In Theory

One of my favorite Star Trek TNG episodes is - In Theory. It’s the one where Data learns about love. This post has nothing to do with that, but I like the title because I used to think In Theory the Schema Builder was great, but in practice it left much to be desired. I think it is good for trying to understand the relationship between objects in an org. I never really used it to create objects and fields.

A few weeks ago I watched a presentation on Building Artifacts from Requirements and it gave me some new appreciation for the Schema Builder. Building artifacts seems to be a common theme on the journey to being a CTA. I need to learn and start building artifacts if I am going to be an architect and one way to practice is to build the artifacts for existing orgs. This helps me with my day job by understanding the data model and gets me used to building them. 

The advantage of doing it on the existing org is that I know what it will look like when I am done.  It’s like being assigned a homework problem and having the answer in the back of the book. It might also help me find ways to improve things. I am seeing a push to start doing things off-platform from Salesforce and the artifact might help identify areas where this might be an option.

The first step is to figure out which tool to use. I have access to Visio for work, but I do a lot of stuff on my personal laptop so I need something that is free. The presentation suggested Lucid chart or Draw.io.

I am going to explore Draw.io first since it is free. Just because something is free, doesn’t mean it is bad. Remember the 82nd Rule of Acquisition - The flimsier the product, the higher the price.

23rd Rule of Acquisition - Nothing is more important than your health… except for your money (Remote Exam Thoughts)

In the before times, I understood the 23rd rule to mean work-life balance, with a tiebreaker going to work, usually. In the context of getting Salesforce certifications during quarantine it really is about my health. I am not a fan of remote testing and with the pandemic, sitting for an exam at a testing site can be life or death.

With every exam I take, I go through the same emotional roller coaster. The first stage is shock/doubt. Specifically, after the first five questions I start to wonder if I signed up for the wrong exam. Once that passes, I start to panic that I won't have enough time and this leads me to finishing the exam in 20 minutes. After I get to the end I calm down and go through each question a few times until I am comfortable that I have answered all of them correctly, or at least answered enough to pass the exam with a cushion.

The final stage is where onsite testing is critical for me. When you are onsite you can have a pencil and paper. This has become key to me passing the exams. After I answer all the questions, I write down the numbers 1-60 in three columns (20 numbers per column). I then look at each question and write down the letter and review my choice. After my review if I like the answer I cross it out on my paper immediately. If I am less than 90% confident, I circle it. If I am less than 50% confident I don't do anything to the answer.  

As I go through the exam, I tally up all the ones that I think are good. Then I go back to the circled ones and think about them. If I change the answer or after thinking about the answer leave it unchanged, I cross it out and add it to the tally. After those are done I go to the WTF questions and try to figure them out. I use the whole time and usually feel confident that I have at least 80% or better.

In some cases I actually diagram out the solutions on the paper. I also try to be consistent in my answers. So if two questions seem similar enough, I try to make sure that I answered the questions consistently. Usually there is enough of a difference that I can tell that one is 100% correct and then I can get some insight into the other question. There is a fair amount of mouthing the questions, swearing and in the case of the Community Cloud certification, some gesturing at the screen. I expect these behaviors would be problematic in a remote exam. 

Back in the day, I worked in a chemistry lab and a supervisor shared with me something his organic chemistry professor told him. If something works once, it's a trick; if something works twice it's a technique. Having passed 4 exams on the first try, this is a technique for me.

2nd Rule of Acquisition - Never spend more for an acquisition than you have to (Part 2)

While I have not been updating the blog I have been busy during the quarantine. I obtained my Advanced Administrator certification and have been studying to pass the the Platform I developer. I don't think I will be a developer, but it's required for both Architect certifications. My intent is to know enough about coding to understand when it is appropriate (i.e., clicks not code) and to understand and troubleshoot automations that others write.

Per my last post and in keeping with the 2nd Rule of Acquisition, I have been trying to find a lot of low cost ways to learn to code. The most I spent was $200 on a Salesforce Bootcamp. There are a lot of Udemy courses out there and I found this article from Salesforce Ben on how to get started. I did try the Apex Academy and while the courses were good, given my schedule, I ended up paying a lot for Pluralsight and not using it. So if you go that route make sure you are ready to review it. I think the author gives a free version of his stuff here. There are also some free Salesforce videos that you can find here.

Here's what I have done so far (with links - which may require you to log into Udemy) and what I plan to do. There are a few, uh, provisos, a, a couple of quid pro quos:

1. Most training assumes you know Java and focuses on syntax and not coding. I tried to use using Apex only stuff when practical

2. Many training guides/videos are focused on passing the PD1 exam and provide some tangential training about Apex, etc.

3. Most examples are simple classes to insert data

Course	Date Completed	Notes	Link
Salesforce Developer Bootcamp	9/19/0	Geared towards passing the Platform Developer I exam. Not too much coding is required for this. Assumes you know Java or Apex. Moderate depth into PD1 exam. It has been on sale for $200. Try to find a coupon.	Link
Salesforce Development Training for Beginners	10/16/20	No Java experience required. High level overview with examples	Link
Salesforce Developer Training with Real Time Project	10/25/20	Simple app with REST API. Emphasis on REST API and reading data from an SF org, not sending it to another platform	Link
Salesforce Development for Intermediate Developers		Have not started but highly recommend this instructor	Link
Introduction to Salesforce DX and Visual Studio Code	8/21/20	Overview and set up of VS Code. He has a newer class, which I have not seen yet, but the instructor produces high quality materials	Link
Salesforce Integration with External Systems		Have not started but highly recommend this instructor	Link
Complete Salesforce Certified Platform Developer Course		Have not started but highly recommend this instructor	Link
Preparation for Your Platform Developer Certification	10/28/20	Preparation for exam; condensed version of the Bootcamp (Certification Days)	Link
Salesforce DX The Complete Guide		Have not started but highly recommend this instructor	Link
Prakiseth M Developer Videos	June 2020	Series of introductory videos about apex	Link
Salesforce Certified Platform Developer Part  1		Have not started but highly recommend this instructor	Link

2nd Rule of Acquisition - Never spend more for an acquisition than you have to (Part 1)

The next step in my Salesforce Journey is learning how to code.  There are a lot of resources out there and most require some form of payment.  This post and subsequent posts will document my efforts to become a developer using low cost resources. Note to the reader, I am trying to do this without learning Java.

There are classes on Udemy and Plurasight which are low cost, but not free. I am looking at both and the stuff on Udemy is better.

There are free videos on YouTube and one that caught my eye is Path To Code. It looks pretty current and so far it is as good, if not better than the paid services.

There is a lot of duplication of concepts, but I suppose it does not hurt to hear it a few times.

218th Rule of Acquisition - Sometimes what you get free costs entirely too much.

The 218^th rule applies to my attempts at learning Apex. There is a lot of free stuff out there (videos, blogs, etc.) and some cheap stuff too. I have tried and am trying both. I am finding that it comes down to teaching style and my learning style.

Teaching style can include the format, clarity of the instructor and organization of the material. Learning style is specific to me, i.e., how do I learn best. I like videos but have gotten some benefit from text-based delivery methods as well. I also need exercises/examples that incorporate the material I just learned. I find the Apex related Trailheads require far too great a leap in knowledge for me to complete, but how many 'helloWorld' triggers can one write.

I am using some of the big name stuff but I find that it is not as compatible with my ‘style’ as I would like. It’s not bad, it’s just not as effective for me as I need it to be.

The challenge is do I stick with what I have paid/am paying for or do I research other methods. The main risks are cost and schedule, i.e., the time and in some cases money, that I need to invest to evaluate the other tools., only to find out that they are not for me.

One could argue that the 62^nd Rule applies - The riskier the road, the greater the profit, but let’s not forget the  240^th Rule - Time, like latinum, is a highly limited commodity.

The 45th Rule Of Acquisition – Expand or Die

Well, it has been a while since I posted here; over a year. Since them I have left the contract job and got a great full-time gig. I also passed my App Builder Cert! It was easier than the Administrator exam since most of what I do is declarative work.

My next certification is the Platform Developer I certification. This will be a tough one since it is a lot of material to cover. I could probably pass the exam with the help of a few study guides, but I would certainly starve as a developer.

The good news is my current job is shifting towards Apex/Visualforce solutions since we are expanding our org beyond the limits of the click-not-code projects. So far, I have worked on modifying an API and a Visualforce page.  I have my sights on a few triggers. I may even write a class or two in the next few months.

So the 45^th Rule seems appropriate for this upcoming year, or given all the studying I have to do, maybe the 103^rd – Sleep can interfere with...studying…

Two Left Feet

I worked with Conga Composer this week updating some templates. It was straightforward. I used Word to make the changes to the texts and left the merge fields alone, with one exception. I needed to adjust the date format on a field and that was a little tricky.

I had to toggle the field code and enter the desired format code; in this case it was a date code. The hard part was that it was spacing dependent and it took a few tries to figure the exact format they wanted. We don’t do a lot with modifying Conga so I expect that I will have to figure it out again at some point.

In general, if I do something a number of times I will create a document similar to a Salesforce Knowledge Article. I create it in the form of a problem such as “What to do when a Sales Number is not Generated”.  I use the same template as the knowledge article with the addition of a revision table and a related procedures note. I also add some customer unique information. I take a lot of screenshots and use a lot of detail in the instructions.

It has come in handy since there are some thing that I do a lot of one month and then don’t have to do for a long time. At some point, I hope to compile them into a procedures manual. The challenge is what do I include in the manual. It should not be how to use Salesforce, since the user should know what they are doing. So things like how to log in are not needed. It’s not meant to be a user training manual but a guide for admins to address situations unique to the company’s organization. I will also probably need to include a section on how the business is structured and a lexicon of standard business terms.