It’s a fresh year, we have a fresh Salesforce release on the horizon (Spring 14, who’s excited?!?), and you’re still kicking around the idea of getting into Salesforce? A while back I wrote “So You Wanna Be a Salesforce Admin” which catalogued some of my favorite resources to get started as a Salesforce Administrator, and as things continue to evolve, I figured this topic deserved another visit.
I’m hailing two audiences here – those who have never used Salesforce but are curious about the power of the platform. And anyone who is a user or administrator of Salesforce and understands that there’s more out there and want to improve their craft.
I’ll lay it out. Salesforce can easily become your career, or at least by getting great at using and managing Salesforce, set yourself to kick some serious tail at your day job. The old saying goes, give them an inch and they take a mile. Flip it and say “I’m going to learn an inch and grow a mile”. A small investment in time and energy learning Salesforce can rocket your career in exciting directions.
So there might be some hesitation around a certain word, and the word is “Developer”. Here is my promise to you: You can become a Salesforce developer, and you can write an app. And you don’t need to write code to do it. With Salesforce, the platform enables people to get a whole heck of a lot done without needing code. A little knowledge and a little imagination, and you’ll be building apps of your own. I’ll share my favorite resources to get you going. In the last blog, I shared a ton of resources, this time, I’m going to share just a few that are REALLY worth reading.
Get a Free Salesforce Developer Org
By Developer Org, I mean “Fully loaded with all features enabled technology amusement park”. Free forever, and has everything you need to learn, test, play, and hone your skills. Get one at Developerforce here.
Let’s Build Some Apps!
Every Salesforce professional or someone considering growing in the platform should absolutely read and complete the exercises in the Salesforce Force.com Fundamentals here.
A slightly more advanced application buildout is located in the Salesforce Platform Workshop resource here.
Become a Salesforce “Reporting Ninja!”
The Salesforce Analytics Workbook gives you a walkthrough of Salesforce’s extensive reporting systems. I wager 90% of Salesforce users could read this and learn something (me included), it’s a great resource that covers the power of the Force.com platform’s analytics. Check it out here.
Questions?
We’ve all got questions, and learning Salesforce for the first time is no different. But we (the members of the community) are here to help! So here’s a few quick ways to get answers:
#1 – email me and I’ll personally respond. You’re reading my blog post? I appreciate it and am happy to give you an answer or resource to help your learning. You can email my first name at redargyle dot com.
#2 – Salesforce Success community! Me and a million (yes just hit a million members) of my closest friends will all jump on your problem. “Answers” is what you’re looking for, and if you’re signed into your developer org, you should already be signed into Answers so post away! Get the goods here.
#3 – Twitter #Askforce Hashtag. I’m a fan, and again a lot of people keep an eye on it. #Askforce away and you’re bound to get some help.
Wrapping Up
I’ll post the challenge that if you complete these tutorials, I’m positive there is something in them to help you out in your day job. I suspect, armed with the knowledge you can help your company do more with Salesforce, be a hero, help your boss be a hero, and pretty much help you in your quest to take over the world! (Seriously, mastering Salesforce is one of the steps on 78.3% of world domination plans*).
* – Statistic from International World Domination Plan Registry and Analysis Organization (IWPRAO)
