This text will help you if you’ve always considered working in IT, but coding was never your thing, and installing software / fixing computers makes you cringe a little.
You’ve been using Salesforce in your daily work for some time and you think this could be your future career. Just as a side note – in this article, everything is my personal opinion and you’re entitled to yours.
Learning path
When it comes to the learning path, I am happy to tell you that you can’t make a mistake here. Salesforce has the best e-learning platform on the market – Trailhead. It offers various learning paths on your Salesforce journey and provides you with appropriate resources. What is more, Trailhead offers you free of charge full developer edition to build your own organization from scratch. For those who need just a little more motivation and the “carrot on a stick” there is also a solution – you receive badges for each completed learning section. The more badges you have, the higher rank you get. Ranks increase your chances of getting a job (you can even make your profile public to a potential employer). You can also show off to your colleagues or introduce small friendly competition in a team.
Salesforce has also been made in a way so that most functionalities are achievable by “clicking” rather than coding.
Certifications
If you are thinking of becoming Salesforce expert seriously, you should consider getting certified. There are a lot of certifications you can do, depending whether your area of interest is Sales, Marketing or Service. If you’re unsure, I suggest choosing the admin certification. Learning path preparing you for the exam will give you some technical knowledge that is well rounded and includes basics on automations as well as data structure and much more. Certifications you once made require maintenance (you need to review the updates), which ensures you’re up to date with the latest features.
The two steps above do actually matter. You may have a hard time getting a job with no technical background or experience and without any hard proof of self-learning. Completing Trailheads shows your potential employer that you’re self-motivated and that you have practical experience in setting up Salesforce org. Certification is like a diploma that stands as proof that you have decent understanding of how different solutions and processes can be achieved in the system, at the very least what are the best practices suggested by Salesforce. If you ever need some extra practice or resources for your exams, Focus on Force is a great place that provides you with a lot of practice exams as well as exam-specific learning path.
Career in Salesforce
OK, now you have your 50+ badges on Trailhead, one or two certifications, what is next? If you’ve started looking for a job by now, I am pretty sure you’ve already had some interviews – Salesforce specialists are now in high demand. If you haven’t, it’s high time for you started applying for jobs – practice makes perfect.
The best place to start your journey is in a company that provides Salesforce solutions and services. You will have a diversity of clients and the opportunity to learn how they use the system to their benefit, whether it’s a small business or large corporation. If you get a job in-house, it’s also great, but with limitations to how this one company develops the solutions.
Going through as many interviews as you can also show you your areas of improvement. They will ask you technical questions that you will not know the answers to – write them down and go through them later. Try to find help on forums or among experienced colleagues, find out the right answer, try to do it in your own org.
I sincerely hope you have a little more clarity now on how to become a Salesforce expert. But remember – the devil is in the details. Good luck and may the (Sales)force be with you!
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