I discovered Salesforce by sheer curiosity. I was just a user of the platform for training records, but one day I decided that I want to be on the other side. I want to see how the implementation works and delve into the business—not just an end-user working behind the scenes. So I moved to the Salesforce team in my organization, and I started to learn about it.

I usually learn by myself. I used the online resources that we have for Salesforce, and it became the beginning of my career with the platform—and the rest is history.

I’m now a Senior Consultant in our company with six to seven years of Salesforce implementation experience. I manage projects from big to small in various industries. Presently, I work for a vendor who has a long list of implementation requirements. To serve them better and to sharpen my expertise even more, I take Salesforce certifications from time to time. These keep me at the top of my game as a consultant and enables me to work harmoniously with clients.

When I started to use Salesforce, my only goal was to implement a good CRM system in the organization that I am in and to simply help the end-users by implementing seamless organizational processes for better work efficiency. After that, I never thought that I would turn it into a career that I will enjoy in the long run.

I get the motivation from sharing my Salesforce knowledge with other people. This allows me to build connections from different industries and familiarize myself with how Salesforce works in specific business settings. This gives me more Salesforce knowledge to recommend the best solutions to my clients. If my customers are happy, I’m happy; this is my goal for the future.

Most importantly, I get inspired by the fulfillment of making things lighter for the end-users and clients. Knowing what they need, giving them the right solutions, and guiding them in maximizing the platform keeps me going.

The skills that a consultant needs is to be flexible and to be able to guide the customer for best practices. It is very important to take them in the right direction. I believe a good consultant would be dedicated to their job and will be there when the customer needs support.

I think the most important thing is to use the best features of Salesforce and not to sell dreams; to sell the reality and what we can do with the system, not make promises that we can’t do at the end. Also be transparent because the customer would want to know where they stand in the overall project, like which milestones and everything. Otherwise, they will get something they didn’t want and will not use it in the end.

When I got certified, it didn’t affect my career in the beginning. But with the growing need for experts in implementing this platform, Salesforce certifications has now became an essential requirement for companies and clients to notice you. And as I go along with this career path, I achieved several certifications that connects me to my expertise such as Service Cloud.

The challenging part of learning Salesforce is translating the requirement from the business side to the technical side. We have to thoroughly understand the business requirements for us to relay them clearly to the technical team for implementation into the system.

We use Agile methodology in Deloitte Digital to tackle a challenge, which is a very popular approach. We do the discovery phase at the beginning and then determine all the necessary system requirements from the business. After that, we divide those into three to five sprint projects, depending on how huge the project is. There can be different priorities for each sprint: we can start from account, contact, and opportunity at the first sprint, and afterwards build the quote, orders, and other essential things in the second sprint. 

It’s nice because we work very closely with the customer. They know what’s happening and what we should do in the system. That way, we can also ensure that we got what our clients are asking for. Agile methodology helped us to efficiently deliver the Salesforce projects to our clients.

My advice is, first, get the Salesforce Admin certification or maybe learn some Salesforce knowledge before coming to an interview. Study the resources available at the playground that Salesforce has provided in the developer environment to understand the platform better. You can also consult professionals who are already in this field to give you tips on what to say in the interview or how to effectively study for the certification.

To be good in this field, one needs to be flexible, be able to guide the customer, and most importantly, take them in the right direction. You should use your Salesforce expertise to deliver what is achievable and not promise what can’t be done. You should also learn how to be transparent, as the clients want to know where the project is heading and which milestones are accomplished. Otherwise, you’ll lose their trust in delivering what they asked for.

When I studied for my certification, I invested five hours a day studying for a whole week. I took many practice exams and even used memory cards in trains or buses on my way to the office just to make use of the time. If I don’t understand something, I search it on the Focus on Force website and delve deep into it to understand it completely through their practice exam materials.

Also, studying for the exam taught me the theories that I wouldn’t get in my daily job. My workdays are filled with practical applications of my Salesforce knowledge, but the exam is more like a theoretical material, which we sometimes forget. We just simply know how to implement these things first hand without learning the idea behind it. That’s why, by just studying for the exam, you’re learning important Salesforce concepts already.

My advice is to not forget about the theory, even if you already know how to implement the platform. Aside from reading the online materials and taking practice exams, I master Salesforce concepts using the developer environment. That way, you can practice applying the theory and see how its function makes sense to the entire platform. This will help embed the concept in your mind and will eventually come in useful when answering the certification exam.