Welcome to the eighth post of my Salesforce Career Success Journey series. This series is focused on sharing our career journey and to encourage others to pursue/continue their career on the Salesforce.com platform. I have not yet met Hamza in person, but just reading his list of achievements and certifications sure does motivate me to reach my potential!
If you would like to share your Salesforce Career Success journey, submit here.
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Name: Hamza Abib
Company: Cloudreach Europe Ltd.
Job Title: Salesforce Consultant
Which Salesforce certifications do you have?
Administrator, Advanced Administrator, Force.com Developer, App Builder, Service Cloud Consultant, Sales Cloud Consultant, Pardot Specialist, Pardot Consultant, Marketing Cloud Email Specialist, Marketing Cloud Social Specialist
[AS – I don’t know any other 10x certified individuals! I might call you one day if I need help. ;P ]
I noticed you have so many certifications, 10 in total. What made you pursue so many certifications?
I read David Liu’s blog, and through that, all the success stories. I felt that to really learn about the platform, including the bits of it that I haven’t used yet or probably won’t use often, I had to force myself to learn. The best to do so was to prepare for each certification exam. I also felt that if I wished to differentiate myself within the Salesforce Community, I really had to push hard. There have been many people who have been working on the platform for quite a few years, people that I still learn from today, so I wanted to carve out my own career path and show that it is possible to do things in a shorter period of time if you put your mind to it.
How many Trailhead badges do you currently have?
41
What is your favorite Trailhead module/project?
The Wave Analytics modules are my favourite. It’s an area of the platform that I haven’t spent much time on because it’s still so new, but I can’t wait to dive in. I’m sure at some point there will be a Analytics Cloud certification I will have to prepare for, and honestly (I’m addicted), I’m looking forward to that moment there is another exam to be passed.
Describe what you do at your company.
I work as a Salesforce Consultant and specialise in Business Transformation Projects and delivering value through implementation and optimisation projects for a number of different internal and external clients on Salesforce and Heroku, including for example, designing a complex system integration with Salesforce, Heroku and customers’ existing ERP systems.
Give us a snapshot of how you got your salesforce career started and/or how your career has developed.
I worked at a financial services company that was a Salesforce end user. We didn’t even scratch the surface of what the system was capable of and we used it only for a single function of the business. At the end of 2014, I began reading David Liu’s blog on SFDC99.com and felt that I could make a career out of this. I started a new job in January 2015 as a full-time Salesforce Admin and 1 year later, I am now 10x certified and a Salesforce Consultant.
What advice would you give to someone who is developing their career on salesforce?
Learn as much as you can as quickly as you can. Especially through the advice given by experienced Salesforce professionals through their blogs. If you’re willing to put the time in, you will get the rewards. Don’t be afraid to start at the beginning, the lower part of the career ladder, even if it means taking a cut in salary (which is what I did) because the learning and experience will help you develop quickly.
Are you a leader or member of a user group?
I am a member of the London Admin user group and the London Developer user group.
Please name 1 person from the Salesforce community that you’d like to thank for supporting you on your journey.
David Liu. It started through reading his blogs. If I hadn’t, I might not have made the decisions I made over the last year.
What’s the one Success Community group you can’t live without?
Architect Academy
Follow Hamza on:
Twitter: @iGotCertified
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamzaabib
AnnieForce 