So far I have 5,700 points and 6 badges. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Then you must stop what you’re doing and go test your Salesforce knowledge using Trailhead. Trailhead is the newest (and in my opinion best) way to learn how to use Salesforce. Whether you are a Salesforce newbie or are just trying to dive in deeper, Trailhead takes you into Salesforce and challenges you to learn.
There are 3 trails to choose from in the beginning. Each trail has different modules, and each module has specific challenges! After Trailhead gives you the background knowledge you need, you are immediately challenged to use that knowledge to dive into your Dev Org and prove that you understand it. My favorite part? When I think I’m done with the challenge, I hit a little button that says “Check Challenge” and Trailhead goes into my Dev Org to figure out whether I did, indeed, successfully complete this challenge. Brillant. And for those of us who are motivated by competition, Trailhead will award you points upon successful completion of a challenge and a shiny badge when done with a module.
The first trail is called “Getting Started with the Force.com Platform” and will guide you through Salesforce.com basics, data modeling, data management, formulas and validations, and UI customization. The second trail is called “Intro to Visual App Development” and focuses on workflow automation and Salesforce1 mobile basics, but will soon also include modules on approvals, Chatter, reports and dashboards, and app deployment. (Yay, more badges!!) And trail 3 (which I am about to embark on) is an “Intro to Programmatic App Development.” This trail lets you experiment with Apex basics and database, Apex triggers, Apex testing, and Visualforce basics. Apex integration services, asynchronous Apex, Visualforce and JavaScript, Visualforce mobile, Visualforce templates, and more related to app deployment are coming to trail 3 soon.
Not only is this learning fun and engaging, it is highly effective. I am about 4 weeks away from taking my first Salesforce Administrator exam and I’m excited about having found a fun new way to study. As I said, I’m only at 5,700 points and 6 badges, so I definitely have some more Trailhead to experience. I look forward to the experience and challenge you all to beat my score!
