Well, maybe. Apex definitely looks like Java. But if you’re coming from something like a Java or C# background, you might find that Apex doesn’t always behave in the ways you’d expect. In this post, I’m going to walk you through a few of the pitfalls I came across as an experienced developer picking up Apex.
The terms ‘release management’ and ‘DevOps’ are often used interchangeably, especially in the Salesforce world. But they’re not really synonymous. So what’s the difference?
We’re excited to announce that a brand new Salesforce DevOps certificate is now available on DevOps Launchpad! The Salesforce DevOps Leadership Certificate is designed to help those in, or aspiring to be in, a position where they’re responsible for DevOps implementation, optimization or management in their organization.
TrailblazerDX is almost upon us! Next week in sunny San Francisco, thousands of us will descend on Moscone West and the surrounding areas to soak up all that Salesforce’s flagship conference for those building on the platform has to offer. As a first time attendee, or a new member of this awesome ecosystem, coming along can seem daunting. So, here are a few top tips to get the most out of your experience (and maybe a reminder or two for the old hands!).
Your team or organisation might have heard about the great benefits of Salesforce DevOps, and you might even be ready to adopt it for yourselves. There's a common misconception that simply having a DevOps process in place quickly means you’ll start reaping the rewards — but here at DevOps Launchpad, we know that any high calibre DevOps process takes the form of a marathon, not a sprint.
With the recent news of Salesforce layoffs and hiring freezes, it’s fair to say that there’s some anxiety amongst Salesforce professionals seeking a new position. However, upskilling and implementing DevOps is still proving important. Back in 2021, 85% of Salesforce teams had implemented or were planning to implement DevOps, according to Gearset’s State of Salesforce DevOps report — and that number is only growing.
CI/CD pipelines have become a hot topic in the Salesforce ecosystem, with 82% of Salesforce teams working to implement them, according to the 2022 State of Salesforce DevOps report. What’s spoken about less often, though, is a clear definition of both ‘CI’ and ‘CD’ and an explanation of how they differ — don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.
Certification isn’t new to the Salesforce community — it’s long been the best way to demonstrate your skills and experience, and certifications can be key to a successful Salesforce career. Whether you’re working towards your first official certification, or you’re a die-hard Trailblazer, they prove that you have the hands-on experience and knowledge companies are looking for in their Salesforce teams. But with so many different certifications on offer, why should you consider Salesforce DevOps certification?
With General Availability of DevOps Center, DevOps continues to take the Salesforce world by storm. Many Salesforce teams have been enjoying the benefits of DevOps for some time, but DevOps Center shows that DevOps has become the de facto approach to Salesforce development across the ecosystem. But it can be daunting to change the way your team works, so in this post we take a look at some of the key challenges facing Salesforce teams looking to adopt DevOps, and how you can avoid these common pitfalls.
DevOps has never been more central to the Salesforce ecosystem, underpinned by the recent General Availability (GA) of Salesforce DevOps Center. As the community embraces DevOps as the preferred approach for Salesforce development and release management, teams have a renewed focus on improving the experience of moving changes between environments — all with greater accuracy and smoother delivery than change sets alone can provide.
DevOps Advocate Rob Cowell shares insights from his career journey, and the benefits of Salesforce DevOps for developers that he’s seen first hand.
Admins are at the center of any Salesforce org, managing its users, data and experience. But, as well as being responsible for so many critical aspects of Salesforce, wouldn’t it be awesome to have greater control of your data and orgs? With DevOps you can gain more control over your Salesforce processes and, in turn, your career.
Salesforce orgs can be hugely complex, needing a skilled team of admins, developers and release managers to keep them on track. When developing custom Salesforce features, it can be difficult to balance demands and resources within your team, hit release targets, and maintain a positive and productive culture — but DevOps can help. Changing your approach to releases can be daunting, but there are good reasons for you and your team to adopt DevOps practices.
Salesforce DevOps is here to stay, and it’s never been more important to make sure you have the skills you need to be successful in a fast-changing world. That’s why we’re so excited to announce that our first certification track is now live on DevOps Launchpad! The Salesforce DevOps Fundamentals Certificate is the first certification program of its kind, providing a comprehensive, vendor-neutral foundation of Salesforce DevOps knowledge – and all at no charge.
Tl;dr — Both terms are valid, but there are good reasons why ‘version control’ is used more often in the Salesforce world. Do you ever wonder which term you should use: ‘source control’ or ‘version control’? You might come across both, and they’re often used interchangeably. But are they the same thing? Is one more ‘correct’ than the other? Does it depend on the context?
DevOps is part of an important cultural shift in working life, where work-life balance is the nirvana that many of us are chasing. Taking genuine time out has been proven to improve both mental health and general wellbeing. For some, that might mean a full lunch break with time to go for a walk, for others it could be meditation, time for hobbies or having ‘downtime’ to spend with friends and family away from work or screens.
It’s no secret that there’s a worldwide shortage of software developers. We’ve increasingly come to shop, bank, work, and play online: an effective online presence has become essential for the majority of businesses. This has accelerated in recent years, as more companies work and serve their customers online.
Everyone’s talking about how DevOps can take the pain out of Salesforce deployments and supercharge your release pipelines. Many teams using change sets spend hours — or even days — on each deployment, limiting their release cadence.
Dreamforce 2022 marked my return to the biggest Salesforce event, after my first visit in 2011. If you saw my earlier article, you’ll know that this time I went far better prepared to maximize my experience. Here are some of my highlights over ten years later.
If you’re starting to explore DevOps, you might have come across the view that it’s something that’s only for Agile developers in code-based development environments. But, who says you can't learn to be lean and keen yourself, whatever environment you’re working in?
Dreamforce is almost upon us! For those lucky enough to be attending, by now you’re probably familiar with the feeling that comes with choosing which sessions to catch. Endless possibilities and deliberation, the excitement to learn about new features, or hear customer stories.
Whether you’re entirely new to DevOps, or are familiar with the concept but haven’t yet applied it to Salesforce development, DevOps Launchpad is here to help! At its simplest, 'DevOps' is a set of practices that merge the previously siloed areas of software development (Dev) and operations (Ops). DevOps helps teams build, integrate, test and deploy faster and more collaboratively than ever before.
I attended my first Dreamforce back in 2011. At that point, I’d only been in the Salesforce world for a little over a year and it was just a portion of my job role. I’d been to a few Salesforce User Groups—long before they were called Trailblazer Community Groups—but I didn’t know much about Dreamforce and I didn’t know many folks in the community.
Salesforce DevOps is increasingly the solution for today’s Salesforce developments challenges. The State of Salesforce DevOps 2022 survey found that 66% of companies use source control while 85% of teams say DevOps has boosted their Salesforce ROI.
Salesforce DevOps adoption continues to increase globally, with teams seeing impact across efficiency, improved return on investment (ROI) and easier, more frequent releases. So what are the key components that help drive successful adoption of DevOps processes and principles in these high-performing teams?
Most of us are seeking that elusive work/life balance, which is why more control over both the way we work and our career development is very attractive. So instead of trying to set a distant career resolution, how about joining a revolution?
Matt Pieper, Director of Business Systems Engineering at CareRev joined DevOps Advocate Jack McCurdy for a conversation exploring his team’s journey towards CI/CD.
Depending where you work, it can be hard to believe that less than twenty years ago, most software development organisations worked with a structured hierarchy of decision makers – typically senior developers, business analysts and technical architects.
The journey to learning Salesforce DevOps is an exciting one — gaining skills is a gamechanger no matter where you are in your career. But committing to learning new terminology and getting the hang of new processes can be a little daunting.
One of the biggest advantages to learning more about Salesforce DevOps is the variety of skills anyone and everyone can pick up on their learning journey.
A new hobby? A new exercise regime? A new job? It’s that time of the year again where we all get stuck into self-improvement.
An ever-increasing number of Salesforce’s 150,000 customers worldwide are adopting DevOps best practices to improve business processes. They know that DevOps unlocks efficiencies within release cycles and sharpens the customer experience.
Community and support from people you trust are key whatever the learning journey you’re on. Seeing people that you relate to going through the same challenges and enjoying the same success provides an emotional lift that would benefit anyone.
One great advantage of using Salesforce is that new features are regularly released which benefit the user and unlock higher business performance.
Whether you’re planning to take on some new Salesforce responsibilities, or you're setting out on a totally new trajectory as a Salesforce administrator or developer, becoming a DevOps master will have an enormous impact on your professional prospects.
What do seasoned release managers, Salesforce developers and admins just getting their teeth into Salesforce all have in common? The fact that Salesforce DevOps skills are hugely valuable and practical — whatever their role and no matter what stage they’re at in their careers.