Salesforce Admins Podcast

Today on the Salesforce Admins Podcast we’re speaking with Courtney Buras, a graduate of the Salesforce Girl Develop It Program (GDI).

Join us live from Midwest Dreaming to learn about how Courtney found her way to Salesforce, how GDI helped her learn to embrace challenges, and how she’s learning by giving back as a TA.

You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from our conversation with Courtney Buras.

A Sweet Hoodie and a Path to Salesforce

Courtney found her way to Salesforce through the Girl Develop It Program. She had been a part of GDI for a few years, and was checking MeetUp for upcoming events, and saw that they were offering a Salesforce Intro to App Building course. She had heard about Salesforce in a couple of GDI meetings and she wanted to learn more, so that’s how she ended up in a seminar with Rebe de la Paz.

Courtney attended the seminar in February 2016 and quickly realized Salesforce was for her: “I love it, I realized that it was exactly what I liked about technology— organizing data and information and creating reports out of it.” She dove into Trailhead, prodded by a contest Rebe ran to see who could get the most trailhead badges in a month. This February, when Courtney came back as a TA she found out that she had won, and her that prize was a sweet Salesforce hoodie.

Working in book publishing and writing had always been a dream for Courtney, but she got started with programming through her boyfriend, who encouraged her to get started with Ruby. “I learned it, I loved it because it was about problem solving, it was creative.” She did a Developer Boot Camp, but they were going through a transition that ultimately lead to them shutting down. The upside was that it put her in a place where she knew a lot about coding but was open to something adjacent, like Salesforce. The rest is history.

The Admin of the Future

Courtney is still chipping away at Trailhead, especially the 16 new trails that recently came out. “I was so close to being a report and dashboard specialist, and they added one more trail.” She’s looking at jobs to be a Salesforce Admin or Dev— she just had a phone interview and her skills have helped her move on to the next round.

In five years, Courtney sees herself as a Salesforce Admin at a startup in charge of their CRM, “having an input in a real company that’s growing.” She already has one idea for a good business. “I have a lot of experience working in daycare, and boy is there room for improvement.” So much of childcare is just about having a body in the room to make sure that nobody dies. Getting good people is kind of a crap shoot, and managing the erratic schedules of infants is tough. Check back in with Courtney in a couple months to find out how Daycareforce is going.

The Salesforce Community Effect

Courtney’s been to two events, Midwest Dreamin' and a programming conference in Pittsburgh. Comparing the two, the difference is huge: “Everyone is so sociable here.” She found that everyone had tunnel vision at the programming event, “but here I entered the exhibition room and instantly Allison [Park] introduced to all these different people and everyone’s just super happy to meet me, it’s not inconvenient at all for them.”

The community is a big separator for Salesforce, and one that we keep coming back to over and over again. Salesforce has a great partnership with Girl Develop It, doing courses all over the country. TAs have gone on to teach these seminars, including Rebe, who first TAed for Mary Scotton in Chicago, and Gillian taught one in LA. It’s an amazing ripple effect that makes the community stronger.

For more insights, make sure to follow Courtney on Twitter (@courtburas)

We want to get your suggestions for guests on the podcast, and we need your help! So tweet your guest suggestions, support, etc. to @SalesforceAdmns to help us get more Awesome Admins on the podcast.

We want to remind you that if you love what you hear, or even if you don't head on over to Apple Podcasts and give us a review. It's super easy to do, and it helps more Admins find the podcast. Plus, we would really appreciate it.

Direct download: The_Salesforce_Admin_of_the_Future_with_Courtney_Buras.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:29am PDT

Today on the Salesforce Admins Podcast we’re speaking with Nicolas Grant, a graduate of the PepUp Tech Salesforce Boot Camp.

Join us to hear about how he went from signing up for an internship knowing nothing about Salesforce to speaking at Midwest Dreaming, with the help of a program called PepUp Tech, and how you can take Salesforce things to Twitter.

You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from our conversation with Nicolas Grant.

The PepUp Tech Salesforce Bootcamp

Nicolas got into Salesforce through the PepUp Tech Salesforce Bootcamp at Monroe College. Alum Selina Suarez is one of the founders (along with Amy Buccifero, Rebe De La Paz, Shonnah Hughes, and Stephanie Herrera), so she came back to do a organize it there last year. “On the flier the professor handed out to me it said outstanding students get an internship so I said, ‘Well, I’ve just got to be outstanding.’”

When Nicolas was volunteering for Meals on Wheels in New Rochelle doing their website, he heard that one of the things they wanted was a database. Since he had just learned Salesforce, he volunteered to build it for them, with help from Selena as his mentor. From there, Selena introduced Nicolas to David Giller, the owner of Brainiate Consulting, where he was able to work as an intern on several different projects. “I learned a lot about the ecosystem and the different roles there are as a Salesforce professional.” He graduated from college on August 3rd, and passed his certification test the next day.

From Jamaica to Chicago

Nicolas was born and raised in Jamaica, and came to the US for school on an F1 visa. “I googled Salesforce because I had never heard of it,” and after doing some research he decided “it was big, it was fast, it was innovative, and I knew I wanted to get in there.” There was a bit of hesitation, however: “I was afraid that I didn’t know the right people because of my background.” Instead, Nicolas found a vibrant community waiting to help him grow and learn.

From a young age, Nicolas was drawn to problem solving. He wanted to be a design engineer when he was growing up, because he wanted to figure out solutions that would make everyone’s life better. “For me, it’s understanding, before I can go in and solve I have to understand the problem,” Nicolas says, “you need to know what you don’t know so you know what you need to learn.”

When it comes to Salesforce, Nicolas knows he’s aiming to be a Dev: “I have a passion for development, but I really want to start off as a Salesforce Admin.” Nicolas is looking ahead to what’s next, and he’d like to go to a consulting firm and “drink from the firehose.” He’s trying to get as much experience as he can on the platform, because he wants to still be client-facing even as a Dev.

How You Can Make a Difference

Mike and Gillian are meeting Nicolas live at Midwest Dreaming, at the Palmer House in Chicago, but it’s not his first Salesforce event. Beyond User Groups, he’s been to World Tour in New York twice already, and he spoke on diversity in tech with Mary Scotten and Selina.

If you’re looking to help a Nicolas near you, PepUp tech is trying to expand their reach and they need your help. There’s a lot of ways to get involved, and you can really make a big impact on someone. You can reach out to Amy Buccifero (@ifitfloats), Rebe De La Paz (@rabedela), Shonnah Hughes (@SaaSy_Sistah), Stephanie Herrera (@steph_herrera_), and Selina Suarez (@selinaSFDC) on Twitter or through the Success Community.

This is the second PepUp Tech Boot Camp, and they’re also adding a summer camp where they teach kids to code. Nicolas volunteers there, and his sisters are going there too.

For more insights, make sure to follow Nicolas on Twitter (@versatgrant)

We want to get your suggestions for guests on the podcast, and we need your help! So tweet your guest suggestions, support, etc. to @SalesforceAdmns to help us get more Awesome Admins on the podcast. If you tweet us a Salesforce thing, Mike will reply with a special GIF, just for you.

We want to remind you that if you love what you hear, or even if you don't head on over to Apple Podcasts and give us a review. It's super easy to do, and it helps more Admins find the podcast. Plus, we would really appreciate it.

Direct download: Learn_about_PepUp_Tech_with_Nicolas_Grant.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:00am PDT

Today on the Salesforce Admins Podcast we’re speaking with Connie Dea, the Manager of Product Marketing for the AppExchange at Salesforce.

Join us to hear about how to develop an AppExchange strategy, manage things from the Lightning App Builder, and keep in the know with what’s going on with AppExchange.

You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from our conversation with Connie Dea.

The Rise of Appy

As the Product Marketing Manager on the AppExchange Team, Connie says that “I am purely focused on customers.” She needs to think through the strategy of what themes the team wants to highlight each quarter but also needs to get tactical in terms of actually executing those marketing plans.

Connie just recently celebrated her one year anniversary at Salesforce. Before that, she worked in a very different job as a consultant for financial services companies with Pricewaterhouse Coopers. “It was a great chance for me to master the skill of wearing different hats, which prepared me for Salesforce where there’s a lot of exciting things happening and we want to do it all at once.”

Before you ask, yes, Connie was involved with launching Appy. She’s been delighted by the response that they’ve gotten, and there’s more to come soon. As Connie put it, “Dreamforce is coming up in a couple months.” Stay tuned.

The Admin Batcave

As a Salesforce Admin, Mike liked to think of AppExchange as his Admin Batcave, “I could always go in and get some really cool apps, it really made me a rockstar in my organization.” From what Connie has seen, the community plays a major role in helping to propel people forward and put them in a position to learn and grow in their career.

Providing a light framework for how to be more thoughtful for picking the right AppExchange install to solve the business problems that you have at hand. “A lot of times an Admin’s job is to put out the fire that’s right in front of you, and so there’s time pressure to just pick something to solve it.”

With that in mind, Connie and Mike discussed how to develop an AppExchange strategy, touching back on the webinar they did earlier. The idea is to take a few steps back and think about some two key questions:

  • What is the business challenge at hand?
  • Who are the key people that you want to make sure are involved?

With that in mind, you can browse the over 3,000 apps that are on AppExchange and pick out some options. From there, Connie says that “one of the biggest things that we recommend as a part of this process is to install the app in a sandbox or developer org so you can see how the app will operate in your org without having to deploy it in production.” Once you have that running, go back to your business criteria and evaluate your options based on those requirements.

How to Stay Up-to-Date with AppExchange

There’s a lot of different ways to both get content that the AppExchange team has already produced and stay in know going forward. The easiest thing is to sign up for their newsletter, which you can do via a link on AppExchange.com. It’s a lightweight way to keep up-to-date with everything that’s going on.

If you’re looking to dig a little deeper, you’ll want to check out the AppExchange Content Collection at appExchangecontent.com. It’s the central place for all content, so there’s eBooks, blog posts, and even demo jam videos and recordings.

For more insights, make sure to follow Connie on Twitter (@ConnieDea11)

We want to get your suggestions for guests on the podcast, and we need your help! So tweet your guest suggestions, support, etc. to @SalesforceAdmns to help us get more Awesome Admins on the podcast.

We want to remind you that if you love what you hear, or even if you don't head on over to Apple Podcasts and give us a review. It's super easy to do, and it helps more Admins find the podcast. Plus, we would really appreciate it.

Direct download: Learning_About_the_Appexchange_with_Connie_Dea.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:18am PDT

For the 200th episode of the Salesforce Admins Podcast, we’re digging through the archives and taking a look back at some highlights from our journey.

We’ve talked to so many amazing people, recorded in some amazing places, and we thought that our 200th episode would be a great time to look back on the highs (and lows). Salesforce Admins Podcast: this is your life!

You should subscribe for the full episode, but here’s a quick summary.

A Slightly Bumpy Start

Before it was the Salesforce Admins Podcast, we started out as the ButtonClick Admin Podcast. Unfortunately, we goofed right from the start by mispronouncing Gillian Madill’s name as Gillian MA-dill. We had to get that intro re-recorded, and then we were off to the races.

You might not know it just by listening, but most of our episodes are recorded on Skype. Mike’s in Iowa and Gillian’s in San Francisco, and our guests are from all over the world. That’s why we love doing live events. Getting that live energy is really fun, whether it’s at a World Tour, Dreamforce, or even just at a bar sipping Manhattans and chowing down on charcuterie with Marc Baizman. A favorite of Mike’s was the live show at a Salesforce Admin London User Group Meeting, where we learned that some words have very different meanings across the pond. It was a rather good time.

Long Live the Co-Hosts

We also took some time to look back at the interesting co-hosts we’ve had during the times that Gillian has had to step out for reasons of life, scuba diving, and the four other jobs she juggles. Even when she can’t be there, Gillian gives Mike some behind-the-scenes tips to surprise our guests. When Mike and LeeAnn Templeman were recording with Zac Otero, Gillian sent Mike a cryptic text: “Ask Zac about rainbows.” Instead of a quick little funny story, the answer Zac gave was actually powerful, inspiring, and surprising.

Other great co-hosts we’ve had along the way include Mary Scotton, Kris Lande, Rebecca Saar, most of whom are on our team. We love our co-hosts because they can help get different things out of our guests, and variety is the spice of life.

Spoofs and Goofs - Theme Episodes

Beyond co-hosts, we have also done some special holiday episodes around specific themes. Who can forget the classic poem, “‘’Twas the night before Dreamforce?” Many more followed, including a Halloween episode that spoofed The Big Lebowski with the help of a Salesforce customer who uses the platform to manage voice talent. During the Serial craze, we chronicled crimes against the cloud with our own mystery show called “Implementation.”

We have a diverse audience comprising audiences all over the world, so we decided to experiment with other languages. After we learned how to say “in the cloud” en español, which is en la lube, we decided to give multilingual podcasting a try. Rebecca Saar is fluent in German, so we did eine ganze Episode auf Deutsch.

Before there was Salesforce Things, there were many other segments: The Community Spotlight, highlighting the best weekly posts in the community; The Admin Buzz, answering call-in questions and comments; The Too Long Didn’t Listen episode summarizing each month’s worth of podcasts; and finally the fan favorite Lightning Round we all know and love.

It’s been a long road to 200 episodes, and we’re glad that you’ve been along for the ride.

We want to get your suggestions for guests on the podcast, and we need your help! So tweet your guest suggestions, support, etc. to @SalesforceAdmns to help us get more Awesome Admins on the podcast.

We want to remind you that if you love what you hear, or even if you don't head on over to Apple Podcasts and give us a review. It's super easy to do, and it helps more Admins find the podcast. Plus, we would really appreciate it.

Direct download: Episode_200_-_Salesforce_Admins_Podcast_This_is_Your_Life.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:11am PDT

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