Mikayil started his professional career as a school teacher. While being involved in teaching he started writing poems. His first poem "Bir Gün" ("The Day") was published in the "Ganj fahla" newspaper in Baku in 1926. At about this time, he adopted the pen name Mushfig (Perso-Arabic for "tender-hearted"). Along with Samad Vurgun and Rasul Rza, Mikayil Mushfig became one of the founders of new Azerbaijani Soviet poetic style in 1930s. He translated a number of poems from Armenian and Russian as well. Mikayil Mushfig was active propagandist of traditional Azerbaijani musical instruments, which had been forbidden at that time.