Salesforce Declarative and Programmatic Development | How To Start
At the beginning of my Salesforce journey, I particularly struggled with finding the perfect instructor or training material that was a good fit for me. I needed my instructor to be upbeat, fun and knowledgeable and my training material needed to be clear and concise. All of those things combined into one was quite a challenge. Here are my top picks. They are not in any particular order, my picks have specific special talents.
David Liu
I came across David Liu's "Apex Academy" on Pluralsight about a year ago. He begins the training with a strong, upbeat tone and says, "WELCOME TO THE APEX ACADEMY!" I thought, okay...I can train with this guy. I tend to experience boredom quickly with mild subdued voices, so David was perfect! I highly recommend David's Apex Academy for anyone that is just starting to code. He is thorough, knowledgeable and he's a Salesforce MVP...you can't ask for more. David not only trains on Pluralsight, he also owns one of the largest Salesforce training sites in the world, SF99. Occasionally, Pluralsight will offer free weekends, so be on the lookout for that. Here's David discussing Salesforce and the Pluralsight experience:
Mike Wheeler
Another awesome instructor that is great with Salesforce Declarative Development is Mike Wheeler. What caught my attention with his training style is that he is down to earth, has a sense of humor and is extremely knowledgeable. He is the king Salesforce trainer. As of today, Mike has a total of 100,000+ unique students on Udemy. That doesn't count the number of repetitive students as I know I count as one, but have purchased many classes from him. His prices are extremely reasonable and you can learn Salesforce for as little as $9.99 when Udemy has a sale...and the sales do come often. What's unique about Mike is that he offers Live Salesforce training classes. You can find out more information regarding his Live training at Mike Wheeler Media. I highly recommend Mike as he is the bees knees! Here's Mike discussing Career Paths and Options for Certified Salesforce Administrators:
Deepika Khanna
If you're looking to hone more into your Salesforce programmatic development (Apex) skills, the absolute best is Deepika Khanna. She also teaches on Udemy and owns the site, My Tutorial Rack. She is thorough, starts from the beginning and knows her stuff! If you're looking for a challenge and real time projects, Deepika is a great choice. As of today, Deepika has 50,644 unique students. And again, this count doesn't include repetitive students, as I've purchased multiple training sessions from her. Deepika also trains other programming languages such as Javascript and Java. Here's a youtube video of Deepika discussing Apex development:
When you make the decision that you want to go all in with Salesforce, one of the greatest challenges is figuring out how. This was one of my main struggles. Where can I learn all the ins and outs of such a huge platform. The good news is that you probably never will. Salesforce releases changes 3 times a year, so this platform is for the life long learner. If you're addicted to learning and you're okay with learning forever, then this awesome platform is for you. Try these trainers out..they won't disappoint!