Navigating Your Career Path in the Salesforce Journey

1. Navigating Your Path in
Your Salesforce Journey
Marc Lester
Engagement Manager
Coastal Cloud

2. Marc Lester @MarcJLester
Fun Fact:
During my childhood I lived in both Albany, NY and Albany, GA
/marclester
● Engagement Manager, Coastal Cloud
● 12+ Years in Salesforce Ecosystem
● Jacksonville, FL Admin Group Leader since 2017
● Florida Dreamin’ Conference Planning Team Member
● Platform (fka Lightning Activation) Champion Alum

3. Agenda
❑ Getting Certified
❑ Networking in the Community
❑ Gaining Experience
NOTE: This presentation includes lots of links to resources. We will share this deck after today’s session.

4. Why I decided to focus on this topic

5. Start on Trailhead
Focus on Admin Training
▪ My Trailhead Trailmix: Learn the Basics of Salesforce
▪ Focus on Projects and Superbadges
▪ Get to Ranger status (and brag about it on social media…I’ll talk about this later)
▪ Complete Modules, Projects, Superbadges and Trails specific to Admin Certification
▪ Build Your Admin Career on Salesforce
▪ Administrator Certification
▪ Newest Certifications (Business Analyst & Salesforce Associate)
▪ Attend a Salesforce Certification Days Webinar (at end you receive a discount code on exam)
▪ Salesforce Ben: Salesforce Certification Days: Free Preparation Webinars with Trailhead

6. Join Success Community Chatter Groups
And don’t just join them and get a weekly digest on Saturday Nights---BE ACTIVE IN THEM!!!
▪ These are just a few, but search in the community and find others that will help you on your journey.
▪ Trailhead Academy
▪ Certification Days
▪ ADM201 Study Group
▪ Update the Email Frequency to either Every Post or Daily Digest for now, you can always change it later
▪ Also, post in your local Success Community Group about any potential local study groups (more on this later)

7. Cert Prep Resources
For when you are ready to schedule and take the exam!
▪ Almost everyone that posts about passing an Exam thanks one or both of these resources
▪ Focus on Force
▪ Great for Practice Exams
▪ Mike Wheeler Media
▪ Flashcard Apps – these are great for the types of questions asked, but be careful about accuracy
▪ Quizlet
▪ Cram
▪ Trailhead Practice Exam
▪ Practice Test

8. ▪ Always recommend focusing on the Admin Certification
▪ This is the foundation for all other certifications, including Developer Certs
▪ NEW: Get the Salesforce Associate Certification along the way
▪ Find your passion and work towards it!
▪ In these current times it is impossible for a person to know everything about
Salesforce. Focus on a particular area of interest to advance your learnings
and career
▪ Resources to help you find that passion
▪ Salesforce Career Path
▪ Different Salesforce Roles and related Certifications
▪ Choose Your Role
▪ Don’t forget to consider MuleSoft, Slack or Tableau as options
They are all part of the #SalesforceOhana
Recommended Order of Certifications

9. Getting Certified
Q&A

10. NETWORKING
IN THE
COMMUNITY!!

11. Join Local Groups!
Possible Local Groups:
▪ Admin / User
▪ Developer
▪ Architect
▪ Nonprofit
▪ Higher Education
▪ Marketer (Pardot or Marketing Cloud)
▪ Women in Tech
▪ Salesforce Saturday

12. Types of Groups in the Community
Success Community Chatter Groups
▪ Join this group to stay up to date on communications among the group members between events
▪ Success Community is actually old terminology, but I still use it to help people understand the
difference in the groups.
Trailblazer Community Event Groups
▪ Find out about all the events happening in and around your area
▪ Salesforce Saturday events are not found here, they are normally found on Eventbrite of Meetup
X (formerly Twitter) Groups
▪ Not all groups have one, but they help provide a more common means of communication to members
Tableau User Groups
MuleSoft Meetup Groups
Slack Community Chapters

13. Types of Meetings
▪ Virtual / Hybrid events
▪ In-Person
▪ Learning events – at local customer/partner site or library
▪ Networking events – at local pub, bar or restaurant
▪ Global Gatherings
▪ Volunteer events
▪ Virtual or in-person watch parties

14. Join and Get Active!
Post, Tweet, and Share with
#TrailblazerCommunity #SalesforceOhana
Social Media
TWITTER! TWITTER! TWITTER!....Did I say TWITTER!
▪ Twitter is where the Trailblazer Community Lives and Breaths
▪ There is an abundance of resources shared and connections made
▪ Here are a few recommended Twitter accounts I recommend to follow:
▪ @tiffeoda - Tiffany Oda - Sr. Program Manager, Salesforce Trailblazer Community
▪ @MikeGerholdt - Sr. Director of Salesforce Admin Evangelism, Salesforce
▪ @salesforce
▪ @Dreamforce - Dreamforce & Salesforce Events
▪ @salesforcejobs - Salesforce Careers
▪ @trailhead
▪ @partnerforce - Salesforce Partners
▪ @davidgiller - David Giller | Salesforce Geek
▪ @dreamin_florida Florida Dreamin’ Conference
LINKEDIN
▪ Update all info on your Profile
▪ Recommend including Superbadges and
Trailhead Rank, as well as Certifications
▪ Not sure where to start?
▪ Like and Share Posts
▪ Connect with Individuals
Salesforce Ben: 20 Salesforce Influencers to Follow

15. Community Conferences & Salesforce Events
Attend Community Conferences
▪ These are great resources to learn
and network
▪ Mule Dreamin’
▪ Florida Dreamin’
▪ Nonprofit Dreamin’
▪ WITness Success
Here is a current schedule of
Community Conferences
Attend Salesforce Events
• Dreamforce
• TrailheaDX
• Connections
• World Tour Events
Salesforce Ben: Upcoming Salesforce Events

16. Great Articles
To help understand the value of the Trailblazer Community
▪ The Stats Are In! Pave Your Path to Success with the Trailblazer Community
▪ Salesforce Ben: The Power of the Salesforce Trailblazer Community

17. Networking in the Community
Q&A

18. GAINING EXPERIENCE!!

19. NETWORKING!!
SEE AGENDA ITEM 2

20. Salesforce Provided / Coordinated Resources
▪ Trailblazer Connect
▪ Find career fairs and other career related events and webinars
▪ Join the Salesforce Trailblazer Mentorship Program
▪ Salesforce Talent Alliance
▪ Included Salesforce Partners committed to hiring individuals new
to the ecosystem
▪ Provide a lot of great resources for job seekers
▪ Some of the companies/organizations involved:
▪ Apex Hours
▪ Astrea IT Services
▪ K2 University
▪ Mom Relaunch
▪ Salesforce Ben

21. Recommended Support Organizations / Groups
▪ Salesforce-Focused Support Organization
▪ Ladies Be Architects
▪ LinkedIn Support Groups
▪ Salesforce Talent Alliance
▪ Salesforce Volunteers and Mentors
▪ Third-Party Services (not Salesforce-focused)
▪ Catchafire
▪ Taproot Foundation

22. Gaining Experience
Q&A

23. Additional Resource
▪ The Salesforce Career Playbook
▪ Published by Martin Gessner (founder of Focus On Force)
▪ Includes a lot of great resources and real-life examples
Because I just don’t think I have provided enough ☺

24. Additional Resource
▪ The Salesforce Career Playbook
▪ Published by Martin Gessner (founder of Focus On Force)
▪ Includes a lot of great resources and real-life examples
▪ Even Me…Check out a Day in My Life!
Because I just don’t think I have provided enough ☺

25. One Final Resource
YOU!!
▪ Learn on Trailhead
▪ Get Certified
▪ Post in your local groups
▪ Get out there on social media
▪ Join Trailblazer Community Events
▪ Network with like-mind people
▪ OWN YOUR FUTURE!!