Hi David,
First of all I wish to thank you for your contribution to the world for Apex Academy. It is really amazing!! I’m a constant learner in your academy.
I read the Q&A from your interview on Pluralsight where you mentioned that you applied to Google and got rejected almost 10 times, but you kept applying and finally got the job.
What I really wanna know is:
Frankly speaking, I’m going through the same phase. Every time I apply for a Salesforce developer job, I get rejected. Reason behind this is because I’m trying to change my profile from mobile app developer to Salesforce developer. I have more than 4 years of experience in iOS mobile platform and right now I am job less for more than 2 months. So I started learning Salesforce to utilize my time. After 2 months I’ve learned the basics of the platform including VisualForce and Apex. So, could you please advise me what should I do.
If you are reading this, I bet you have taken some time out from your busy schedule and I really appreciate this. Thanks a lot!!
Sincerely,
Salesforce Dreamer
————–
Dear Salesforce Dreamer,
Thank you for having the courage to ask this question! As you mentioned, I know how tough constant failure can be, as I went through it while trying to get a job ten times at Google.
I tell myself this motto often, whether I’m failing in my career or in anything else in life: it’s OK to fail. Next time, be 1% better.
I expect to fail in most things. But I do my best to look at it from a long term perspective. I don’t need to hit all my goals today. I just need to keep improving and move closer to them. If I can fail 1% better each time, eventually I’ll get it right.
Now let me talk to you about how I got into Google =) This is actually the first time I’ve told this story publicly!
I was rejected from Google because I wasn’t as marketable as I thought I was. How far was I willing to go to pass that job interview? How good did I have to be to be better than the hundreds of other people applying for the same job?
On try #11, I decided to take things up a notch. I swore I would do whatever it took to get the job, no matter how painful it would be for me. Aside from studying Salesforce day and night for the past years, I obsessed over every possible detail of my job application. I begged friends to refer me. I remade my entire resume so every keyword in the job posting was highlighted. I designed a billboard that I would pay $6,000 to place on the side of Highway 101 to advertise myself to Google. I looked up Salesforce managers at Google, bought their contact information from Data.com, and contacted them. If they said no, I emailed them again anyway.
Even all that wasn’t enough. I still got rejected. But I didn’t take my foot off the gas pedal.
Eventually, I got a job interview. I wrote down and memorized every personal fact I could find about each person interviewing me, just in case. One person came from an analytics background. One person liked soccer. I didn’t even know who was interviewing me, so I just memorized these facts about everyone. I got to the interview 1 hour early just to be sure I wouldn’t be late. While I waited I repeated all the things I memorized about Google, their common interview questions, my answers, and the facts I noted about each team member. At this point you could’ve asked me to list 30 products of Google and I could’ve done it without pause.
I looked the receptionist in the eye, gave her a firm handshake, and memorized her name. The job interviews went smoothly.
Finally, to ensure I’d get the job, I took a 50% pay cut in my salary.
Looking back, I went through really extreme measures to reach my goal. I wanted it so badly that I decided I would do anything. Sometimes, I want something, but not badly enough that I’d do anything for it. This was not one of those times.
Anyway, the moral of the story is sometimes you have to sacrifice and go into overkill. Combine a long-term approach with a very high volume of study, and a focus on getting better 1% each day. This means relentlessly studying for certifications, and never taking the easy way out and buying the “dumps” you sometimes see online. Learn the right way, the hard way, and eventually it’ll be impossible for someone to reject you.
Specifically for you, I’d say develop a Salesforce mobile app and put it up on Git. This will combine your iOS skills with Salesforce development, and give you experience off the job. Make this app so beautiful that no sane person could deny your skills.
Then on the first line of your resume, highlight the app and its Git codebase so no one can miss it. You could even open up the app on your phone during the interview and explain the technical challenges you overcame. I promise you someone will give you a chance then =)
Good luck!
David
Join the discussion in the comments section below! Got a question? Send it to the mailbag: sfdc99.mailbag@gmail.com
Hi David
I am an experienced salesforce developer. One thing I was never able to understand was why there is so much buzz about completing trailhead module.
I mean I can complete dozen of modules but still I may not be that good in understanding salesforce platform or able to come up with creative solution.
Or even this can be a case that I am a hardcore salesforce technical ninja but I have not completed even a single trailhead module for not finding it much interesting enough
Actually same I feel for salesforce certifications as well. (No offence :|)
Can you please enlighten me with my naive understanding :)
That’s life. =)
Gotcha David , now I felt sometimes it’s good to stop and read by what people are saying in web .
Hlo sir
I m doing certification in Salesforce. May I try for this or not
Highly inspired by your strength.
Very Inspirational!!! I have my Salesforce Certification and I have attended a Bootcamp. Now I am looking for a way to get some experience to get a Salesforce Certification Job. I think I might take the advice of Building a Salesforce Org from an Excel Spreadsheet and link it to my Resume to show hands on experience. I had a few calls but was told i did not have enough experience for Large Corporations. I do not know. I just do not want to walk away from this. Thought about just studying Tableau. But I am having a hard time since I put so much time into this. I will work on getting 50 badges and Building the Org and see if that helps.
Thanks
=)
Thanks David for sharing your such an awesome story.
The point your share for getting into something is simply awesome.
I am also Salesforce learner and will keep your points in my mind to go further and go harder.
You are really inspiring!!
Thanks David for sharing such a really inspiring story!!. We all got the motivation and courage from you to make our dream as a salesforce developer. Thank you so much..
In addition to having something to demonstrate, it can also help to be willing to take lower pay + less-desireable location. You could work for a “Salesforce Partner” in a town with more Salesforce clients than developers. Or you could demonstrate+talk your way into a position at an organization where no one has Salesforce, but show off what you’ve done with databases that’s relevant to what they need done with Salesforce. In the end, it’s just a relational database, and in-house at many places, all they really need is someone who can do “database programming” and “keeping data clean” (of course, that might not interest you if you want to be all-programming, all-the-time). If you’re someone who wants to be “where the action is,” this approach might not be for you, but if you just want to work with a specific technology, looking for jobs where you’d be a big fish in a small pond can be very beneficial.
Oops, I mean “where no one really knows how to manage salesforce” – but they already have it.
Hats off to your passion David, it give me a new enthusiasm to go ahead and achieve my goals :) .
This is a story every aspiring Salesforce Developer should hear. This is the reason why I admire you so much David, I can feel your dedication in every bit of your post/tutorial. That dedication you’ve shown even before when you’re applying must have led to perfection that makes Google so difficult to reject your application the 11th time which is the perfect time.
I will read this every time I’m struggling at reaching my goal to regain my strength and courage to continue on my way to being a Salesforce Dev.
So Salesforce Dreamer, we can do this! I realized that, getting started is always the hardest part of reaching our goal. But we just have to put in more than enough time and effort, we need overflowing dedication, courage to move on to the next opportunity[after getting rejected] and perfect timing. ;)
Thank you Loren =)
Best of luck in your dreams too!
David
David, what an inspiring story!
Salesforce Dreamer should definitely not give up. Having a Salesforce developer and Mobile developer skillset sounds pretty sexy to me.
We are getting so much Inspiration
You are the Best David!!!
Continue to be an inspiration David! Young minds need someone like you. :)
Sound advice as always David!
thank you very much David for sharing. I got important learning and will follow no onward.
“Finally, to ensure I’d get the job, I took a 50% pay cut in my salary…..”
“Anyway, the moral of the story is sometimes you have to sacrifice and go into overkill.
Combine a long-term approach with a very high volume of study, and a focus on getting better 1% each day.”
Preach it David!
Thanks a lot David!! I guess now I have a fair idea on how to reach my goal. :)
well the post remind me
“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.”