To be honest, I had given up looking and decided just to stay home with my daughter for a few years. The area where I live is pretty rural, and there weren’t any jobs here to match my experience or interest. But then I heard about a free Salesforce apprenticeship program being offered by CentralApp (the company I work with now), and I decided to try something new.

When I was transitioning from my previous career to this one, I completed over 200 badges. I love Trailhead and the way that information is presented. I can’t count how many trails I worked through while I was also feeding or rocking my baby. Now, I continue to use Trailhead when I need to learn more about a feature of Salesforce for a client, or just to brush up on what I already know.

This happens all the time! I regularly refer back to the Reports & Dashboards Superbadge because the use cases in that one are applicable for real clients all the time. Just last week, I worked through some Pardot trails so that I could help a client with some questions! Even though I don’t hold a Pardot certification, I was able to learn so much that I was able to understand the problem and solve it for my client thanks to Trailhead.

Before I started the apprenticeship with CentralApp, I had no background in tech. I had spent over a decade in sales, sales management, and non-profit fundraising. Trailhead made learning Salesforce manageable, even without prior experience. Trailhead and the Trailblazer Community are so accessible and welcoming, I never felt like any of the concepts were out of my grasp, and there was always someone willing to help me work through something. I liked, but not loved, several of my past jobs, and they certainly weren’t compatible with having a family. Now, I have the best of both worlds: interesting work and all the time I need to be present with my family.

So many ways! The biggest impact has been on my time with my family. I loved being able to take time off as a new mom, but I also missed working. It’s been great being able to work from home and still be with my daughter most of the time. It’s also great to be contributing financially to my household again in a way that doesn’t require sacrifice.

To me, Trailblazers are not afraid to try new things. They’re constantly learning and investing their time helping others do the same.

I’ve engaged with the Trailblazer Community online, but unfortunately not yet in person. Not everyone around the world is going to be able attend in-person events but the online Community is so awesome that’s ok. One of my favorite Community activities is our Twitter group chat! It’s active every day as we all work with clients and problem-solve in real time.

It’s so much fun and truly the best way to begin understanding the endless possibilities available in the Salesforce ecosystem.