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%
This year’s Dreamforce, more than any other, felt like the changing of the guard.
Every Dreamforce is transformative to the point of overwhelming-ness, and this year’s was no exception. But this time around, there was a noticeably different feeling surrounding the event.
I believe the Salesforce world in 2018 and beyond will be vastly different than the years before it. Scary, I know. That’s life when you’re in the hottest tech industry in the world.
Here’s what I see coming on the horizon:
Lightning is no longer the future. It’s here now
If you haven’t switched your org to Lightning yet, you’re falling behind.
Before, the question used to be: “How do we get Lightning to have the same features as Classic?”
Today, the equation is flipped on its head. Lightning, and Lightning only, is getting brand new technology and changing the way we think about CRM. Classic? It’s going the way of the dinosaurs.
Features we would’ve never dreamed of in Classic are here right now in Lightning. Top announcements like dynamic pages, and pretty much everything Einstein related is Lightning only.
My advice: do whatever you can to learn or migrate to Lightning now… or become a dinosaur!
Einstein (and artificial intelligence) is the future of CRM
Dreamforce this year opened my eyes to how much AI (Einstein) is going to change this industry.
AI technology has come a long way in a shockingly short period of time. It’s capable of beating the best humans at the most complicated game in the world. And it’s progressing so quickly.
Demo after demo at Dreamforce showed me the power of Einstein. Algorithms I remember taking months to build and fine tune are now possible to set up using Einstein in minutes. Things like lead scoring algorithms, advanced forecasting, and support suggestions can now potentially be launched stronger, faster, and better than any human being can do.
Remember when Salesforce was just a glorified data entry tool for reps?
…Well now Einstein enters your data for you!
The only thing preventing Einstein from cannibalizing us already is it costs $50 per user per month.
My advice: start learning about artificial intelligence and machine learning! I sure am!
The glory days of swag are over
I got only 17 free t-shirts at Dreamforce this year.Sure, I wasn’t on the prowl for swag like I’ve been in years past.
But all my elite swag buddies and I agreed – this year’s Dreamforce was noticeably short on swag.
Gone are the days where most vendors will have piles of t-shirts lying around their booths. Nowadays, it’s just candy, fidget spinners, or even worse – raffles for a 5% chance to get a t-shirt. Even Salesforce didn’t give out that many shirts this year.
I think vendors are catching on to us shameless swag hunters. Some vendors even recognized me as “that swag guy”. It was painful out there.
My advice: I recommend spending your time trying to get the good stuff, like an SFDC99 shirt!
There was no killer feature announced this year
I’ve been to Dreamforce ~7 times, and every year there’s a killer announcement.
Einstein, Lightning, Wave, Salesforce1, Chatter – you name it. This year? Who knows!
You could argue that some of the announced features are big. Things like mySalesforce, the Google partnership (finally!), or dynamic pages are great, but none will change the CRM world forever.
Instead, we got sizable updates to killer announcements of the past: Einstein and Lightning.
Is the rate of innovation at Salesforce slowing down? Are we in trouble for choosing this platform?!
My advice: The new iterations of Lightning and Einstein are MASSIVE! Don’t forget how far ahead Salesforce already is in this industry!
The Salesforce MVP program is evolving
I noticed there were fewer “old timer” Salesforce MVPs this year.
After putting on my detective hat, I found out many MVPs were not renewed from previous years. I also noticed there were many first-time MVPs too.
I generally think this is a good thing. Keep the MVP entry bar high. Make us earn it!
The more important takeaway I got though is that Salesforce changes so quickly – we can’t expect to see continued success if we don’t adapt and learn quickly too.
My advice: in this new era of Salesforce, there will be a new batch of MVPs leading the way! Maybe that new MVP will be YOU! (My advice)
Other Dreamforce 2017 Highlights
Donald Bohrisch getting a standing ovation at the Partner Keynote
Donald Bohrisch, a veteran and Salesforce consultant at Deloitte, received a standing ovation for his heroism during the 2017 Las Vegas Shooting.
After helping get his girlfriend to safety during the shooting, Donald actually went back into the fire to help save others. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the building as his story was told.
Steph Herrera asking Marc Benioff to go to Texas Dreamin ’18
Steph Herrera, extraordinaire founder of #SalesforceSaturday and PepUp Tech, was invited to the stage in the main keynote.
She talked about overcoming her difficult upbringing – working in the cotton fields and learning how to use technology. Today she is the Director of Technology in her company and spends her time giving back to the community.
Her story is incredible. And her bravery is too. She challenged Marc Benioff, totally unstaged and in front of tens of thousands of people, to come to Texas Dreamin’ next year. It was glorious.
Meeting Natalie Portman in real life
Sure I was 100ft away from her, sitting in a crowd of hundreds. But seeing my childhood crush in real life was priceless. Totally worth the 2 hour wait!
Natalie talked about equality, and how we can make the world a better place together. She was brilliant, inspiring, and balanced – well worth the time even for those without a major crush on her!
Giving out t-shirts to YOU!
Getting ready for Dreamforce… pic.twitter.com/T6QnJwnJtD
— David Liu (@dvdkliu) November 6, 2017
I would take a t shirt dude! I have been carrying around this card all DF you sent me 3 years ago — it'd be great to shake your hand, man pic.twitter.com/tlL8ZIL5Wn
— Gabriel Rholl (@gabrielrholl) November 9, 2017
— Gabriel Rholl (@gabrielrholl) November 9, 2017
@dvdkliu Thank you for supporting the whole community and being an inspiration. #sfdc99 #T4S @trailhead #DF17 pic.twitter.com/7l3Yvg2QUQ
— Luis Roberto Acosta (@luisrobertoac) November 9, 2017
Found @dvdkliu! Blue shirt chilling in a lawn chair. Thanks for the shirt man! 🙌🏼#df17 pic.twitter.com/Qf5HevXNRH
— Christine Chapa (@ChristineChapa) November 9, 2017
After a long week spent in the cloud at #DF17, I'm thankful to have gotten the chance to shoot the breeze with @dvdkliu who couldn't be more down to earth. Great way to end the last day of @Dreamforce – David, visit Seattle anytime and I'll show you some extreme pickleball 😎 pic.twitter.com/U1u1HkhdNo
— Tarek Zaheer (@FinesseForce) November 10, 2017
The hardest I've worked to track down a @Salesforce celebrity so far. @dvdkliu is an inspiration that #AwesomeAdmins can learn #Apex. #DF17 pic.twitter.com/yyK3E6i75Z
— James Sinor (@jrsinor) November 8, 2017
Met a real humble person I have been following religiously. #SFDC99 pic.twitter.com/DLMWc6cGF4
— Anisuzzaman Khan (@AnisuzzamanKha1) November 8, 2017
Not all super heroes wear capes. Sfdc99 was such a great resource for me on my path to CTA, thank you! pic.twitter.com/lLvLCvItuw
— Gustavo Tandeciarz (@dcinzona) November 8, 2017
Passed my cert and met @dvdkliu!! #MissionAccomplished #Dreamforce pic.twitter.com/SIcrwNLbvO
— Olivia Davis (@pnwpegasus) November 8, 2017
Got my picture! Thanks @dvdkliu for being so great with all of the people that want to talk to you. #DF17 pic.twitter.com/UqaPBH5zAH
— Jeanette Jett (@JeanetteJett) November 8, 2017
A better pic. Of all the folks in #ohana I owe my career to, it’s @dvdkliu. Keep doing what you’re doing! pic.twitter.com/d2BGTJSku4
— Medhanie Habte ☁️⚡️💥 (@HabteMedhanie) November 7, 2017
It's been a crazy 5 year journey as an admin. Today I finally met one of my biggest #Salesforce inspirations, @dvdkliu! @Dreamforce @salesforce! #Dreamforce2017 pic.twitter.com/iorhI0W2aL
— Sumir Saini (@Sumir_Saini_) November 7, 2017
Got to meet the man who helped me write my first #Apex trigger yesterday! #DF17 #photobombed pic.twitter.com/mAes1jRxpV
— Paul Padua (@paulrpadua) November 7, 2017
Shook this mans hand in thanks for his influence on my career and success! @dvdkliu #Trailblazer pic.twitter.com/z6f9g0hWwW
— James Ellis (@sfdcjames) November 7, 2017
Perfect ending to the best Dreamforce yet! Such a pleasure to finally meet you @dvdkliu! #DF17 #SFDC99 pic.twitter.com/32rWD7KczF
— Jenny Tran (@jennytranNET) November 9, 2017
This year’s dreamforce is to be remembered for sure. I met my mentor finally. @dvdkliu Wonderful to meet you.
Thanks for the KT. pic.twitter.com/aBnBbhApZ8— rupeshbalaji (@rupibala) November 7, 2017
Summary
Starting today, the Salesforce world will never be the same.
If this sounds scary to you, I have good news. You’re not a sentient robot AI, you’re human!
With every change comes massive opportunity for those quickest to adapt. Think Tesla and the electric car industry.
Knowing what you know now post-Dreamforce, you gotta make a decision. Adapt, or stay forever in the comfortable world of Classic?
It’s never easy, but I know what decision I’m going to make.
See you in the clouds!
David
The swag may have been limited, but you got the best shirt of all: Vetforce!
It’s easily my favorite Jesse. I love it so much I haven’t worn it yet, I don’t want to get it dirty!
Thanks for the post, David! I didn’t make it to Dreamforce this year so it was very helpful to read your recap!
Great post again. You are my Super hero, This post helps alot specially me
Thanks David.
Thank you Atul!
Man what a blast this years Dreamforce was, it was quite overwhelming still but sometimes a bustling city of over 170,000 people can be a small town where everyone is on a first name basis. As I’ve said time and again, I am grateful for all you do and came out of it more energized than before.
I definitely agree with you on that there’s been much change in how it was orchestrated this year, for starters the learning opportunities, such as hands on trainings and instructional books, were vastly different. There were cheat sheets instead of books by folks like Dan Appelman and other authors and the hands on training, which in the past were exclusive trainings for Dreamforce attendees, were projects already available on trailhead (for instance, the build a geolocation app). This is great for for folks new to Salesforce or who need a refresher but for experts or those who need a refresh, a bit of a disadvantage in that these projects are no longer exclusive to Dreamforce or unique. Although in the past these events were on YouTube.
Nevertheless, as with any other Salesforce event or dreaming event, like so many others, I felt inspired to keep learning about lightning, apex and other tools. I’m really glad there was a session devoted to pluralsight and how to learn how to code, something slowly but surely I’m making progress on, to the point where I’ve even passed the platform dev 1 cert.
Salesforce is changing which is both a good thing and a scary thing. But what resonates is that they are listening to us and building around our needs. Lightning has gone from being this cool and trendy gizmo to being a tool everyone Salesforce admin and developer must not only know, but live and breathe. Trailhead has revolutionized learning in Salesforce and I am proud to say that I have 336 trailhead badges and have started a new trailhead instance to keep learning so much more.
I don’t know what Dreamforce 18 will bring but I sure hope it’ll be more innovation and excitement.
Good times,
Great take Medhanie and nice meeting you!! That’s a TON of badges!