I took on a global rapid-response stretch assignment for new technology. I bring field experience, technical instruction, and reusable learning materials to that work.

The lesson. Stay close to the team doing the job. The gap between a documented process and the experience of using it is often where the next improvement begins.

Self-initiated AI product building

“What if we built a tool for that?”

I started building AI content tools alongside my regular job, then put them in front of other teams. Making a demo work was exciting. Making the output worth using was the more interesting challenge.

Here’s what I actually did

The challenge. Learning teams repeatedly turn technical source material into exercises, readiness assessments, and other training content.

My contribution. I built the working agent workflow, designed prompts and input/output contracts, evaluated outputs against learning needs, and iterated on review and document delivery. Practice Lab Studio makes one part of that thinking publicly inspectable.

The lesson. A compelling demo is a beginning. Source quality, failure behavior, human review, and the handoff into someone’s workflow matter just as much.

Explore the product decisions

Public summaries of my contributions. Internal materials, deployment details, and private business results are intentionally not shared here.

The person behind the work

My career took
the scenic route.

Frontline IT at Amazon. Merchant support at PayPal. Technical learning and AI tools at Microsoft. Different settings, but I kept finding myself asking: “What’s making this harder than it needs to be?”

Then comes the fun part: make something people can try, hear what they think, and make it better. Sometimes it’s an agent. Sometimes it’s a training program. The people are always the point.

I like the technical details.
I like the people conversations just as much.

  1. Microsoft

    Currently

    IT Technical Trainer

    Technical readiness, global curriculum and train-the-trainer work, with self-initiated AI content development alongside my training role.

  2. PayPal

    Previously

    Merchant-facing technical support

    Helping merchants navigate checkout integrations and translating technical constraints into practical implementation guidance.

  3. Amazon

    Earlier

    Operational IT & workflow building

    Building an internal ticketing tool, rolling it out across sites, and iterating through major versions using frontline feedback.

More about my experience
Hernan speaking with a microphone during a student career conversation at Arizona State University
Sharing a perspective on technology careers with students at Arizona State University.

Mentorship & community

Let’s make tech feel
a little less intimidating.

I mentor and volunteer with Arizona State University, sharing what technology careers actually look like and taking part in the conversations a job description can’t cover.

No mysterious career playbook. Just honest conversations, some encouragement, and something useful to take into the next step. The good stuff is worth passing on.

A little beyond the job title

Proof I leave
the laptop sometimes.

Mountains, a very necessary rain poncho, good friends, and a few campus memories. Consider this the “not on the résumé” section.

The next chapter

Your next teammate?
Let’s find out.

I’m interested in product opportunities where I can build, learn, and bring people along. If your team likes curiosity and people who roll up their sleeves, I’d love to meet you.

Connect on LinkedIn

Hernan Acosta

Product building · AI workflows · Global learning

linkedin.com/in/hernanacostajr
hernanacostaa.github.io/practice-lab-studio

I build AI-assisted tools and learning experiences that help people do their work. My background combines hands-on technical work, customer-facing support, global training, and self-initiated product building.

Microsoft — IT Technical Trainer

Featured project — Practice Lab Studio

Authors had source material but still had to manually assemble training exercises. I built a source-to-worksheet workflow with structured fields, explicit unknowns, human review, and editable document delivery.

My contribution: problem definition, hands-on building, workflow and prompt design, presentations and demos, and production-oriented redesign.

Explore: the live portfolio includes the product story, design tradeoffs, and a functional public demo. Fictional sources and pre-authored responses replace internal systems; editing, review, and local Word/JSON exports work.

Earlier experience

PayPal — Merchant-facing technical support

Helped merchants navigate checkout integrations, translating customer needs and technical constraints into practical implementation guidance.

Amazon — Operational IT & workflow building

Built an internal ticketing tool, rolled it out across sites, and iterated through major versions using frontline feedback.

Community & approach

Mentorship and volunteering with Arizona State University, including student career conversations. My approach: get close to the work, build something tangible, test the hard parts, and equip the next person to succeed.

Selected work and experience, not a complete employment history. Public descriptions omit internal materials and private business results. Personal portfolio; no employer or university endorsement is implied.