Destination Success

Salesforce University hosted the first Destination Success DST16 earlier this month and I was very fortunate to get approval to attend. There's something to be said for having the opportunity to be surrounded by like-minded individuals that are eager to learn and advance their careers through certification.

THE GOOD

DST16 included a full week of training, a comprehensive list of pre-work and four opportunities to obtain certification. What wasn't hyped in the agenda, but was equally important, were the many opportunities to connect with other attendees that all had the same goal. No matter what drove you to register, everyone there was at the conference to learn.

There is something very powerful in gathering a group together that all are working toward a common goal. It wasn't out of the question to hear people talking about the difference between Customizable and Collaborative Forecasts over a drink and some appetizers!

I think the mix of attendees also allowed the veterans in the group to share some insight into best practices for studying and contribute to the Circles of Success meetings. In trying to help someone out, I learned that if you have products scheduled, you can't change the quantity on an Opportunity. Without DST16, that question wouldn't have come up and I wouldn't have researched the answer.

Coming together for the lunch and evening events were a great opportunity to network and get to know people from other tracks. The sponsors of the event also did a great job of providing delicious food and some entertainment during the week to lighten the mood and give attendees a chance to have a little fun.

Full access to the aquarium and Maui Jim sunglasses were a wonderful benefit.

The Xede (& Cirrus Insight) happy hour provided a spectacular view of Vegas at night, while toasting in the Sky Fall Lounge.

Getting access to all of the track materials before the conference was of tremendous value! First, I could not have retained as much knowledge during my sessions if I hadn't already read about the basic components to a class, trigger and test class. Second, I felt like the overall value of the conference registration was a decent price given that you could access materials in other tracks. I'm currently targeting Marketing certification and it is wonderful to have some structured guidance on what I should be studying. Consider the cost of a typical Salesforce week-long course and this conference is a bargain!

THE BAD

I did feel very badly for some Admins that were not able to pass the certification exam and were then excluded from the Swag Store. I agree that you should have certification if you're wearing a shirt that says "CERTIFIED' in large letters across the front, but would have been great to at least provide access to the Salesforce University shirt (considering many had diligently done the pre-work and tried their best).

I'd vote to be more inclusive next time! I think some were feeling pretty exhausted after all-day sessions and all-night studying. An Astro doll or a mug would go a long way to put a smile on someone's face at future events.

THE UGLY

There was some serious ugly at DST16, BUT I would say that the responsibility does not fall on the shoulders of the SF University team, but on the venue. Wi-Fi issues and a range of temperatures in the training rooms created a somewhat difficult environment to learn. When you're sweating one moment and then shivering the next, it's difficult to follow what a custom controller is and how it's applied in Salesforce.

The issues culminated in a failed last day of certification exams. After several attempts and groups booted out of the system, the team finally had to give up and hand out vouchers. I was about half-way through the Marketing Social Cert exam, so it was frustrating to not be able to finish. The silver lining was getting exposure to the style and types of questions that are asked on the exam. Definitely not something I would pin on SF, but I could absolutely understand the frustration of many that stayed up all night studying instead of heading off to a Cirque show or down to the gambling floor while in Vegas.

WHY YOU SHOULD GO

Dreamforce is just too big! While trying to understand Apex, I need to be immersed in the content and only that content. I struggled with trying to study for the Sales Cloud Exam AND work through Platform Dev I material leading up to DST16. It became so overwhelming that I took the Sales Cloud Cert exam on the Saturday before the conference just to pass it and clear my mind of all things Admin-related. I think that really helped me to be open to the Apex content throughout the week. During Dreamforce, I'm trying to do everything and be everywhere. I think that sensory overload is just not conducive to me following and digesting code blocks, Destination Success was a much better fit.

DST16 also offered the opportunity to be strategic about your certification and career goals. If you were studying for Adv Admin, I would encourage you to take the App Builder and Sales Cloud cert during the same week. All of the material you covered in Adv Admin is similar to the other cert content. It also doesn't hurt that a retake is only $100 instead of the initial $200. That makes the process cheaper for those that need to pay out of pocket for certification exams on the off-chance that you don't pass the first time around.

One of the biggest surprises for me at DST16 was the aptitude of those in the sessions. My class was able to ask and formulate questions that I had, but didn't know how to express. The course was really planned around building a foundation of code learning that we added to each day. My hope is that continued exposure to the material will allow for everything to start falling into place when I'm creating Apex triggers.

YOUR CHANCE

Take a roll of the dice and ask to attend DST17. If you don't put the request out there, you won't know if you can get approval to attend. There's something to be said for taking a risk and putting yourself out there to fail.

You don't know until you've tried and there's no reason to be upset by not making it your first turn. As a User Group Leader, I've had many approach me throughout the years that were upset about not passing a cert exam. Just remember this: