Salesforce provides many avenues that enable you to advance your knowledge of the Salesforce.com platform. From tips/advice from your fellow users in the success community, the ever popular Trailhead, to study guides and exams. Then there is Salesforce University – a facility that provides training and certification for everyone.
With the latter in mind and a thirst to gain extra knowledge about administering the Salesforce platform, I decided to book myself a seat in the class led training program for the ADM-211 Administration Essentials for Experienced Admins with Salesforce University.
This blog attempts to provide an honest account of some of the reasons why you should/not attend a training course, my recommended prerequisite for attending the class and what you should do next.
What I liked
Let’s start off with the good points about the ADM-211 training course.
Nothing makes learning more memorable that a good tutor. That’s why I have to take my Christmas hat off to the course trainer; knowledgeable, encouraging, funny – Rob Goodman. Just a few praises to a tutor who certainly gave me more insight into the platform than what I knew at the start of the course. Not only that but he made the learning process fun too!
Second to having a good tutor is the ability to converse with your fellow classroom students. Not only does the course open up face-to-face discussion, but you also have an opportunity to learn from a greater number of people rather than just the one – the tutor; Unless you are the only one signed up to the class ;). This proved invaluable, especially when the tutor wasn’t 100% sure about a specific question.
Thirdly, there is the great training material that Salesforce University provides all students. Taking away the fact that our particular material was two days late, when it did arrive, it was thorough, interactive and informative. I found that by having the material to go through with the tutor, it took away the distraction of making dupe notes and gave me the ability to document key points that might not have necessarily been specified in the training material. They will also serve as a great reference in the future.
What I didn’t like so much
Ok so while the pros outweigh the cons, there are a few teeny points I would like to nitpick at.
The first issue that I found was that some of the more dense topics such as Flows, did feel rather rushed – no fault of the tutor as I am sure he had a strict agenda to go by in order to fit in all the topic. However, more time to discuss the capabilities/go through difference scenarios of the more challenging features would have been beneficial. Having said that, do not be afraid to ask for more time/information regarding topics that need more brain power than others.
Ok so the second point is all about the price. At nearly the same price as a term (not a full term) at University in the UK, I believe that the course needs to be longer and more detailed. Taking into consideration that some people take the course during work time, maybe adding extra online classes (included in the price) for the same course would be beneficial. Questioning how much time you think you may need to learn the essentials of advanced administration in the Salesforce org? Well if it’s recommended 6 months admin experience to know the basics, then I would personally say more than a week :).
Prerequisite
It is recommended that before taking the Admin Essential course that you should have at 6 months admin experience, very similar to the recommendations for the ADM- 201 exam. However, some use the course as an intro to being a Salesforce Admin and a track to completing the ADM-201 and ADM-211 exams. Clever clogs you may be, but personally I would say complete the ADM-201 exam and use the advanced admin course as a stepping stone towards your ADM-211 exam. Having said that, the Advanced Admin Essentials course is NOT considered a fast track to the ADM-211 exam, though of course it does help. I found that there were quite a few people who questioned why some of the topics documented in the ADM-211 study guide were not covered in the course. My advice would be to read this short document before you book the training course.
What is next?
Take advantage of the 30 day trial you have on the demo org that was used throughout the training. Read through the training material, go through the exercises and if you want to take on the ADM-211, identify the topics that were not discussed and learn those – then BOOK BOOK BOOK.
Good luck.
See you next week.
Jenny