Trailhead
If you’re brand new to Salesforce or looking to move from a Salesforce user to an Admin or Developer, Salesforce’s Trailhead should be your first stop. There are nearly 100 Trails (paths), with several hundred modules to guide you along your journey to learning new skills. Within the Trails section, you can filter to find both the appropriate skill level (from beginner to advanced) and the role you are looking to pursue, admin or developer. Even seasoned Salesforce professionals turn to Trailhead to learn new skills. It’s a great resource when you need to get up to speed on an area of functionality that you have not used previously.
Certifications
Once you have a solid understanding of the Salesforce platform, it’s time to show the world you have the skills… it’s time to become a certified Salesforce professional! Administrator or Developer I are the first certifications you should tackle, but don’t stop there. In this case, More Certifications is Better. These days, basically every Salesforce professional has an Admin or Dev I cert. Obtaining three or more certifications will certainly help your resume standout to the hiring manager.
Freelance
Get some real-world experience! There are a lot of places to find freelance projects, such as UpWork. Look for small, very specific jobs, this way you don’t commit yourself to requirements you are not familiar with. As you complete projects, look to start broadening your search for freelance projects. If your dream is to find a full time position, don’t worry too much about the pay, the goal is to gain experience, add relevant experience to your resume, and have one more item to discuss during your interview. Freelancing will allow you to work in several parts of the Salesforce platform and experience many different business requirements from a wide range of clients and businesses.
Connect
Let’s get networking. It’s a good idea to start connecting within the Salesforce community from day one. Salesforce has very large and active community, run by other Salesforce end users and partners, called Salesforce User Groups. A key focus during each user group meetup is networking, and these meeting are full of people looking to hire. Salesforce has a site dedicated to locating Salesforce User Groups.
The quickest way to learn is get your hand dirty, whether that’s taking on some freelance work or knocking off a Trailhead Superbadge, get out there are start learning.