Salesforce Developer Podcast

We are back with part two of our interview with Marisa Hambleton. In part one, we discussed entrepreneurship, its pros and cons, and how the pandemic created new challenges for her. In part two, we get into the beginning days of Cactusforce and how it organically grew from a group of developers at Happy Hour to a conference with hundreds of participants in just a few short years. She also discusses how their conference had to pivot from in-person to virtual in 2021 and how they were able to allow participants to interact with the speakers and be involved. If you missed part one, go back to episode 178 and start there. Otherwise, enjoy part two! Show Highlights: How Happy Hour amongst developers turned into a conference How people may not be dedicated to one technology The content Marisa curated at Cactusforce conferences How to solve dense problems and get advanced developers on stage How Cactusforce has grown since 2020 and managed virtual conferences in 2021 Links: Twitter account: https://twitter.com/marisahambleton LinkedIn account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marisahambleton/ Cactusforce: https://www.cactusforce.com/ Shirts: https://www.cactusforce.com/products Marisa’s company, MH2X: https://www.mh2x.com/ More about Marisa: https://www.marisaforce.com/

In this episode, we have a conversation with Marisa Hambleton, owner of MH2X, which helps companies achieve their strategic goals through technology by building solutions and providing consulting services. Although presented with the opportunity to work for a corporate firm, Marisa chose the entrepreneurial route. This episode is part one of a two-part interview. In part one, we discuss Marisa’s early years and how she was introduced to Salesforce. We also talk about why she chose to own her own company and the pros and cons of entrepreneurship. Get to know Marisa in this episode, and don’t miss part two in episode 179! Show Highlights: How Marisa was introduced to Salesforce The incentive to stay in a world of entrepreneurship Marisa’s advice for others who want to branch out on their own Sticking with entrepreneurship and knowing when it’s not working How the pandemic has created new challenges and solutions for her Links: Twitter account: https://twitter.com/marisahambleton LinkedIn account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marisahambleton/ Cactusforce: https://www.cactusforce.com/ Shirts: https://www.cactusforce.com/products Marisa’s company, MH2X: https://www.mh2x.com/ More about Marisa: https://www.marisaforce.com/

In this episode, we have a conversation with Alicia Teo about Custom Property Editors and how you can use them to create powerful user interfaces to configure your web components. Alicia started as an intern at Commerce Cloud while pursuing her MBA and is now a Product Manager for Experience Builder here at Salesforce. On the Experience Builder team, Alicia makes creating websites quicker and easier for admins. Custom Property Editors enable developers to create components that are even easier to use than Experience Builder, leading to fewer user errors and fewer complaints. Enjoy! Show Highlights: What custom properties are The problem Custom Property Editor is meant to solve The new lightning property types and their benefits How to override the date time picker with a new more robust one What needs to be done to a lightning web component to make it a Custom Property Editor The possibility of reusing the code Links: Alicia’s Twitter Account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicia-teo/ Custom Property Editor Docs: https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/component-library/documentation/en/lwc/lwc.use_flow_custom_property_editor_lwc_example

Ananya Jha is a Product Manager working on the IDE experience here at Salesforce. This means she gets to dive into all the cool new features that Salesforce releases in its extensions and eventually serves you through VSCode and Code Builder. In this episode, we talk about the current state of Code Builder, the Salesforce IDE, and some of its great tools that can benefit you. We also discuss the advantages of using a repository as a source of truth when using Code Builder or Salesforce IDE, PMD’s relationship with IDE, and the Apex Replay Debugger. Show Highlights: The core desktop experience with Salesforce IDE What the Code Builder technology looks like and how it can be accessed today Other tools inside the IDE Ananya recommends for people to track conflicts and changes Ananya’s favorite extensions and tools Query Builder and how it works within the IDE How the Apex Replay Debugger Works Links: Ananya on LinkedIn Ananya on Twitter Article on the Org Colors Plugin

Andrea Guzman is a Product Manager for External Services here at Salesforce. In this episode, we get an overview of the current state of External Services, which allows you to easily wrap API calls for both Flow and Apex. We learn how Andrea became involved with Salesforce and product management, the advantages of Flow versus Apex and vice versa, internal use cases, and more. We hope you enjoy this conversation! Show Highlights: What the day-to-day looks like as a Product Manager at Salesforce The elevator pitch for External Services What is the Open API spec and how it plays into External Services The structure for a developer and an admin to register these services How Named Credentials work What happens to your code if Twilio changes their API Links: Andrea on Twitter Linkedin Account Salesforce Help Documentation External Services Group: Trailblazer Community TDX23 Session: Simplify API Integration with External Services Apex Developer Guide UnofficialSF Website Salesforce Architects Blog: Data Integration Guide

Pablo Gonzalez is a Salesforce Architect at Salto, a small Israel-based start-up that does DevOps for business applications like NetSuite, Zendesk, JIRA, Workato, and of course, Salesforce. Pablo is involved in all discussions of decision-making at Salto regarding Salesforce. Whether marketing, blog posts, product features, engineering, how we solve certain problems, the API, or anything that has to do with Salesforce, he has a say in it. In this episode, we talk with Pablo about his project, happysoup.io, and another of his projects, Not Another CI (NACI), and other topics for continuous delivery and integration. Show Highlights: How Pablo became self-trained in engineering. What is happysoup.io, and where the idea came from. What deployment boundaries are and how happysoup.io works with them. What the deployment options \ Pablo's other project, Not Another CI (NACI) Things to think about before building out pipelines when designing for CI Links: Twitter account LinkedIn account GitHub account HappySoup.io NaCI Blog on CI Blog on CI/CD checklist

In this episode, we have a conversation with Tyson Read, a Product Manager here at Salesforce, on the impact that administrators' and developers' implementations are having on the environment. We discuss his project and how he is sharing this information through dashboards and guides. Salesforce is a net zero company, so we are already offsetting all our emissions due to our data centers. In this discussion, our goal is to spread awareness as to what kind of cost there is so that others can understand what they can do about it. If you’d like to learn more, feel free to reach out to Tyson on LinkedIn or Twitter. Show Highlights: Salesforce’s overall efforts in sustainability so far. How to make small changes to fix our carbon footprint. The equation between the cost of doing business and implementation. The numbers developers will see if they start tracking carbon with a code. How are carbon dashboard might work The roadmap to sustainability at Salesforce. Links: Follow Tyson on Twitter Follow Tyson on LinkedIn

Greg Whitworth is a Senior Director of Product Management here at Salesforce. Greg started with Standards Committees in 2011 before getting involved in web platform testing and CSS Working Group, then Open UI. Today, Greg focuses his efforts on MWC, LWR Node, and standard web platform browser engagement. In today’s episode, we talk with Greg about some distinctions between our old component framework Aura and our new, modern framework, Lightning Web Components (LWC). We dive into how the evolution of web standards at Salesforce is driven, the different styling of LWC, Aura’s file structure compared to LWC, and much more! Show Highlights: Aura in relation to the rest of the Salesforce frameworks. Greg’s experience with JavaScript. How Aura’s eventing compares to LWC. What GraphQL is and how it compares to other API endpoints. Strategies to start moving an org into an LWC. How the language is continuing to evolve and improve the developer experience. What is on the roadmap. Links: Greg on LinkedIn Greg on Twitter Greg on Github Greg’s blog

Raj Advani is the Senior Director of Product Management here at Salesforce. Raj has held a variety of different roles at the company, beginning with an Engagement Manager when he started 17 years ago. He now owns many of the event driven architectures for Salesforce, including Change Data Capture and Platform Events. In this episode, we have a conversation with Raj about various integration solutions on the platform. We discuss what Change Data Capture and Platform Events are, the advantages of a Pub/Sub API, and more! Show Highlights: Some of the internal features using Platform Events. Moving toward a bus centric world in Platform Events. The filtering conditions in Change Data Capture. The benefits of event driven architecture. The options for a distinct integrations from Salesforce. How Pub/Sub API plays into the event architecture. Links: Raj on Twitter Raj on LinkedIn Architecture Decision Guides Episode 115: Event Relays with Tyson Read Episode 93: Pub/Sub with Emmett Chan-Ran

Kevin Poorman is a Salesforce Architect over at Chief. He is joining us in this episode to talk about one of his newest projects, Apex Kit. Apex Kit is a library of tools that all help developers do repeated actions accurately and securely. In our conversation, Kevin and I talk about his backstory and some of his career history. We also dive deeper into Apex Kit and get a full understanding of it. Enjoy this intriguing conversation with Kevin Poorman! Show Highlights: Where the idea for Apex Kit came from. How Apex Kit works. The connection between Apex Recipes and Apex Kit. What promises in code are. How promises get built into Apex. What polyfills are and how they work within Apex Kit. The function of Ouroboros in Apex Kit. The difference between a ULID and a UUID and a use case for a ULID. Links: Twitter account - @Codefriar Linkedin account https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinpoorman/ Github account https://github.com/codefriar/ Apex Kit: https://github.com/codefriar/ApexKit

Chelyn Briand is a Salesforce Partnerships Manager with many years of experience in recruiting and helping people get hired for jobs they want. She also helps people clean up their LinkedIn profiles so it better shows their skills and can catch the eye of recruiters. It is undoubtedly a challenging climate for those looking for a job in tech right now. Chelyn shares some excellent tips on how to stand out and get the job you want and not just the job you need. We hope you enjoy this quick conversation with Chelyn. Show Highlights: The Supermoms organization that Chelyn is involved with What you can do to take a step back and be more successful in your job search Focus on your day-to-day goals – rather than a job title We all have a personal brand (whether you like it or not) LinkedIn’s relevance for the developer architect community and how you can leverage your profile Links: Chelyn on LinkedIn Chelyn on Twitter

In this episode, we have a conversation with the lead software engineer here at Salesforce, Jonathan Gillespie. Jonathan develops in Apex and Liightning Components and works in the internal org, Gus. He has been on the podcast before, but he’s back to discuss the follow-up to his Nebula Logger project – the Nebula Cache Manager. We talk about how Platform Cache works, how it works with Apex, and how it can make your life as a developer better. Jonathan also shares the three specific limits that led him to start thinking about better cache strategies. Listen in to learn how the new Nebula Cache Manager can be a benefit to you. Show Highlights: What Nebula Logger is. What happens when we have a static variable in Apex. The difference between organizational and session platform caches. The expiration of an organization. How Jonathan handles an org with no Platform Cache. The things Jonathan wanted to give back to a developer from a utility point of view. Links: LinkedIn Account GitHub Account Nebula Cache Manager A Flexible Cache Manager, Joys Of Apex

James Simone is a lead software engineer here at Salesforce. James works under the helm of the agile organization, where his team helps build tools for all of the engineering teams to measure their productivity and happiness. James’ team is making it possible to move fast without breaking anything at Salesforce. In this episode, we talk about many philosophical concepts of software engineering. This includes agile and pure programming, mob programming, recursion and refactoring, and more. We also go into creating a future-proofed framework and even bring in the movie Midnight in Paris. Listen in to learn how to move fast without breaking things in software engineering. Show Highlights: The tools involved in tracking agile What James finds interesting about the Ruby ecosystem Timing and efficiency versus safety Where YAGNI comes into play What makes for a good unit test Links: Linkedin Account GitHub Account Joys Of Apex Changelog Episode 521 Combined Apex Async Framework Blog Post

Jason Atwood is the co-founder and CEO of the business consulting company Arkus Incorporated. In this episode, we talk about how he progressed from running a carpet company in Africa to becoming a Python developer to getting involved with Salesforce. We also discuss how he formed Arkus. However, our primary focus for this episode has less to do with computer coding and more to do with helping people reach their goals. Our focal point for this episode is on how to get things done and what that means for developers. We discuss a couple of acronyms that pertain to one’s success and how Jason helps other people and business owners check off their to-do lists and realize their goals. Show Highlights: What the GTD methodology is. How Jason helps people work through exercises and create new habits. How GTD improves work performance and mental health at Arkus. Jason’s favorite resources for people who want to get things done. Links: Twitter Account LinkedIn Account GitHub Account Arkus GTD, The Book GTD, The TED Talk

Karen Fidelak is the Product Manager for DevOps Center here at Salesforce. DevOps Center is a new product at Salesforce that provides an end-to-end experience to help low code and industry-pro developers manage their changes and releases while developing on the Salesforce platform. Through DevOps, developers of all kinds are able to work together when they have been incompatible in the past. In this episode, we talk with Karen about DevOps Center, what it means to admins and developers, and some of its details and implementations. We discuss the goal of bringing everything together and the modern best practices to provide a better and easier-to-use, more modern interface. Listen in to learn more! Show Highlights: How Karen got into product management and with Salesforce. What the day-to-day looks like for Karen at Salesforce. What DevOps Center is and how it helps all types of developers. The three benefits of leaving change set behind and moving forward with DevOps are. How GitHub integration works. Where CI CD comes into play with DevOps. Links: Twitter account Linkedin account DevOps Trailblazer Community

Amit Chaudhary is a principal technical architect at InfoServices. In 2016, Amit had just moved to the United States and was working from home, so he created a group for developers to connect to make friends in his new city. This grew into a program and community that he now calls Apex Hours. In this episode, we discuss Apex Hours and how it has become a community-driven program. Salesforce experts create content every week for other developers to learn from. They believe that everyone has something to learn from each other and are growing in their technical skills together. Listen in to learn more from Amit on Apex Hours and how they are impacting the developer community. Show Highlights: What Amit does as the principal Salesforce architect. How Apex Hours organically came into existence. What led Amit to provide Sales Cloud-focused material through Apex Hours. Amit’s tips for people who are interviewing in the Salesforce ecosystem. What the Salesforce inspector Chrome extension is. What exciting content and events are upcoming from Apex Hours. Links: Twitter account: twitter.com/amit_sfdc Linkedin account: linkedin.com/in/amitchaudhary21/ Apex Hours website: apexhours.com/

Roopa Mohan is the principal software engineer for the Code Analyzer team here at Salesforce. She loved computers when she was introduced to them in sixth grade and decided she wanted to do coding. The only company she applied to work at, Salesforce, hired her. In this episode, Roopa shares information about how Salesforce Code Analyzer came to be and what is in its future. She discusses how it works, who it works best for, and other tools that it works well in conjunction with. Listen in to learn more about Salesforce Code Analyzer and how it can be used in your operations. Show Highlights: What Code Analyzer does for its clients, and who the target audience is. What PMD and its counterpart ESLint are. The customization options for PMD and the code analyzer’s role in the customization. What Code Analyzer 3.0 does for retired JavaScript libraries. What might be the future regarding developer tooling and AI technology. Links: Twitter account: @rmohan_sfdc Linkedin account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roopa-mohan-21a85b20/ Github account: @rmohan20 Links related to Code Analyzer: Public documentation: https://forcedotcom.github.io/sfdx-scanner/ Open-source repo: https://github.com/forcedotcom/sfdx-scanner Blogs: https://developer.salesforce.com/blogs/2020/10/improve-your-code-quality-with-the-salesforce-cli-scanner https://developer.salesforce.com/blogs/2022/10/develop-even-more-secure-code-with-salesforce-code-analyzer

Greg Kihlström is the Principal and Chief Strategist at GK5A, a marketing consultant agency in Arlington, VA. He’s a consultant to many C-level types and an expert in marketing. He also hosts The Agile Brand podcast and is the author of 11 books. CDP has become a popular subject since the launch of Salesforce Genie, and in this episode, Greg shares a plethora of information about it. We talk about what CDP is, what the moving parts are, what it means to technical architects and developers, and more. Greg is an insightful resource in the marketing and branding space. Listen in to learn from someone who is immersed in marketing and knows the ins and outs of CDPs and CRMs. Show Highlights: What an agile brand is and how it works with marketing and branding What CDP stands for, and what it does What the data points are that we apply back to the CDP If there are regulations surrounding CDP for consumer privacy What type of companies benefit from a CDP, and the risks of not using it How Greg thinks generative AI impacts marketing Links: Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom The Agile Brand podcast: https://www.gregkihlstrom.com/theagilebrandpodcast Agile Guide on CDP: https://www.gregkihlstrom.com/agile-brand-guide-to-cdps GK5A website: https://www.gk5a.com

Oleh Mykytyn is the strategic relationship director at the Salesforce partner company Red Tag. Oleh has always had a knack for computers and coding and fit right in with Salesforce after winning a hoodie in 2014 for finishing five badges. In 2017, Oleh was a part of the team that began the Salesforce Developer Group in the Ukraine. Recently, Oleh had a presentation on Apex and record triggered flows, where he discussed which is better. In this episode, we dive into Oleh’s latest presentation topic, beginning with the question, do we need both Apex and record triggered flows? Oleh answers when it’s best to use Apex over Flow, which one’s faster, which one’s better to maintain, and more. We also touch on use cases for wrapper classes and Oleh’s role on the Salesforce product advisory board. Show Highlights: Do we need both record triggered flows and Apex triggers? When it’s best to use Apex over Flow. If Apex is faster than Flow. Which is better to maintain. How easy is it for a developer to pick up the modern version of Flow? How Apex and Flow interact with each other. Use cases for wrapper classes. Oleh’s role on Salesforce’s product advisory board. Links: Follow Oleh on Twitter Follow Oleh on LinkedIn Follow Oleh on Github salesforceben.com/what-is-wrapper-class-in-salesforce redtag.pro/blog/keeping-up-with-salesforce-leaders-worldwide

Rafael Hernandez is a specialist leader at Deloitte and an avid member of the Salesforce community around the world. However, especially in Mexico where students don’t always have the same opportunities in web development, and consulting. Rafael has committed to providing learning opportunities for college kids so they may get involved and be successful within the Salesforce economy. In this episode, Rafael discusses how coding came easy to him and when he was introduced to Salesforce. He goes into how he started a community within Salesforce and how he teaches students to be consultants by teaching them soft skills. Rafael is so passionate about what he offers that it almost sounds too good to be true. Listen in to get a sense of Rafael’s excitement for his charitable causes and how he is preparing college students for adulthood. Show Highlights: How Rafael got started in coding and joined Salesforce. When and why Rafael began the community portion of Salesforce. How he teaches students soft skills and prepares them to be consultants. What happens after people graduate from his class. The benefit of pairing students with nonprofits in Mexico. What the Kerrnandez Foundation is, and how it started. How Rafael’s book, “¡Soy Adulto! (¿Ahora Qué?)” came to be. Links: Rafael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafablazer/ Rafael on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rafablazer Rafael's website: https://rafahernandez.org/ Kerrnandez Foundation: https://www.kerrnandez.org/

Rishabh Poddar is the CTO and co-founder of SuperTokens, an open source user authentication service. Rishabh has always been fascinated with computers and began coding when he was 12 years old. Programming came easily to him, and he loved doing it, so he went to school for computer science and made it his career. In this episode, we have a conversation about creating SuperTokens and how they work compared to other authentication techniques. Rishabh shares how to prevent impersonation, the architecture of SuperTokens, tips for JavaScript developers, and more. Show Highlights: Rishabh's earliest memory with a computer. Why he created an operating system from scratch. What got Rishabh interested in authentication. What a rotating refresh token is. What SuperTokens core strength is. How passwordless authentication works. What cross origin resource sharing (CORS) is. What the SuperTokens business model us. Links: Rishabh on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rishpoddar Rishabh on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rishabh-poddar-b64b73129/ Rishabh on Github: https://github.com/rishabhpoddar

Rob Katz is the VP of Product Management for our Office of Ethical and Humane Use of Technology here at Salesforce. He got into product management as he was getting ready to finish up his MBA and came to work for big companies like Amazon and Alexa. In this episode, Rob and I are talking all about ethics. We discuss Ethics by Design, data ethics when it comes to building applications, and even more. Tune in to get a deeper understanding of the ethics of technology. Show Highlights: Rob’s winding career journey. What he worked on at Alexa as the dedicated privacy project manager. What he does in his current role at The Office of Ethical and Humane Use of Technology. The lifecycle of Ethics by Design. Examples of well-intended designs that ended up having unintended consequences. What developers should think about in regards to ethics when building a new application. What consequence scanning workshops are. Links: Rob on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertskatz/ How to Run a Consequence Scanning Workshop - https://medium.com/salesforce-ux/how-to-run-a-consequence-scanning-workshop-4b14792ea987 What is Ethics by Design? https://www.salesforce.com/blog/what-is-ethics-by-design/ Responsible Marketing / Responsible Personalization - https://www.salesforce.com/blog/responsible-marketing-principles/ New Research Reveals 4 Ways Businesses Can Maximize Trust & Savings with Personalization - https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/salesforce-ethical-data-management-report/ Data Ethics in our Help & Training Documentation - https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.c360a_ethics.htm&type=5

Kathy Baxter is the Principal Architect for Ethical AI Practice here at Salesforce. Ethics and AI is a complex topic but Kathy is truly an expert. She started researching it in 2016 when she first learned how toxicity and bias can end up creeping into AI. Today, Kathy is joining us to talk all about Ethical AI. In our conversation, we also discuss how technical products can use ethics and AI. Join us to learn all about this interesting facet of our industry. Show Highlights: How Kathy got into this line of work. What an AI-first company is. How toxicity can creep into chatbots. Why ethical AI is so important in a company like Salesforce. Unique things Salesforce uses AI for. AI considerations developers should think about from the beginning of the development of an application. Where AI can’t replace human intuition. Links: Kathy on Twitter: https://twitter.com/baxterkb Kathy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathykbaxter/ Kathy on Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@baxterkb Responsible Creation of AI Trailhead: https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/responsible-creation-of-artificial-intelligence Building Ethical and Inclusive Products Trailmix: sfdc.co/EthicalandInclusiveProducts Salesforce Trusted AI Site & Resources: salesforceairesearch.com/trusted-ai AI Ethics Maturity Model: sfdc.co/EAIMM

Lisa White is a Software Engineer over at TaskRay. Over the years, Lisa has tried out a variety of careers and had to make many career decisions. Throughout her experiences, she learned JavaScript and eventually found her way to TaskRay. In this episode, I sit down with Lisa to talk about her journey. She tells us the story of how she got into software engineering, learned JavaScript, and developed her career from there. She also gives some great advice for those who are junior developers looking to get into this field. Show Highlights: How Lisa got exposed to tech and Salesforce. Why her career shift felt like an identity shift. Her experience with Hack Reactor. How she morphed her JavaScript and React skills into Apex and LWC. Advice for junior developers. What made her want to talk about Javascript and date time at Dreamforce. Why third party data libraries are so helpful. Tips for those who want to get onstage at Dreamforce. Links: Lisa on Twitter: https://twitter.com/lmbel Lisa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/whitelisab/ Lisa on Github: https://github.com/whitelisab Lisa's website: https://www.whitelisab.com/

On this episode, we are pleased to welcome Jessica Murphy to the show. We talk about Jessica’s journey into discovering development with Salesforce and the influence others have had on those experiences, as well as sharing those experiences with Salesforce Saturdays. She is a co-conspirator of Salesforce Saturdays in Phoenix since 2015 with two other women with the goal of helping other developers find success. Salesforce Saturdays occur around the country in various coffee shops and sometimes office locations, as a casual environment to educate and empower people. Their success stories are amazing, as some people have attended Salesforce Saturdays and then gone on to accomplish their goals. They also encourage people to give back. For example, they had an attendee come back to hire others at a Salesforce Saturday when he was looking for employees. There are always new people who want to learn Salesforce, so it is an exciting environment, and all are welcome. Just come – you don’t need any special qualifications! The door is open for you to join a Salesforce Saturday near you. Show highlights Jessica’s journey to becoming a woman in technology The profound influence education has had on her life and the confidence it has given her Introduction to Trailhead and how it ties into your commitment to making yourself better The opportunities presented through Salesforce that have had an amazing impact on Jessica People learn things different ways, so there are various hurdles to learning Salesforce The evolution, impact and growth of Trailhead and all the options available that it is supporting Ways you can participate in Salesforce Saturday. Your help is valuable! Everyone is a leader in this group setting and we support each other Resources Jessica Murphy on LinkedIn Jessica on Twitter Salesforce Saturday website Salesforce Saturday on LinkedIn The many shout outs for this episode Sheena Smith Rachel Watson Paula Nelson Bonny Hinners Steph Herrera Shonnah Hughes Nadina Lisbon Tami Lau Brian Kwong Jen W. Lee Chris Duarte David Liu

Today, we’ve got a guest host! I’m partnering with my partner in crime, Mike Gerholdt, as he’s taking over the host seat and interviewing our good friend and colleague, Domenique Buxton. Domenique is the VP Executive Creative Director for Trailblazers and Trailhead. She has also played a major part in the development of Salesforce characters, something that has built connection and meaning within the Salesforce community. Throughout Mike’s conversation with Domenique, they discuss the history of the Salesforce characters, including how they came to be, why they were created, and more! Show Highlights: The origin story of Salesforce characters. Why they created the characters the way they did. How the characters have evolved over the years. How the characters got connected with a deeper purpose. Where community feedback has been crucial in the development of Salesforce characters. Some of Domenique’s special memories from events. The teamwork that brought the characters to light. Links: SaaSy breaking it down Domenique: @LittleIglooo Salesforce Admins: @SalesforceAdmns Gillian: @GillianKBruce Mike: @MikeGerholdt

David Schach is joining us again! We started our conversation on being a trusted advisor last week and are finishing it off today in part two. David is a Salesforce Application Architect over at Spot On. He consults on all things Salesforce and has a wide range of experience with it. Therefore, he has some great tips and tricks to share. Tune in to learn more of them along with how to become a trusted advisor. Show Highlights: What the basic database theory is. David’s favorite tools he’s pulled off GitHub. Why “prettifying” code is so helpful. Why negative testing is so important. The difference between being dependable and being trusted. Links: David on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dschach David on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidschach/ David on GitHub: https://github.com/dschach

David Schach is the Salesforce Application Architect over at Spot On. As a Salesforce consultant, David has practically seen it all. He has dealt with a variety of situations over the years that have equipped him to understand Salesforce at a unique depth. In this episode and next week’s, David is sharing his best practices and tips. He’s also going to tell us some of his favorite “war stories” from his years of Salesforce consulting. Tune in to learn from his incredible wisdom. Show Highlights: David’s history in computing and even going to med school. How he got into data loading and model metrics. How he started down the architecture path from there. How influential open source has been for both of us. A few of David’s implementation horror stories. Links: David on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dschach David on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidschach/ David on Github: https://github.com/dschach

Angela Mahoney is the Executive Director of RAD Women. She also helped found this organization and has played a major part in its growth. Angela is currently assisting with a cool project of teaching Salesforce at a university in Mexico. In this episode, Angela and I dive into the history behind RAD Women. She shares how it was formed and what they’re doing today. Finally, we discuss the origin of the tech conference Forcelandia. Show Highlights: More about the Salesforce project Angela’s helping out with in Mexico. How she got involved with technology at Salesforce. Why she wanted to get involved in the Salesforce community. The origin story and mission statement of RAD Women. What has contributed to RAD Women’s regional growth. Why Angela wanted to create a community conference. How Forcelandia is distinct from other community events. What Angela does outside of RAD Women. Links: Angela on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelamahoneymba/ Angela on Twitter: https://twitter.com/icloudsf Rad Women: http://radwomen.org/ Forcelandia: http://forcelandia.com/ Josh's keynote, The Pool at Nowhere: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkXefNpFbOA

Shoby Abdi is the Director of Architect Success here at Salesforce. He started his career as an intern at Lions Consulting Group. It was there that he first heard about Salesforce and got involved with it. In this episode, Shoby and I talk all about the B2C and B2B Solution Architect program including the enablement that goes along with it. We also discuss the certifications that Shoby helped create. Show Highlights: More on Shoby’s career background. How he got into architecture. The difference between a solution architect and a technical architect. All about Shoby’s current role. What the enablement with Solution Architect looks like. Challenges the multi-cloud strategy presents. What it takes to build a certification. The major differences between B2C and B2B. Links: Shoby on Twitter: http://twitter.com/shobyabdi Shoby on LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/shobyabdi B2B Solution Architecture on Github: github.com/b2bsolutionarchitectprogram B2B Workshops: https://trailheadacademy.salesforce.com/classes/arc801-Design-and-implement-b2b-multi-cloud-solutions

Katie Villanueva, Senior Salesforce Administrator, is joining us again today! We started our conversation on mental health in the workplace last week and, in this episode, we’ll finish it up. Katie has a long history with mental health and illness. She has grown and learned a lot over the years and she now supports others through a mental health and illness forum. Tune in to learn how to handle mental health in the workplace, how you can help others with mental illnesses and improve your own mental health, and all about the forum Katie created. Show Highlights: Katie’s “CRM” mindset. The stigma around mental health in our society, especially in the tech industry. Why respect for ourselves and others is so crucial. What mindfulness is. How Katie structures her routine to improve her mental health. The origin story of her community forum. Links: Katie on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Catptains_Log Katie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-villanueva-36138914a/ Mental Health and Illness Group: https://sfdc.co/tb-mental-health-illness

Katie Villanueva is a Senior Salesforce Administrator. She is also the creator of the Mental Health and Illness forum on Trailblazer. Katie has been on a long journey with mental health and has learned so much along the way. In this episode, Katie and I discuss her mental health history and her various experiences with it. She also shares some things we can do to optimize our mental health. You don’t want to miss this one. Show Highlights: Katie’s history in radio and how she transitioned from that to Salesforce. When she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. The long journey that led to her diagnosis. The three types of bipolar disorder. The difference between mental health and mental illness. How Katie manages her anxiety. The experience she had meeting Charlie Isaacs. Links: Katie on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Catptains_Log Katie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-villanueva-36138914a/ Mental Health and Illness Group: https://sfdc.co/tb-mental-health-illness

Heather Black is the CEO of Supermums. She started out in social entrepreneurship and made the jump to being a CEO when she was 26. Eventually, this morphed into Supermums, the company she created and now runs. In this episode, Heather and I talk about her long history with social entrepreneurship and what that term means. We also talk all about Supermums and how it runs today. Finally, Heather explains how she has created a healthy work-life balance. Show Highlights: The first business Heather started. What social entrepreneurship is. How Heather got into social entrepreneurship and moved into the role of CEO. What her first year as a CEO was like. Her journey of leaving her first company and founding Supermums. What they do over at Supermums and who it’s directed at helping. Why Heather wanted to start a podcast. All about the book The Unseen Wounds of Women. Why it’s important to be an authentic leader. Links: Supermums on Twitter: https://twitter.com/supermumsglobal Supermums on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/supermumsglobal Supermums website: www.supermums.org

Ben Sklar is a Senior Product Manager here at Salesforce. Though he started college as a pre-med major, he quickly shifted his interests after taking a Coding 101 course. He went on to pursue Computer Science and even to do research at Vanderbilt University and Hamilton College. Today, Ben and I are talking about GraphQL. GraphQL is a new standard which provides significant performance and organizational benefits to API calls as opposed to REST. Specifically, we’re discussing how Salesforce is implementing it and how you can use it. Join us! Show Highlights: How Ben got into web technology and front-end engineering. How he got introduced to Salesforce and what he does in his current job here. An overview of GraphQL. The key limitation of REST that GraphQL is trying to solve. The two main ways to use GraphQL APIs. How lightning web components fit into all of this. More things on the roadmap for GraphQL. Links: Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-sklar/

Tiago Ruivo is a Senior Regional Success Architect here at Salesforce. He started his career in computer science and was introduced to Salesforce through pure luck as a customer. Eventually, he made the jump over to working for Salesforce and, over time, progressed from being a junior developer to holding his current role. Today, Tiago and I are talking about one of my favorite subjects: static code analysis. Throughout the episode, Diego walks us through how to run it, how to manage it, and how to operate it with your teams. Show Highlights: More about Tiago’s background and career history. How he describes his current role. What static code analysis is and where it falls in the development cycle. What the term “shift left” means. What static code analysis is good at catching and what it’s not good at catching. The tools that make up static code analysis. The first steps to take when you run code analysis. Best practices for making your own set of rules with static code analysis. Where you can learn more about all of this. Links: Tiago on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiagoruivo/ PMD: https://pmd.github.io/ ES-lint: https://eslint.org/ SFDX Scanner: https://forcedotcom.github.io/sfdx-scanner/

If you tuned into last week’s podcast, you heard from Steph Herrera. She is the co-founder of PepUp Tech and helped launch Salesforce Saturdays. All in all, her efforts have made a major impact in the Salesforce community. Steph is back today for part two of our conversation. Throughout the episode, we talk more about Salesforce Saturdays and how Steph keeps it running with its now 60 chapters. We also discuss a topic that both of us are very passionate about: stress and burnout. Show Highlights: What Merivis is and Steph’s involvement with it. The keynote Steph did at Dreamforce 2017. Her tips for anyone preparing to give a keynote. How mental health came onto her radar. Why stress and burnout can become such a problem for people in the tech community. All about the mental health panel Steph is doing. Links: Steph on Twitter: @steph_herrera_ Steph on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steph360/

Steph Herrera is the co-founder of PepUp Tech and has a long history in the Salesforce community. After starting out at Dell, Steph developed a passion for computers and eventually coding. From there, she got involved with a variety of projects like Maris. However, what Steph is most famous for is something that has made an indelible impact on our community, Salesforce Saturdays. Tune in to dive into the story behind Salesforce Saturdays, what it looks like today, and much more from Steph. Show Highlights: How Steph ended up in tech. How she got introduced to Salesforce and decided to make it the backbone of her career. Steph’s story of co-founding PepUp Tech. What PepUp Tech is doing right now. Where the idea for Salesforce Saturdays came from. How they keep it structured with 60 chapters running. Links: Steph on Twitter: @steph_herrera_ Steph on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steph360/

In keeping with our discussion of open-source software, today we will be speaking with Jonathan Gillespie, a software engineer here at Salesforce who is responsible for building the Nebula Logger. Jonathan is a proponent of open-source software for its many benefits, from community sourcing to expert knowledge and transparency. Frustrated with the limitations of proprietary software, Jonathan began experimenting with open-source as a more robust alternative. In my discussion with Jonathan, he fills us in on the reasons he has embraced open-source and why it can be helpful to other developers. He also discusses his current project, Nebula Logger, what led him to begin his work on it, and how it can be used to monitor and report logging data. Show Highlights: What led Jonathan to embrace open-source software The benefits of open-source software The origin story of Jonathan’s work on Nebula Logger How the rise of automation has impacted developers Links: Jonathan on Linkedin - https://linkedin.com/in/jongpie/ Jonathan on Github - https://github.com/jongpie/

James Simone is a Lead Software Engineer here at Salesforce. One of his great passions in life is open-source software. That is exactly what we will be talking about today. James was inspired to get into open-source software to help people share code in a more easily indexable, searchable format. This is even what led him to work here at Salesforce. In this episode, James teaches us how we can use open-source software, how to get into it, and some of the projects that he likes. Show Highlights: How James came to work for Salesforce. What extreme programming is and where it came from. Why enterprises should support open-source software. How second-generation packaging affected Salesforce projects. How to navigate licensing and fair use when working with open-source software. All about Nebula Logger and the logging problem it solves. What Apex Rollup is. How to get involved in Nebula Logger and/or Apex Rollup. Links: James on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrwordsmith James on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrwordsmith/ James on Github: https://github.com/jamessimone Joys Of Apex: https://jamessimone.net/blog/joys-of-apex/

Kevin Boyle is the CEO of Gearset. Today, I sit down to talk with him all about his journey of building out Gearset and developing it into what it is today. We also discuss DevOps in general throughout our conversation. Kevin’s life trajectory was mostly set from the moment he was first introduced to gaming and coding and was instantly hooked. He went on to do an internship with Microsoft which set his career in stone. Tune in to learn more about his history and what he’s doing now with Gearset. Show Highlights: What Kevin’s experience at Microsoft was like. How he went from that to working with DevOps. How Salesforce’s approach to metadata layers changed his thinking about DevOps. The pitfalls of an org-centric model. Qualities that make for a good DevOps practice. Common misconceptions around DevOps. When Kevin decided to start his own company and why. The importance of surrounding yourself with a great team of people as an entrepreneur. Links: Kevin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevfromireland?lang=en Kevin on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinfromireland/ Kevin on Github: https://github.com/kevfromireland

Drew Tauber is a Salesforce Engineer over at Clear. He is joining us today to discuss somewhat of a hot topic: burnout. Burnout is being talked about more and more in our society and brought to more and more people’s attention. We want to dedicate an entire episode to furthering the conversation on it. Throughout our discussion, Drew and I talk all about stress, burnout, and anxiety. We also discuss how these things can affect us in the workplace. Finally, we chat about what to do if you are experiencing burnout. Show Highlights: How Drew became a coder and got involved with Salesforce. His current role in the Salesforce community. The early signs of burnout. How the early pandemic contributed to Drew’s burnout. How burnout leads to an unhealthy work environment. The steps Drew took to recover from burnout. How he prioritized socializing and exercising in his recovery. What he does now to prevent burnout. Communication boundaries he’s implemented. Why he decided to start doing presentations on burnout and stress. Links: Drew on Twitter Drew on LinkedIn Drew on Github Drew on Trailblazer

Nico Pouilloux is a principal ISV technical evangelist here at Salesforce. He has worked for a variety of companies throughout his career but eventually came to realize that he wanted to work for a B2B software company. This brought him to Salesforce. In this episode, Nico and I discuss his work as an ISV technical evangelist. We also get into his advice for ISVs and the Business Builders program he has helped develop. Join us! Show Highlights: What Nico’s current role looks like. How he keeps up with all the latest developments. How he helps founders of new businesses get on the market. The evaluation process he goes through when founders bring in their ideas. A simple explanation of the Business Builders program. The communal features of Business Builders. Links: Nico on Twitter: https://twitter.com/npouillouxsf Nico on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/npouilloux/ Nico on Github: https://github.com/nicopollux

Daniel Peter is the Salesforce Practice Lead over at Robots & Pencils. Having had some incredible experiences throughout his life (including starting as a self-taught programmer, studying marketing in college, and taking some time mid-career to go on “sabbatical” and travel), Daniel brings a unique perspective to our show. In today’s conversation, Daniel and I talk all about his time in the Salesforce ecosystem and what his current job looks like. We also get into the weeds a bit with the Slack and Salesforce integration. Tune in to hear all of this and more. Show Highlights: Daniel’s history with computers. Why he decided to get a business degree and how it has benefited him. How he describes his current job. Why the designer role is so important. The benefits of Block Kit. How Slack can be used for more than communication. How the Slack and Salesforce integration can bring back some of the magic for developers. Daniel’s developer story with Slack. Slack integrations he has worked on and their use cases. Event structure in Slack. Links: Daniel on Twitter: https://twitter.com/danieljpeter Daniel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieljpeter/ Daniel on Github: https://github.com/danieljpeter

Paul McCollum is a Salesforce Technical Architect over at Accenture. Though he pursued various interests in college, he eventually came to pursue a degree in Computer Science. From there, he began his first job as a Unix programmer and then found his way into architecture. In this episode, we talk about just that: all things architecture. Paul shares some cool concepts with us regarding application design, UX, and big-picture architecture as well as what’s coming up for architecture in the future. Tune in to hear it all. Show Highlights: Paul’s long history with computers and architecture. How he discovered Salesforce. Why the overlap between user interface and big-picture architecture is important. The level of planning and documentation an application owner can do without a designer. The rising importance of technical designers. Architecture blind spots Paul sees on the horizon. A hack that allows flow to work with infinite records. How Paul started getting involved in the Salesforce community and his current role in it. Links: Paul on Twitter Paul on LinkedIn Dallas Developer Group

Cal Smith is a Senior Technical Architect and Associate Director for Cognizant. Cal has a long history with computers. He got his start in engineering school and has since done everything from animation to writing assistive software for the visually impaired. We discuss all of this (and more of Cal’s background) in our conversation today. Throughout this episode, Cal also gives us a great overview of Health Cloud. We talk about its development and one of the unsung heroes of the platform: Omniscript. Tune in to hear all of this and more. Show Highlights: How Cal got involved with Salesforce and creating communities. How he got started with Health Cloud. A typical use case for Health Cloud. What a validated machine means. How deletion of records is prevented within Health Cloud. What Omniscript is all about and what it does. Cal’s work and involvement with Dallas GiftForce. Links: Cal on Twitter: http://twttiter.com/CloudMech Cal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/Cloud-Mech/ Cal on Github: https://github.com/crmprogdev

Last week we began a two-part interview with Joe Stern, a consultant and program manager here at Salesforce. Joe is passionate about advocating for those with neurodiversity and has made it his goal to increase conversations about mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. We started our conversation last week learning about Joe’s journey after being diagnosed with ADHD at a young age and some of the challenges that have followed from this diagnosis. Now, he coordinates support for mental health in the workplace to help others process similar obstacles more effectively. In the second half of our interview, we’ll discuss some of the outlets that Joe has found helpful when taking care of his own mental health. From activities like networking on Animal Crossing, to creating Mental Health Matters resource groups at work, to finding a passion for roasting coffee, Joe has discovered that sometimes the simplest form of therapy is finding something that brings you joy and leaning into it. Show Highlights: Finding therapeutic relief for mental health in unlikely places How socializing with others from the workplace in ways that do not involve work can boost both group morale and individual happiness The importance of setting up workplace resources for mental health support Why it is so important to find a hobby you love and stick with it Links: Joe on Twitter twitter.com/mrjoesterne Joe on LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/jamesjosephsterne Joe on Github https://github.com/joesterne

Joe Stern is a consultant and program manager here at Salesforce. Though he has many interests—outdoor camping and shoe drops to start—Joe’s passion lies in being an advocate for those with neurodiversity. As someone diagnosed with ADHD at an early age, Joe has grown to appreciate the importance of addressing the impact that mental health can have on one’s ability to function successfully both in and out of the workplace. Now, he coordinates support for mental health in the workplace for others. In the first part of this two-part episode, we begin our discussion with Joe about his path to becoming a developer and how neurodiversity has affected the trajectory of his life. We also discuss some of the trials he’s faced in the workforce and how getting therapeutic support for his mental health has positively impacted both his performance at work as well as his other various hobbies and responsibilities. Show Highlights: How to define neurodiversity Where to find a community and resources for those that identify with neurodivergence Challenges of learning how ADHD can impact your work life Warning signs that mental health is negatively impacting your work life Benefits of finding treatment or help for mental health issues Links: Joe on Twitter twitter.com/mrjoesterne Joe on LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/jamesjosephsterne Joe on Github https://github.com/joesterne

Meighan Brodkey is a Director of Technical Architecture at Vorys. With a background in language and religious studies, she had a fairly smooth transition over to coding. She saw it as the technical version of translating numbers and letters. Today, she not only works in technical architecture but is also heavily involved in the Salesforce community. She works a lot with other women in tech and within the Ohana Slack workspace. She is joining us on the show today to talk about all of these things, Slack integrations, and what she does in her current role. Show Highlights: Meighan’s college journey and first coding experiences. How she got involved with Salesforce and became an architect. Her passion for connecting people. The various communities she is involved with. What got her into Slack and the work she’s done with Slack integrations. The basic structure of Slack apps. What the block kit builder is. A quick overview of GDPR. Links: Meighan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/meighansf Meighan on LinkedIn: https://Linkedin.com/in/meighanbrodkey Meighan on Github: https://Github.com/meighan Meighan's blog: https://meighanrockssf.com Join Ohana Slack: https://join.slack.com/t/salesforceohana/shared_invite/zt-1atj9vqqu-tJvNMMzizu9ZvQ5YQPK0bw

If you joined us last week, you met Ian Varley. Ian is a Principal Architect here at Salesforce who has extensive experience with Salesforce CRM and multi-tenant architecture. He also comes from a musical background which has helped him develop his coding skills. Last week, you heard part one of our conversation on Salesforce architecture. We split our discussion up so you could listen to it in full. Today in part two we talk all about metadata and why it is so important. We also get into one of Ian’s favorite topics - cognitive bias in technology. Tune in to finish the extended version of my discussion with Ian Varley. Show Highlights: The value of deeper semantic integrations of data. How meta-databases physically work. How unique IDs are generated. What an instance is. Why some IDs are 15 characters and some are 18. Why awareness of cognitive bias is important. The software Salesforce created to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Links: Ian on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thefutureian Ian on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianvarley/ Brains Considered Harmful: http://bit.ly/brains-considered-harmful