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%
David’s note: 50+ years old? Check. Non-technical background? Check. Hard work, certifications, faith, and perseverance? Check, check, check, and check! “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” Well done!
David,
Just a quick success story here.
I am a 51 year old guy who has spent my life in sales and business development in a variety of industries. A couple of years ago, after many career ups and downs I decided that I needed to go in a different direction in order to take care of my young family.
On a whim, I enrolled in a basic web development class at a coding/programming school. In that class, I met a guy who was a Salesforce Developer. He was taking the class to brush up on his Javascript skills. He told me about what he did, and I was immediately interested, having been a Salesforce user in my past career.
He highly suggested that I look into it and directed me to the SFDC99 website. Between that and Trailhead, I started learning the platform in my spare time.
I quickly passed the Admin, Advanced Admin, and Platform App Builder certification exams.
When it came time to learn Apex, I went to the Apex Academy, which is truly awesome. I then passed the Platform Developer 1 exam.
I decided to try my luck by sending my resume to two local consultancies and they both contacted me immediately.
I just got hired by one of those consultancies as a Developer/Consultant with a compensation package that was better than I ever expected for someone with no Salesforce or tech experience. Turned out that they really valued my past business experience, especially as a former Salesforce/CRM user, and loved the initiative that I showed in obtaining the certs.
I could not have done it without your help. In the interview, I made sure to talk about the Apex Academy, and what a huge help it was for me. The latest video, When to Code, is invaluable.
Thank you very much for all of the resources that you provide for people like me that are looking to make a positive change. There are no obstacles that can not be overcome (including age) if you have the right motivation, and help from people like you.
I hope to meet you at Dreamforce some day, and to thank you personally.
Thanks again,
John
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GREAT READ as usual…I feel so privileged to be part of this group! I have been going through HECK with my career getting pigeonholed in sales, being good at it but hating it until I discovered SF through a coincidence. I was rejected by SF many times but POLITELY when I applied there. I am now working towards the certification TRAILS and can’t wait to get started. FIRST ADMIN then DEV. I am soooo eager to learn and improve myself…..
QUESTION ….how does one wanting to get into SF world generates interest from consultants through redesigning resume?? Any hints will GREATLY be appreciated. David THANK you for making this resource available.
I have some QUESTIONS for ….JOHN..
Good story…can someone tell me how to pick up SF experience in the field when you have NO practical experience? Certifications ALONE does not cut it.
I have the same query….can someone explain this how to get practical experience or real time implementation because in interviews they are asking real time integration.
Volunteer and/or create your own org!
Inspiring story drawn by the person.. happy to hear and says me to travel in this technology very confidentiality
What a great achievement! Well done!
Inspiring.
Nice one.
Very inspiring story, John!
Congratulations on your new role as SFDC Developer / Consultant.
And thanks David for everything too! I find the tips and methods on sfdc99.com very helpful. I have referred to the website a lot while I was working towards my cert exams.
He is the best.
Thanks for sharing John. It’s nice to hear success stories from people in my age group. It gives me hope that I can also succeed on my Salesforce journey.
Yes but I unless you have some sort of SF practical experience as an admin or Dev no one will come knock at your door because you have certifications! Right??
“I just got hired by one of those consultancies as a Developer/Consultant with a compensation package that was better than I ever expected for someone with no Salesforce or tech experience. Turned out that they really valued my past business experience, especially as a former Salesforce/CRM user…”
No Salesforce “admin” or “Dev” experience there, just experience as a user. Are people going to come knocking at your door just because you have the certifications? Probably not. However, I can tell you this from looking for a job in IT over the last few months, unlike most developer jobs nearly every Salesforce Admin/Dev ad that I’ve come across asks for certification. Like David says in another post “It’s not like there’s a Salesforce major in college that exists!”. Certification in the Salesforce world seems to be held in high regard. Regardless of how much I am able to learn about Salesforce through training I couldn’t imagine trying to get my foot in the door as a Salesforce developer without certifications.
Thanks for clarifying Julio. I guess I will have to apply to these companies since I am certified and have years of user and business experience. I am wondering what a resume will need to show then??
Hi Steve, It is true that I had no tech experience at all. Just a development/programming class and several certs. It’s true I would have had a hard time finding a job as an in-house developer, which is why I decided to go the consultancy route, at least for starting out. In this environment, business experience is highly valued. Don’t wait or job postings. Find the local consultancies in your area and contact them. They are always looking for people at all levels. I have been on the job for 2 months and am loving it. Have learned a ton from the experienced developers on staff.
Best of Luck,
John
Thanks for the input…Truly. I needed to read this encouraging info. I am over 45 with experience in CRM and SALESFORCE as a user and made the mistake to apply at SF for months with few interviews and NO offers.
I became really discouraged thinking that I was not 25 so not attractive to them. Even though SF recruiters indicated that I had a great resume and interesting to them then I was then told I did not have enough SaaS sales experience. So a lot of running around and disappointments until I discovered David Liu’s blog. Studied for ADM201, then PD1. Now I will go the way you went. THANKS again for giving me renewed hope!
We’re all cheering for you Steve! Your success story coming soon!
Thank you….Can’t wait ! So I can put some other non SF related projects in the trash bin and FOCUS!