Talent Hub Talk

In today's episode we speak with UK based Certified Technical Architect, Anjali Subburaj, who is Digital Commerce Chief Architect for a large end-user organisation.

Anjali has a fascinating story as she had an extensive Microsoft career prior to  Salesforce, and so she explained what it was that appealed to her and her experience of the transition.

Anjali talks us through how she prepared for the CTA, and how she actively drove her career, and the choices that she has made since the achievement, which have taken her in an ambitious direction outside of the usual path.

She talks Salesforce mentoring, a life of continuous learning, and her top tips for advancement if the CTA is on your roadmap in this episode.

In today's episode, we're joined by New Zealand based Salesforce Practice Manager for Davanti Consulting, Dan McBeth.

Dan talks to us about his early career in the UK, explaining how he first became involved in the Salesforce space, and the world of Salesforce projects.

As the leader of a sizable team at Davanti, Dan explains his preferred model for recruiting new members, and the interviewing strategy that he takes to uncover potential talent, not only from a non-Salesforce background but often from a non-technical background.

Dan gives us an interesting overview of the New Zealand market. He shares insight around what makes it different to other areas of the world as a place to live and work, and why it's an excellent place to develop in your career.

In today's episode, we're joined by Colombian based owner and Founder of Twilo, a Salesforce Partner with expertise in CPQ and Billing projects that have disrupted the model of Salesforce offshoring.

Aidan's extensive Salesforce career has enabled him to relocate initially from London to Sydney, before launching his own business in Latin America, and working closely with the US markets. 

We talk to him about his career before Salesforce, the early days of Salesforce projects in London, and the differences not only between the regions but the evolution of the Salesforce market that he's seen over the years.

Having built a team in Colombia with Twilo, Aidan explains his preferred model for growing the business, the strategy for uncovering talent in Colombia, and the approach he takes to training and upskilling.

As specialists in CPQ and Billing, with extensive experience in Field Service Lightning, we talk to Aidan about the size and frequency of Twilo's projects in the US, and best practices for companies undertaking CPQ projects of their own to be aware of.

Today's episode is a rebroadcast from a LinkedIn Live that we did with Boston-based Salesforce Technical Architect and MVP, Susannah St-Germain.

Salesforce are soon to retire their Data Recovery Service, and we went through in detail what this will mean for companies, who really needs to be aware, and why.

Susannah explains the people who should be involved in bedding down a strategy, what a strategy actually looks like within a business, and how to start that conversation. Recovery and back up within a business has limitations and a number of factors to consider, and so a plan of how it would be executed if ever required is key.

In today's episode, we're joined by New Zealand based Certified Technical Architect, Brad Riley, to talk about his technology career before Salesforce and the story of how he initially became involved with the platform.

We talk about how his life in Consulting opened up the world of Salesforce certifications, and how he was inspired to pursue the Salesforce CTA, by one moment in particular. Brad gives insight into not only how he prepared for the Review Board, but also how he sees his responsibility as a CTA having made the achievement, and what it has meant for him in his life.

Brad talks us through the work he does with the Davanti Consulting internal Architecture capability within his role, giving him the chance to support upcoming Architects to help them on their own journeys.

In today's episode, we're joined by Germany based CTA and Founder of InnoTrue, Doina Popa. We first met Doina over five years ago and having collaborated on a number of content pieces previously, it was great to catch up with her.

Doina has a unique perspective on the Salesforce landscape, having previously worked in a senior capacity for a broad spectrum of business types, and has a deep understanding of the nuances between ISVs, end users, consultancies, and even Salesforce themselves.

As the third female CTA in the world and the first outside of the USA, we spoke with Doina about her journey to CTA, how she prepared for the Review Board, and how her experiences and thirst for knowledge have led her to recently launching her own Salesforce Consultancy following a relocation back to Germany.

Doina is generous and inspiring with her time, and is heavily involved in a number of on and offline Salesforce initiatives, as well as being a Master Coach at Architect Training Academy, FlowRepublic.

In today's episode, we're joined by CRM Practice Manager for Transport NSW, James Neave. He shares with us an overview of the work he and his teams are doing in the Public sector space, and how Salesforce has experienced exponential growth within government in recent years.

We talk about the challenges of growing an internal team and how to develop high performing teams, as well as how James uses Partners for specific pieces of work and how he models that partnership.

It was fascinating to hear about James's background, and entry into the Salesforce space, as well as the ways in which the Public sector has been able to leverage the power of Salesforce in order to support the Community, particularly in rapidly evolving times like these.

In today's episode, we're joined by Sai Lavu, one of the original founders of one of the very first Salesforce practices in ANZ, System Partners.

We enjoyed hearing about the early days in the market, what inspired starting the business, and who the early adopters were from an end-customer perspective.

Sai gave us insight into what the talent market looked like a decade ago, and how they went about building their capability and team in such an environment. We spoke about the kind of people that they brought into the business and why, how they scaled, and the challenges they faced. Finally, we touched on some of their many achievements and how the ecosystem has evolved and developed in this region.

In today's episode, we speak with London based Salesforce Solution Architect, Priscila Renwick, about her Salesforce journey coming from a law background in Brazil, before joining a start up in London as an E.A. Her Salesforce journey started here, where she looked after the Salesforce org, and this ignited a passion for learning inside Priscila, over the years leading her to become a Business Analyst, before making her way into a Solution Architect position. She talks with us about the resources and support that she has leant on in this journey, such as her local Salesforce community, her mentor, and the Ladies Be Architects movement. She's an example of how attitude can take you far, and as she joins a Consulting firm as a Solution Architect this month, how joining a start up can accelerate your career. She's proof that you don't have to come from a technical background to become a Salesforce Architect.

Today we talk with Salesforce Platform Manager, Zabou Nicoul about her career journey in the Salesforce world so far.

Zabou learned to code in Salesforce having come from a non-technical background, and talks us through the roller-coaster journey of persistence and determination which has led her to the point today of being proud of the code she writes.

Zabou gives listeners advice, tips and resets expectations as to how a journey into Salesforce development is likely to unfold, as well as the rewards she feels being able to write Salesforce code affords in the current Salesforce ecosystem, and your own role.

In this episode, we talk with technology leader and Head of Salesforce Platform, Robert Whitaker, who was recently involved in one of the largest Salesforce transformation projects in the Asia Pacific.

We talk to Rob about the assessment and initial investment decision around why Salesforce was chosen, the value that they got from working with a consulting partner, and the key roles that are required on such a big project. He explained to us the challenges that they faced throughout the program of work as well as how they tackled them. We covered best practices, including the most critical points throughout a project, when commencing such a huge piece of work right through to delivery.

We touch on recruitment and ongoing learning, and reflect on how far Rob has come in his knowledge of the Salesforce platform. 

Lastly, Rob shares what he loves the most about the Salesforce Ohana and the opportunity that the industry presents for collaboration with other business.

In this episode, we talk with Employee Experience Director at Simplus, Olga Rankin, and take a deep dive into what the role entails and how she works day-to-day to effectively influence a positive workplace both generally, and specifically, within a Salesforce Partner environment.

We talk to Olga about recruitment - how to hire for attitude as well as skill set, and how to ensure an engaging on and offboarding process. She gives insight into retaining and managing staff through acquisitions and challenging projects, alongside the client site component, elements common within the consulting world, and how to build and maintain a good culture when teams can't always be together in the physical sense.

We also tackle the topic of pay increases, with the particular context of the Salesforce ecosystem, and Olga shares her views, as well as some tips if you're considering your own pay and how to approach asking for a raise.

Lastly, Olga shares what she loves the most about the Salesforce Ohana and the opportunity that the industry presents.

In this episode, we talk with Salesforce Developer, Bhavana Singh at Dreamforce in San Francisco to discuss her career before Salesforce, and her contributions across the globe that have led her to be awarded not only Salesforce MVP status but the Developer Golden Hoodie in 2018.

Bhavana comes from a really interesting background, having worked in the NASA control center before discovering the world of Salesforce, and opening her own business.

We discuss her advice for people looking to transition into Salesforce, and the thriving ecosystem in the USA; the events and Community Groups that are held there and how the WiT are on a mission to increase the number of female CTAs in the ecosystem across the globe.

We enjoyed finding out more about the others who inspire her in the Salesforce Ohana, such as the Ladies Be Architects group, led by Gemma Emmett, Charly Prinsloo and Susannah St-Germain, those in the RAD Women (Radical Apex Developers) group run by Angela Mahoney. 

Bhavana talks about the support she draws on from having a study-buddy on her path to CTA and how she's been able to apply her natural flair for teaching in her role as a RAD Women coach.

In this episode we talk with Salesforce MVP and 13X Salesforce certified Application Architect, Rupesh Bhatia, at Dreamforce in San Francisco to discuss his career before Salesforce, and his contributions across the globe that have led him to be awarded Salesforce MVP status. With TDX India coming up on 19th December 2019 we talk about the event and what attendees can expect.

We discuss his advice for people looking to transition into Salesforce, and the thriving Salesforce ecosystem in India; the events that are held there every year, and how this region has the second-largest Salesforce Developer community outside of the U.S.

We enjoyed finding out more about the others who inspire him in the Salesforce Ohana, and the great work he does in the local market and beyond.

Today we talk with the Founders of Sauce Consulting, Albert James, Martine Campagna and Hiral Swala on location in San Francisco.

Sauce has recently been launched in the Australian Salesforce market, and between them, the Co-Founders bring a wealth of Salesforce experience. We met up with them at Dreamforce to discuss the process of becoming a Salesforce Partner, the value that they, as a business, put on Salesforce certifications, and the importance of having complementary skills between business owners.

Sauce are refreshing in their approach to hiring, with a big emphasis placed on hiring for potential and passion, and we spoke to them in more detail about what makes them different.

Finally, they shared their key takeaways from the huge week at Dreamforce.

Today we talk with Salesforce Developer, Sameed Khan to discuss his background from electrical engineering into software engineering, and ultimately into Salesforce. We delve into why he chose Salesforce as his specialism, and how he approached his own self-development and use of resources to upskill.

Sameed sheds light on the nuances of Salesforce versus other development languages and domains, and how software engineering can be viewed as an art. Find out more in this episode about the repercussions of good quality versus sub-quality code, and how companies can attract upcoming Developers like him, for their teams.

Today we talk with Salesforce Technical Architect, Matt Robison, who fell in love with Salesforce having spent a significant period of time previously working in the development space with other technologies.

Matt fully immersed himself within the Salesforce Community right from the beginning, and his Salesforce career has progressed rapidly since initially securing his first Salesforce role as a Salesforce Developer 18 months ago. Today, Matt is a Salesforce Technical Architect, and we took the opportunity to ask Matt to talk us through his journey.

We discuss his views about what differs from other markets, what makes Salesforce interesting to other Developers, and pinpoint any potential challenges.

Finally, we talk to Matt about what the Salesforce Community groups have meant to him, and his exciting aspirations for the future.

Today we talk with Sydney WiT co-leader, Lorna O'Callaghan to discuss her background and roles within the Salesforce ecosystem, including her most recent move which encompasses people management. We touch on her views of the differences between working for a customer versus a consultancy, mentorship, and strategy.

Having relaunched the Women in Tech Trailblazer Community group alongside her co-leader Maddison Deans, we talk to Lorna about what the Community groups have meant to her, and the exciting plans for the group going forward.

Today we talk with Nolan Keenan to discuss his deep insight and experience of Salesforce projects and how they have evolved over the past decade.

As a previous employee of Salesforce, we chat about life working for the organisation themselves, how Nolan initially became a part of the ecosystem, and the roles he has held over the years.

We discuss what companies can, and should do when embarking on a Salesforce project with regards to the best methodologies to use, as well as best practice for project management in a more general sense.

Today we talk with USA based Salesforce Recruiter, Christopher Hopper to discuss current and emerging trends in the Salesforce market, both in the ANZ, and the USA. We unpack both the similarities and differences and how candidates and clients can maximise their success.

Thank you to all of the listeners who wrote in with questions for Ben and Christopher. They answer a selection of these on the episode, such as "is it better to know a little about a lot, or a lot about a little" when it comes to Salesforce, as well as their tips for accelerating your Salesforce career in innovative ways.

We last met up with Christopher last year at Dreamforce and so it was an insightful conversation, catching up on what has evolved in the Salesforce talent market in the past 12 months.