On February 3, I turned 39. To celebrate, I did 39 minutes of “Shark Tank” at Freeport Martial Arts, my jiu-jitsu academy. Shark Tank, for those who do not know, is a training exercise where one person–me in this case–spars with a never-ending stream of “sharks” for a set amount of time. I had six […]
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I finished the first draft of my book
This week, after spending 10 months choosing a topic, four months outlining, and more than two years writing, I finished the first draft of my book. The result is what you see in the following photo: 525 pages, or 210,000 words, about Salesforce careers. To put that in context, a standard nonfiction book is 50,000 […]
Leveraging your non-traditional background in your Salesforce career
Most of us did not start our careers in the Salesforce ecosystem. Some of us began Salesforce careers as a natural outflow of an existing software career, perhaps majoring in computer science, as well. Others entered the Salesforce ecosystem from a different—often wildly different—industry. For example, I majored in music performance, served 12 years in […]
2021: The Year of Focus
I quit making New Year’s resolutions years ago. They always felt fake, and I never stuck with them. A few years ago, I took a different approach, adopting an idea from a mentor of mine. Instead of making a New Year’s resolution, my mentor establishes a New Year’s theme, a gestalt approach to each new […]
Are you struggling now? Here are some thoughts to help
I bet it’s been a while since you read an article online about coronavirus, hasn’t it? Oh, it’s only been twenty minutes? Never mind then. Read this anyway because it’s important. How are you doing? No, really. How are you doing? Take a moment to reflect on how you are doing right now. How do […]
Speaking at Stanford University about Salesforce careers
On March 7, 2019, I spoke at Stanford University about Salesforce careers. How did I land that gig? Let me tell you. In mid-January 2018, I connected with Linda, a Career and Affiliate Services Officer at Stanford University, on LinkedIn and spoke with her later in the month via Skype. Linda and I had a […]
How to analyze your Salesforce certification exam results
Did you recently take a Salesforce certification exam? Did you fail? Do you want to try again? If so, good! Everyone fails Salesforce exams. I have failed at least three Salesforce exams, probably more. You are not alone. Still, it sucks to fail an exam of any kind, especially one directly related to your career. […]
Join me in reporting all “exam dumps” to Salesforce’s legal team
Starting today, I will report any person or company selling, giving away, or looking for “exam dumps” to Salesforce’s legal team. I sent this email to Salesforce’s legal team this morning. To whom it may concern, I noticed so-called “exam dumps” are becoming more and more common. “D**** O*******” claims to be selling “real exam […]
Free Salesforce certification maintenance exams, starting Summer ’18
Today, Salesforce announced that Salesforce certification maintenance exams on Trailhead will be free, starting with the Summer ’18 release cycle. That is great news for you and me because it means maintaining our Salesforce credentials will get a lot more affordable. Here is a copy of the email I got from Salesforce this afternoon. Hi John, […]
Accomplishing your Salesforce goals, a kick in the pants
One year ago, my Salesforce career was in a very different place. I was working as a Senior Salesforce Administrator but held only one Salesforce certification. I knew I needed to earn more Salesforce certifications if I wanted my Salesforce career to continue growing at the same rate. You cannot fast-track years of experience. A […]