#4 - Trailhead Pt. 1: Why you should consider learning on Trailhead
Salesforce’s free online training platform is a low-risk, high-reward gateway to the computer science world. with six-figure job possibilities at the end of the road to boot.
Trailhead Is a Low-Risk, High-Reward Gateway to the Computer Science World
As someone who has recently used the online learning tool, Trailhead, to gradually develop valuable technical skills in just one year’s time, I’d like to share my first-hand account of learning on the platform from start to finish.
Trailhead is a 100% free learning platform and I can’t recommend it enough. For anyone even slightly interested in building computer science skills but maybe is puzzled about where to start, Trailhead’s approachable curriculum and gamified progression system make it a great place to test the waters. And the best part: No coding experience required!
In a multi-part series, I will take you on an in-depth, honest look at the opportunities and challenges that await prospective “trailblazers,” as well as the potential rewards of honing Salesforce skills in today’s job market. Maybe my story of learning on the platform from start to finish will even inspire you to blaze a new trail of your own!
First, we will start with the basics. What is this “Salesforce” that I speak of and why should it be relevant to you, a prospective upskiller or curious bystander? You might have read headlines about the company in the news, but you likely are not as familiar with the company’s namesake software product.
In the second piece of the series, I will focus more concretely on the mechanics of learning on Trailhead and walk you through my first year of learning on the platform.
Third, certifications! Challenging a Salesforce Certification Exam is a journey all its own. I will share my experience studying and preparing for the Salesforce Certified Administrator exam. Don’t worry, I won’t spoil the ending!
And finally, how does a newly-minted Trailhead graduate turn those coveted software skills into a sustainable career? I will dedicate the final piece in this series to more about the robust community of Salesforce and Trailhead devotees across the world and how regional “Trailblazer Communities” can help novices embark on their careers.
With that said, let’s jump right into the first part of this Trailhead series. Enjoy!
But Wait? What exactly is Salesforce?
For those who, like me circa 2019, have no idea what Salesforce is, here is some quick background.
Salesforce is what’s known as a customer relationship management (CRM) software platform. Businesses and organizations use this kind of enterprise software tool to create, store, manage, and track data about their customers and business processes. Without CRM software, this business data (such as meeting notes with prospective clients, a customer’s purchasing history, help desk logs, etc.) might be scattered among several disparate spreadsheets or even scrawled on yellow notepads by hand.
Sitting idle, information critical to a business’ success isn’t serving the organization or its team well in this state. It can be cumbersome for teams and departments to make sense of jumbled, disorganized information in a pinch. Even worse, without adequate backup precautions, valuable institutional knowledge can be lost entirely if key staff members turn over in the organization, local servers crash, or another emergency prevents the right people from accessing the information!
That’s where CRM software comes in. By aggregating data across these disparate sources using a CRM like Salesforce, businesses can put their latent data to work, painting a more complete picture of a client’s profile across the business ecosystem—from lead generation, to sales processes, to the customer service/support experience, and even internal workflows behind-the-scenes. And because Salesforce specifically runs on the cloud, the platform is highly mobile, versatile, resilient, and scalable by design to support organizations of all sizes, from small teams at a local SME to a global workforce at a Fortune 500 company.
One thing that makes Salesforce such a game-changer is how customizable and adaptable the software is for many different use cases and work scenarios. While “sales” is right in the name, CRM tools aren’t strictly limited to businesses trying to sell products.
In fact, special configurations of the Salesforce platform exist specifically for nonprofits, public benefit organizations, health care systems, educational institutions, and even government agencies. Salesforce helps teams fundraise, track relationships with constituents and donors, manage volunteers, plan events, measure performance, and much more1.
The Salesforce platform’s possibilities are essentially infinite. If you can dream it, a skilled Salesforce developer can likely make it happen!
Career Opportunities in the Salesforce Ecosystem
As you can imagine, mastering the ins and outs of Salesforce has become a highly lucrative skillset that is increasingly sought by employers—and not just tech companies in Silicon Valley. A recent study found that the global Salesforce ecosystem is expected to enable the creation of 4.2 million jobs within the Salesforce customer base between 2019 and 2024 and drive $1.2 trillion in new business revenue. In 2021 alone, there is anticipated to be over 500,000 new jobs requiring Salesforce skills this year, most earning an average annual salary over $80,0002.
But what exactly are these jobs? Here are just a few examples of the career opportunities available to people with Salesforce skills:
Salesforce Administrator: Admins hold the keys to a company’s Salesforce database. They collaborate closely with leadership and internal teams to customize the platform and make it work best for their unique missions. In addition to maintaining the backend of the database, admins aim to make Salesforce an accessible, streamlined experience for average day-to-day users at their company (especially those without in-depth technical training) and drive the adoption of new features that can help their organization achieve its goals. This probably sounds like A LOT of responsibility, but the good news is you don’t necessarily need to be a coder or have a computer science degree to become a “#AwesomeAdmin.”
Salesforce Developer: Admins can accomplish quite a bit of customization without ever touching a line of code using pre-built, “low-code” tools. However, for those interested in diving headfirst into the code and really maximizing Salesforce’s potential, the more technical Salesforce Developer role involves building highly specialized applications and process automations using programming languages like Apex, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Salesforce Consultant: Organizations often hire external Salesforce Consultants to provide expertise and advice on how best to implement Salesforce for their unique operational needs. Consultants get creative by drawing on their previous Salesforce experiences and familiarity with products on the AppExchange—essentially an App Store with first-party and third-party solutions available for organizations to purchase—to recommend the most effective and enduring approach for their clients. Some Salesforce Consultants work for a consultancy firm, while others may work independently on a contract basis.
Now that you have a good sense of what Salesforce is, be sure to subscribe and tune in next time for a detailed account of my experience learning on the Trailhead platform. There will be ups and downs, struggles and “Eureka!” moments; no holds barred! But by the end, you’ll be clamoring to set up your own Trailhead account, build your own custom page layouts, and configure Grade A list views!
Learn more about Salesforce’s Power of Us program at https://www.salesforce.org/.
Source: “The Salesforce Economic Impact: 4.2 Million New Jobs, $1.2 Trillion of New Business Revenues from 2019 to 2024,” October 2019. https://trailhead.salesforce.com/career-path