People Spotlight : Anthony

Meet Anthony

What’s your background?

I studied Anthropology and minored in Middle Eastern Studies and Studio Art. I did a lot of sculpture work in my undergraduate. My 20’s were an interesting time, but it also helped me find my passion in development. While working in marketing, I became close friends with one of my clients. We would talk about things we wanted to do as a new business or other interesting ideas for the marketplace. He had just come from a meet up with a development bootcamp, and he suggested I check it out. Well, I checked it out, signed up for one, and then I was hooked.

What do you do at MRE?

I am a Salesforce Consultant and Developer. I do front-end and back-end development for Salesforce. That includes third party integrations and custom app development. There’s a lot of creativity when creating a new application and a lot of freedom in terms of how you can approach an issue and different ways to achieve a goal for the client. The creativity part is what’s exciting. With Salesforce, there are a lot of options, but when it comes to finding the most flexible and robust solution for the client, that is where the fun begins.

It’s not always a question of efficiency. People have different expressions and styles in code, that’s where the creativity comes in. It’s interesting to see what other people can do to tackle the same issues or requests. Most recently we implemented the D3 JS library to graphically represent Salesforce data for a client. With the library, we were able to show the network between accounts and contacts allowing users a bird’s eye view of their reaching power when engaging their accounts.

What skills does someone need to be successful in the role that you’re in?

A willingness to learn. One of the great things about the Salesforce platform is that there are consistent upgrades. That means Salesforce users are always receiving new functionality. For us Admins and Developers, that means always being on your toes. Each new feature or bit of functionality offers a new way to solve an issue. Understanding those features allows you to approach any number of issues, resulting in a solution that is best for the client.

What advice can you give to someone just starting their career in Salesforce?

Start with Trailheads. They are tailored learning modules for Salesforce that guide users through all sorts of topics. Browsing through the various trailhead modules can be overwhelming at first but they all help you improve your knowledge of Salesforce. What I found most helpful was starting with modules for the Salesforce Administrator Certification. The certification is typically used as the baseline for which an individual seeking to start a career in Salesforce should know. Once you get started, you will find more and more interesting Trailheads that will keep you busy.

Geek-out time, what’s most interesting Salesforce feature/function to you?

I like Flows a lot because you don’t have to be a developer to create a Flow which enables you to automate complex business processes. When you’re creating a Flow, you’re thinking like a Developer, but you don’t know it. You’re creating sequences of events or determining how data should be transformed by running some action. You’re doing what a developer does, but in a visual way. You’re taking data from a record, modifying it, creating if statements. I like that part of Salesforce; it bridges the gap between a developer and someone who is not a developer.

What’s your favorite thing about working at MRE?