Build Your Salesforce Journey (and your Career) Using Trailhead

Tap into the Trailhead hub and explore various learning options to open up new opportunities. All at your own pace..

As you begin to build your knowledge-base in the Salesforce ecosystem you realize that learning the platform does not depend on how quickly you pick things up or how many times you can recite what you just learned. It’s more about how well you can retain the information presented to you as well as how relevant it becomes to your every day tasks and efforts. In primary school, attention may have been awarded to students who completed their in-classroom assignments first but, while this approach did work well for those who caught on quickly, it did not ensure everyone would master the material. Teaching is all about identifying people’s learning capabilities and building lessons and activities around them effectively. Trailhead strives to do just that, and teach everyone what Salesforce is all about by applying practices provided by individuals just like you.

Learning With Trailhead  

So, how do you get started? (Or keep up with updates and changes, even if you’re an experienced Salesforce vet?) Trailhead is your one-stop destination for learning everything Salesforce. Well, more like your initial launch pad, but for sure the first place you want to visit, spend some time and leverage the resources available at your disposal. To start there are no due dates in place meaning you can decide to invest twenty minutes or two hours a day learning bite-sized units of information also know as Modules which establish paths along the way in your journey to understand what Salesforce is all about. Individuals can also choose to develop their own Trails, picking and choosing the modules relevant to them, their role, or their interests. Each module is created to guide individuals by using visuals, examples, comparisons and multiple choice questions, and includes multi-language support. Lastly, custom learning playlists, also known as Trailmixes, can be created which consist of the trails and modules you’re most interested in pursuing — or you can adopt the Trailmixes of other Trailblazers to duplicate their path to success. These mixes are designed to make it easy for users and organizations to group various topics by relevance, user story, specific platform composition, or streamline the onboarding of new hires.

Your Playground Org  

Once you have completed some Modules, Trails and Trailmixes it’s time to put all that information into some actual hands-on practice! Luckily, Salesforce provides a playground org for you to deploy your very own instance of the platform and pursue both Trailhead projects and experiment with your own customization and configuration! Here you’ll complete modules and navigate through your org to get a first-hand look at what this cloud-based platform is all about. You can take it up a notch by tackling some projects with step-by-step instructions that help you traverse various tabs, menus and settings and truly deep dive into the platform’s functionality (and limitations). Whether you have existing experience or you’re starting a brand new career path, the Salesforce Careers section can help identify the set of skills needed to land a job in that field. Superbadges let you take the skills you’ve learned within Trailhead and apply them to complex, real-world business problems. All provide an opportunity to prove your knowledge and take the next step towards getting certified in a Salesforce role! Certifications test your ability to show what you have learned and accomplished, enhance your resume, and get credentials that employers seek in new hires.

Trailblazer Community  

Even better, once you join Trailhead you become a Trailblazer yourself! Which grants you access to one of the best communities in the world and drives the learning opportunities to another level. Connect with peers and build new relationships no matter where you both reside. Connect with others using Feeds by asking questions, expanding your skill set, and networking. Prefer to meet people by identifying a common role, location or interest? Trailblazer Community Groups do this with in-person and online events, specific to the role, interest, etc…. Maybe you have a particular topic you would like to learn more about, connect with peers with the same interest using Topics. Or maybe you just want to rally with others and attend events directly to meet people face to face. In that case, check out Events and find out where the next community meeting is taking place near you. No matter what your unique scenario is, Trailhead provides various methods to engage with others and bring people together on the platform.

Now Go Explore! (At Your Own Pace)  

Those are just some of the resources available within Trailhead. Get out there and start building, learning, meeting, doing, and growing! I’ve really come to appreciate the opportunities available once I took my first steps as a Trailblazer, and now I’m focusing on refining my knowledge to fit my role and the career path I’d like to pursue as I continue to learn. The best part of all is you’re free to take things at your own pace. I know it sounds cliche, but the reward isn’t the destination, it’s the journey you take and grow within the Salesforce ecosystem. As you begin to mark milestones along the way, you’ll appreciate each accomplishment because you put in the time and effort to make it happen. And your career will thank you. Happy learning! We’ll see you in the cloud.