Salesforce coding lessons for the 99%Finally, Apex tutorials for point-and-click admins! Written by a self-taught Google engineer.
Salesforce coding lessons for the 99%
I can’t believe TrailheaDX is next week!
If you haven’t heard about it, TrailheaDX is the official Salesforce Developer conference of the year!
Not sure why they’re marketing it as a developer conference, since they have a ton of admin, developer, and architect sessions going on – but I’m not going to complain!
This session is a must-attend for me:
Salesforce Certified Architects are some of the most respected and sought after problem-solvers in the tech world. This session covers everything you need to know about becoming a Salesforce Certified Architect, including an overview of the Architect credentials, and all the details about the free resources available to help you build your skills and expertise. Join us, and take the first step towards transforming your career.
It’s presented by Suzanne Ford, who happens to be the head of the architect program at Salesforce!
Anyway, if you’re attending too and you see me, stop by and say HI!
…and if you tell me the secret code, I’ll give you a free t-shirt!
Secret code: YOU EITHER PASS A CERTIFICATION, OR YOU LEARN!
Cheers!
David
What does it feel like to fail your dream?
I know this feeling well. I’ve felt it many times before. It always hurts.
I remember this feeling when I was rejected by Google. This happened ten times.
I remember this feeling when I failed in my new job. I resigned after 3 mos in front of my colleagues.
I remember this feeling as I hoped to become a Salesforce MVP. I failed each cycle.
I remember this feeling during so many points in my life, and today I am remembering it again, fully.
But I also remember what it feels like to overcome my demons.
I remember getting a job offer from Google, after pouring my soul into my 11th application.
I remember coming back to the Salesforce industry and living the magic of Dreamforce once again.
I remember winning the MVP award for the first time – that moment is still a dream to me.
Today, it hurts so much. But I know from experience that the only thing that hurts more is giving up.
CTA dragon – you win today. But I know better than to let that get to me. I’ll be back. I’m going to work so hard, and even if you beat me 100 more times, I’ll be back again until I pass.
And then I’ll help you pass too =)
David
P.S. I’ll go into more detail on why I failed and what I can do to improve in a future post.
Fo now, this video sums up all my emotions right now really well.
Andy Murray, the best British tennis player of our generation, is interviewed after he loses to Roger Federer in the 2012 Wimbledon final. Wimbledon, a British tournament – the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world, hasn’t been won by a British tennis player in 70 years.
Andy Murray won Wimbledon the next year, achieving his destiny and finally breaking Great Britain’s 70 year home title drought.
I secretly filmed a Salesforce course that’s going live soon on Pluralsight!
It’s NOT an Apex Academy course, but for many, it is even better!
Every Salesforce professional, admin and developer, must know whether to use coding or non-coding solutions to solve their CRM needs. In this course, you’ll learn the pros and cons of various tools such as Apex, Workflow Rules, and Process Builder as we work together to solve a common business scenario. When you’re finished with this course, you’ll know a step-by-step approach to decide whether or not you should use code in your next Salesforce project.
Duration: 2 hours
This course is especially fun because it’s a totally different format than the Apex Academy.
The format is this: We start with a scenario. Then, we try to solve it using features like Workflow Rules, Process Builder, Flows, and Apex. Along the way we discuss each tool’s pros and cons.
The entire process is filmed LIVE and in-person with Salesforce MVP Don Robins as the co-host! Yes, live demos, live code, and live banter!
And since it was done totally live, the course was surprisingly quick and natural to make. I really hope to do more of these for you in the future so you don’t have to wait a ton between courses!
Stay tuned for more updates – back to studying for me!
A community run Texas Dreamin’ event, Salesforce Saturday, 5 lbs of Franklin’s BBQ…
…It’s gonna be a great week that I’ll never forget!
This time, I’m especially happy that my wife and baby will be coming along too. Sometimes I spend too much time with Salesforce and not enough with the family.
Hope to see you at the event, don’t be shy to say HI!
I’ll be doing a session alongside Kyla Longe on Friday at 9:30AM as well!
Build your career and personal brand with the Salesforce ecosystem
Hear inspirational stories of careers transformed with the Salesforce ecosystem, and get advice on how you can get involved in the Salesforce Community to transform your personal brand, your career and your life! In this session, we will discuss the ways to connect with Salesforce Community members, how to create and drive a personal brand, and how to determine your market value.
Thank you to the entire Texas Dreamin’ Staff for having me!
See you there!
David
P.S. I’d love to know where else we should visit near Austin!
David’s note: Salesforce has magical powers to spark your career no matter what your background! Vipul’s story is so inspiring, he shows you that you can get certified before landing your first Salesforce job, then rise the ranks, and then help inspires other too!
Well, this title makes you think, “What’s that all about!!”
If you’ll read it, you’ll get it and it’ll motivate you… if I can do it then anybody can do it!!
In the early stages of my career I was struggling, I didn’t have a job, and I didn’t have any career goals. I was so disappointed and de-motivated with myself and what I am doing with my career. But then someone close to me told me about Salesforce.
I Googled it & found only SFDC99 from where I learnt a lot about Salesforce. I practiced and decided to go for certifications without having any Job. That time I don’t have anyone to guide me so I appeared for Force.com Developer 401 instead of Administrator 201. I did Admin 201 afterwards.
Then I was totally surprised with my results. That was the first time, in 2013, and I was so happy and I wanted to share it with you but I couldn’t. You’re the only person who helped me in my worst time.
Then I thought, this is time for me to bang on with my career goals and set it out. I appeared for an interview at HCL Technologies and I passed. I learned a lot there and now I’m working at AXTRIA as a Senior Salesforce Developer, and I’m Co-Leader of the Chandigarh Salesforce Developer Group with the youngest Co-leader of my Salesforce India Community and I didn’t know that I can go so far. This couldn’t be possible without you.
Moreover I have a surprise for the Salesforce Community, that I do have a TWIN brother “Vineet Goel” and he loves blogging about Salesforce: https://vineetgoelcloudblog.wordpress.com/
WE BOTH DO SALESFORCE
Initially when I was struggling with my career, he was an SAP Consultant and after 3 years of a career in the SAP domain he switched to Salesforce. Why?
Because I motivated him about it and now, he loves #Salesforce more than me because he is more towards the admin part of Salesforce and he is an #AwesomeAdmin. We both share knowledge with each other because he knows the admin and I know the developer part.
That’s how we are complete #Salesforce Lovers.
Moreover this journey couldn’t be possible without SFDC99.com. Now I hold 3 certifications and a few more are lined up this year. I am also the leader of the Chandigarh Salesforce Developer Group.
I encourage the college buddies to study Salesforce and do certifications without any job, rather than working for an organization in the Salesforce domain & then enroll for certifications. If you are unemployed certified, you have better chances to get into any organization.
I think we are the FIRST TWINS in the Salesforce Community.
Goal of 2017:
David you’re my career maker!!
Thanks,
Vipul Goel
Vineet Goel
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Dear David,
What is the story behind SFDC99??
4-5 years back, why did you choose this name??
Everybody wants to know it!
Sincerely,
Everybody
————–
Dear Everybody,
First of all, thank you for taking interest in my website origins!
I had a fun time naming “SFDC99”. It was one of the first names that came to mind, because around the time I started this site, the We are the 99% movement was everywhere in the news. I didn’t agree with everything about the movement, but I thought it had a killer name.
I thought “SFDC99” rolled off the tongue well, and I also liked it because I wanted to write for the 99% of people who didn’t already know how to code. Another benefit – the domain wasn’t taken!
My wife (girlfriend at the time) didn’t like the name. I trusted my gut and didn’t listen to her. LOL
Fun fact: the site you see today is actually the second iteration of SFDC99.
When I launched the first version of SFDC99, it took me A LOT of time. I spent time thinking about how to scale the site, how to analyze metrics, how to format the site, etc etc. Basically I spent most of my time thinking about everything other than the content.
SFDC99 at that point was so bad that I deleted it and restarted.
The second time around, I focused purely on content and gradually added in the rest – the formatting, the themes, the analytics, etc. I found this was more effective, and, I had more fun doing it. No one was reading this site at the time anyway so I had nothing to lose, ha ha ha.
I learned an important lesson, and I hope others can learn from this. Content is everything! You can spend all your time worrying about everything else, and at the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter yet. Focus on what’s important now, and the rest will come when needed.
I’ll save Salesforce blogging tips for another post! Hope this answers your question!
David
Join the discussion in the comments section below! Got a question? Send it to the mailbag: sfdc99.mailbag@gmail.com
Dear David,
I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of Apex Academy #4 through infinity.
I’m sure you’ve been told this before, but it bears repeating: the Apex Academy is an absolute masterpiece.
Einstein roughly said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” On this alone, the Apex Academy would make Einstein proud. The streamlined teaching and replay value are amazing… but when you realize how quickly the knowledge converts into a large salary, you’ve arrived at the heart of a lot about what’s awesome in the Academy.
Basically, we love you soooooo much so please make Apex Academy #4 because we are literally starving to death (lol) for lack of more Apex Academy. So much misery and suffering, and no good very bad days, because of our limited access to the genius of the Academy. You could fairly state WITHOUT SARCASM that all the pain in the whole wide world is because there isn’t a #4 yet and we just need our hero to give us the tools to save ourselves from the oppressive nature of the universe.
Please, we love you and you’re awesome, please… help us… before we starve… to death…. gargheblelhehhhhh
Sincerely,
Apex Cadet
————–
Dear Apex Cadet,
Thank you for the wonderful note, ha ha ha.
That was easily among the funniest, most well-written comments I have ever received. It is going straight to the hall of fame! It really takes a certain genius to write something like that!
Apex Academy #4 is in progress, but it’s temporarily on pause as I pursue my #2 life’s goal of earning the Technical Architect certification!
You can blame Destination Success for that. I decided after that event that now is the time for me to go for the TA cert. Hence the focus on certifications as of late!
I’ve scheduled the final piece of my Technical Architect certification, the review board, in June. I will likely fail, but I have to try. Wish me luck!
After June, pass or succeed, it’s time for…
After that, my new life’s goal will probably be to give back and teach more =) There are so many things I want to teach in Salesforce, including Apex, architecture, administration, certifications, careers, and more! I’ll have to see what people want to learn most when that time comes!
Long story short, don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere! Helping others in Salesforce is my life’s destiny. I consider it the second most important thing I will ever do in my life aside from spending time with my family. I sincerely believe this, and all my major decisions revolve around this.
So rest assured, I’ll be pumping out a bunch of stuff for you! Just gotta pass my TA cert now!
David
Join the discussion in the comments section below! Got a question? Send it to the mailbag: sfdc99.mailbag@gmail.com
David’s note: Everyone always asks me – “can I really learn Salesforce?” Well, Alejandro here is living proof that you can! As Alejandro might say, “adapt… absorb… and accept the challenge!” Take advantage of your chances! Way to go Alejandro!
Hi David,
Good day! I hope you’re doing great today.
Well, I am writing my simple story to you as you have touched me with your stories until you became as successful as you are.
Let me share with you a glimpse of my story before I met the job that I love…
I was an 18 years old guy who worked in the BPO industry as a Data Analyst while studying as well, in order to support my youngest sister’s education and send her to school. It was hard for me to do both things, especially at my job since I didn’t even know how to turn on the computer (literally). I knew I could learn and be the best as I can be though, and I was observant!
I made my ways to adapt to everything and absorb lots of learnings. Fortunately, I got promoted into different roles and graduated college.
The ultimatum of my career was being offered to work in the large and sensitive system which is Salesforce. I was an option for this position with a computer literate and advanced techie guy. At first, I was hesitant to accept the position or even get trained for it. But when our Operations Manager, Paul Cañeda, asked me and made me understand that this position can make my career go beyond my expectations, I accepted the offer and the friendly competition in this role. Gladly I got the job.
With this, I was privileged to get mentored by a Certified Salesforce Trainer. I was excited to learn it with him as I knew he could guide me well. However, he needed to look for another job for some reasons. I was the only guy left on the team and had not been trained well for a long period.
Since I got to know Salesforce, I was brave enough to accept this as another challenge of my career. I learned and started from scratch. Only the Salesforce Community was my friend. I practiced myself as much as I could, given the time.
My journey was a wild ride from a roller coaster. Our account was changed from one company to another. I had all the options to leave but I thought of the team. So, until now, I am still staying.
It has been a year since then and now I play the role as the System Administrator, and I have all the pressure to do everything that a certified person can do. I was able to handle and train my own team to learn the platform.
I was looking for a time to register for the exam and get certified. However, I never had a chance through the challenges to make this possible.
Until last week, I had a measles and was advised to take a rest for a week. I was closely monitoring the team and my girlfriend, Guia Fajardo, said why not take this chance to review and take the exam.
I grabbed and took this opportunity. I registered for the exam and have passed it.
I never been so proud of myself until I got this first certificate and it has been a testimony to my team that we can earn it if you think that you can. I am now 21 years old and my youngest sister is about to finish her studies.
To God be all the Glory!
Alejandro G. Bricio
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David’s note: Everyone can learn from your story of turning failure into success! Your attitude alone will get you far in life. Add in your amazing drive and your willingness to give back – I predict a very successful future ahead for you! Thank you for sharing!
Well the title says it all.
Failing my Salesforce certification was the first step towards landing me a job and it helped me increase my time towards Salesforce.
As we know, certifications are the career booster in the Salesforce ecosystem, and I was not able to boost my career with it for some period of time.
And yeah I was unable to achieve the certification in one attempt. Thats the time where you would face different idea’s and you would also get demotivated!
Different ideas would strike your mind. That was the time when I was literally confused. Are my basics not clear? What else can be the problem?
Did I appear in my exam too soon?
Is my Salesforce knowledge lacking?
Is Salesforce the thing I wanna make my career in?
Don’t let your thoughts overcome your aims and goals. That’s the thing, you can achieve if you are motivated towards it. The best support at that time is just you.
I still remember it was becoming like a challenge and I surfed more then 20 websites studying flashcards and quizzes. I explored SFDC99 and trust me the explanation about triggers are amazing and I still look for syntax like always. But it also helped a lot in learning new features of Salesforce.
And then everything just changed.
I updated my profile on the job portal and after a day I got a call from a company. They were new ISV partners and I was asked some scenarios and I made them believe I knew Salesforce and we can do some better things together.
They were amazed at how I have so much knowledge in Salesforce and also how I used to give presentations on “How Salesforce can help in growing your business.”
Certifications matter but the thing that matters most is practical knowledge.
After studying for three months, I again gave a try and cleared my Salesforce certification. If I was certified earlier, I might not have made the time to grab vast Salesforce knowledge, and I might not have a job.
Everything has a positive and negative side but it depends on how you can make the negative to positive.
So in my opinion, give amazing amounts of time to Salesforce and Salesforce will give you a certification to step up in your life.
Now I hold 3 certifications and 100 Trailhead badges and I’m the leader of a Salesforce developer group in Chandigarh.
That’s what happened with me!
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
For those who don’t know me:
I am Paarth Jolly, a 21 year old guy with a bag of dreams to consummate and face the world.
I am a Salesforce Developer/Consultant/Geek/Evangelist, loving & living Salesforce since 2015 and also a student.
If you are somewhere around Chandigarh, join us at Chandigarh DUG to learn, share & succeed together: Salesforce Developer Group Chandigarh
I love to blog:
Salesforce Apex Programming Essential Series for Beginners:
http://blogs.paarthjolly.org/
We Both Code
I was on a Summer internship for three months and then was switched to a full-time Salesforce Developer in Bizight Technologies.
After that I got a chance to work with Manras Technologies which is a Salesforce Development company in Chandigarh, India.
Now I work as a Freelance Salesforce consultant and currently working with various clients all over the globe.
Goals 2017:
Thanks & Regards
Paarth Jolly
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Texas is getting their very own Salesforce event and I hope to see you there!
Texas Dreamin’ is a mini-Dreamforce in Austin and it’ll be on May 11th – 12th!
There will be keynotes, sessions, booths, etc… I can’t wait! If you live nearby, you must go!
Wondering what the difference is between this and Dreamforce?
I’ll be there learning, as well as speaking alongside MVPs Kyla Longe and Eric Dreshfield!
Special thanks to the entire Texas Dreamin staff for putting together this event for the community!
See you there!
David
P.S. I LOVE Austin and I can’t wait to go there again! Secretly trying to convince the wife and baby to go too because I wouldn’t mind moving there, ha!