Adventures in Salesforcing.

I'm the first to admit, I am terrible with exams and auditions. My anxiety gets the better of me, and I start going down silly superstitious paths, when really the only thing that can help is how well I know the material. Last week, I passed my Platform App Builder Certification exam! This is something I've been working towards since 2019. I first took the exam in 2019, and failed, and then put it off. But recently I've been studying and felt I was ready... except I failed it again last Tuesday. Not wanting to let my anxiety get the better of me, and knowing I was really close to passing, I decided to try again last Thursday, and I passed! I decided to to modify my behaviour, which I know can be a challenge for anxiety sufferers, and it paid off, so I thought I'd put together a list of what worked for me and how I was able to leverage my exam failure to turn it into a pass. There are many blog posts out there with advice on how best to pass your exam, but I figured I...

 I know it's been a long time between drinks, but I'm back! The past few years have been rough on well, everyone, but for me in particular it's taken a huge toll on my mental health and wellbeing. So all that to say, I'm back! I was lucky enough to attend Dreamforce 2022, my first conference event time visiting the US since Dreamforce 2019!  Now, I struggle with anxiety, and have since I was a kid, and I'm as much an introvert as I am an extrovert, so these events can take their toll on me, but I left feeling invigorated. Here are my highlights: #1 The Family Reunion Dreamforce is always a Family Reunion, but this year felt extra special. It felt like no time had passed since last seeing my fellow Trailblazers, but then it's also hard to remember that it was literally three years ago. I know that we're still not through the pandemic, but it felt really good to have a sense of normalcy and be around wonderful people and learning all the things. In particular,...

It's no secret that I'm a fan of low code solutions. While I love dabbling in some html as much as the next person, and I'm looking forward to the day when I join a RAD Women Code cohert, for now I'm 100% no code. So of course when Salesforce announced their Low Code Love event, it got me thinking about what low code means to me... Chatting with the awesome Gillian Bruce on the subject, the words "Empowering,  Equalising, and Fun" came to mind. But what do I mean by that? My favourite thing about the Salesforce Community are the truly incredible people I've been fortunate to meet as a result. They are always happy to help you figure out a problem, including helping you brainstorm a low code solution. Take Automation Hour as an example - a bi-weekly webinar focused on process automation solutions, presented by members of the community. And it was during a recent catch up call with my good buddy Aleks Milic Radovanovic that a light bulb went off. We ...

Things are changing very quickly. The way we are doing business is changing literally by the day at this stage. I've been thinking about what to write about - a guide to working remotely, a list of favourite songs and tv shows, but as I thought about it more, and about how I've been able to change things at my company in just over a week, it finally came to me. Awesome Admins everywhere, it is our time to shine. Even if you don't work remotely, and even if you don't have job functionality outside being a Salesforce Admin, you have the power to be to help your users and your company as we begin to navigate our "new normal". Last year I was lucky enough to attend London's Calling and saw a presentation from the wonderful Lizz Hellinga about how Admin's are Critical Change Agents , and it really stuck with me. With the current climate, the time has come for us to step up. I checked in with Lizz to hear how she's dealing with things at the m...

So we've finally made it to February, despite the fact that somehow January felt like the longest year of all time. Rather than writing a Happy New Year post in January, even though it was so long, I thought I'd take a different approach and do a February check in post. I, like most people, set some New Years resolutions, ranging from small things like "wash my face twice a day" to vague things like "be tidier" and then bigger things like career goals. I'm always guilty of falling off the wagon pretty quickly after setting my goals, and in some instances I haven't even started them at all, so I've decided to focus on a different approach this year, and it's inspiration came from an unlikely place... Frozen II. Do the next right thing. It's something that Anna mentions early on in the film, and then proceeds to turn into a whole musical number. And it really stuck with me. I'm looking at this from two perspectives, the firs...

So... I continue to have one of the craziest/busiest years of my life, and Dreamforce is no exception! I've kind of spent the year with a "always say yes" type of philosophy, which has taken me literally all over the world.... but that's for a future blog post! For now, I'm going to give an overview of what I'm going to be involved in at Salesforce's most wonderful time of the year,  Dreamforce. I am speaking four times. That's right FOUR times. And you know what? I submitted three sessions, and none of them were selected. I've had a wile ride since last year's Dreamforce as a first time attendee and speaker, and it just goes to show that sometimes the right opportunities have a way of finding you. So with that, here's what I'm up to: AppExchange Street Team The AppExchange Street Team are a group of Salesforce MVPs and AppExchange All Stars who spend the week at Dreamforce having an extra bit of fun helping attendees enter t...