PepUp Tech Salesforce Bootcamp - A Rewarding Experience
Rewarding on Every Level
On Saturday, July 22, 2017, I had the honor and privilege of being a lead teacher during a Salesforce BootCamp run by PepUp Tech held at Monroe College in the Bronx. This BootCamp provided the opportunity for people that are generally underrepresented in technology to get a glimpse into what the Salesforce platform can do. It was such a great and rewarding experience to have the chance to tell such a diverse group of students my story and how I went from being a communications and sport management major in college to a successful business owner that implements Salesforce.
It was really fun explaining the different types of jobs that anyone can obtain within the ecosystem. It was even more exciting to see the students’ eyes light up when telling my story. It’s not often that I get to tell my Salesforce origin story to such an engaged audience who seemed to really take what I was saying to heart. So much so, that when I got home that evening, I had quite a few LinkedIn requests and subsequent conversations. For me this was one of the more rewarding experiences I’ve been a part of and am very happy I had the chance to share with these students.
The Community Is Strong
The Salesforce Community, or Ohana as it’s now transitioning to being known as, is as strong and expansive as ever. I can recall the very early days of having the IdeaExchange and that being the very start of what I consider the community today. The key factor here is everyone comes from different walks of life, different backgrounds, and different educational focuses. Again I was not a technologist; I dare say this all happened to me by accident. With the help of some great people in the community and an opportunity to shine, I was able to take the bull by the horns and turn it into something special. That something special is MVP status in the Salesforce community, a business that hires a diverse group of great people, and a passion for helping others get to where they want to be using Salesforce.
Some of the amazing supporters of @PepUPTech that made the last two weekends of the #Salesforce Bootcamp at @monroe_college a success! pic.twitter.com/mVrm7A4Obm
— Carrie Mantione (@CarrieTech) July 23, 2017
Trailhead is the Path Forward
Trailhead played a big role in the BootCamp. We leveraged it almost exclusively to teach certain elements of the platform and about the ecosystem as a whole. Trails for CRM basics and Data Modeling were augmented with some explanation and real world examples of how the concepts and challenges within the trails would be leveraged as a Salesforce administrator or developer. This was the purpose of the lead teacher -- to bring real world experience and examples to the table and bring some of the lessons in Trailhead to life. The fact that Trailhead even exists is a boon to any individual who wants to get a leg up on learning the Salesforce platform. There are so many trails, at this point it’s hard to keep track, and you can learn anything, from the basics all the way up to programming in Apex or Lightning Components. Either way this great community is there, supporting Trailhead no matter what, to answer questions, be supportive, and share with each other. That point was hammered home quite early and often with a statement about “if you can’t figure it out, google it” or “post a question in the success community and it will be answered”.
What’s Next
The momentum that was created was immense. All of the students were really excited about what they learned during the course of the day. The key now is to keep it rolling with Trailhead by completing trails, networking, and working towards getting certified by SalesforceU. Additionally, students will want to continue to work towards their degree, which is still obviously important. Hopefully this exposure and experience with Salesforce will provide some additional options and pathways forward in their career in technology, even those without any coding experience (although when we broke out, a large portion of the students went to the developer path - I think this is because Mary Scotton is more engaging than I am, but that’s just me).
As a volunteer, I also feel very compelled to continue volunteering and continuing to lend my expertise to the program as a part of the Salesforce professional community in New York. I intend on keeping this going because selfishly, this made me feel really amazing at the end of the day. It was the feeling that you get when you know you just made a difference in someone’s life. For me that is really important; the point of these BootCamps is not only to teach Salesforce concepts, but also to advise and mentor students who otherwise wouldn’t get access to this level of exposure to what Salesforce is all about. I personally can’t wait for the next opportunity.
Please feel free to comment below, on the Salesforce Success Community, on our Facebook page, or directly at me on Twitter @JustEdelstein.
