We always want to hear and share successful Salesforce stories. By getting to know people who have had experience working with the platform, you can find out how Salesforce can help you grow in your future career.

This time we spoke with Kim Carlo Noceda, a Senior Salesforce Developer in a consulting company in Dubai. As a senior Salesforce Developer, his role is to provide solutions and build the system (configuration and development) based from the client’s requirements. His SalesForce journey has started back in March 2011 after his college graduation. Kim’s Salesforce journey is unique and it’s another example how the Salesforce platform can help you grow and be the best in your field.

How and Why did you get started with Salesforce?

I started working with Salesforce back in March 2011. It was my first job then. I was a fresh graduate that time and was new to CRM. It was challenging learning Salesforce back then since I was used to creating applications at the university from scratch.

What were your goals when starting and how did you keep motivated?

My goal was to be one of the best technical consultants in our firm. I keep studying Salesforce and learning from my projects in the company. My initially assigned projects were mostly US projects then after a few months, I was assigned permanently to Australian projects. All the projects that I encountered that time were all very challenging, not just the development but I was also part of suggesting the solutions for their requirements. Learning those things kept me motivated.

You’ve experienced working on US projects and Australian projects. Now you are living and working in Dubai. Can you make a comparison between all these markets and tell us where you felt that SalesForce is most wanted?

As per my experiences on projects in different regions, I think all markets are quite the same. In Australian projects, most of my experiences came from banks, financial companies and property management. Here in the Middle east, projects are mostly free-zone apps and automotive.

Dubai has one of the world’s fastest growing economies and is emerged as a business hub. How your experience with SalesForce has helped you to integrate in this dynamic business environment?

The work experience for the past 6 years helped me to adjust easily when I joined my company here. As I experienced different industries on my projects, I was able to adopt quickly cause mostly the implementation is quite the same but only different requirements.

What was the most challenging part of learning Salesforce and learning to code in APEX / VF, and how did you rise above those challenges?

The challenging part was the complex requirements of different clients. Most of my solutions, I checked first of it could be done via workflows or formula fields instead of creating triggers. I also got plenty of great mentors that time. They taught me well of the good coding standards and practices. That helped me very well on all of my current projects now.

What is your role now, and what does your day to day look like?

I am a Senior developer here. I focus mainly on Apex/VF development and solutions. I also do configurations from time to time. Also taking some time to learn Salesforce lightning and the new features of salesforce.

Can you share your thoughts about SalesForce lightning? What does you like/dislike?

The first time I encountered lightning, it was a bit different from Classic Salesforce. Configuration is built differently and even code and development. I personally like the look and feel of Salesforce lightning. What I dislike is that there are a lot of components now required in order to build a lightning page not like in visualforce that you only need visualforce page and an apex class as the controller.

What would you suggest for someone that wants to start a Salesforce career and become a Salesforce developer?

If someone wants to start a career as a Salesforce developer, I strongly suggest learning first the basics. Workflows, Validation rules and Process builders. These will help you a lot on coding. Apex/VF coding is just tricky on the logic part – on how you will execute your code. Apex and VF syntax are always on the internet. There also plenty of advices on the communities if you encounter any issues on your code.

What is your advice regarding certification and how to study for the exams?

For certifications, I mostly learned the things from the experiences on my projects. Then studied some of the release notes for the new features. There are a lot of mock exams that you can also use.

What are your future plans for gaining more certifications?

I am planning to study and take additional certifications before the year ends. Hoping I can get Admin and Platform Dev 1 this year. Reading new release notes and taking mock exams I think will do the trick.

How is the social life in Dubai?

Big difference from what I experienced in Australia. The nightlife here is different because beers and liquors are only sold in hotels and licensed shops. Summer here is super hot! People usually don’t go out during summer. But overall, it is quite good living here. I get to make a lot of friends and experience a different culture once again.

Can you tell our readers what are the best places to visit in Dubai?

Honestly, I haven’t gotten out and visited the attractions here in Dubai. The places that I have only been to are Burj Khalifa and Jumeirah beach. I am planning to go to Dessert Safari this winter. Dubai Aquarium at a Dubai mall is a good experience too.