Gaining real-world experience when you don't work for a company that uses Salesforce is a challenge. The free Developer account is a great start (I have three) but as many others have pointed out it doesn't allow us to perform many tasks that require a "real" account, so some experience is just not attainable from the outside "looking in".
After reviewing the Salesforce Pro Bono page (where some have referred us newbies) I got the feeling they were looking for experienced Administrators and Developers who are willing to do pro-bono work for deserving non-profits. I'm not inclined to think this represents an opportunity to learn as they do not appear to be looking for new or inexperienced volunteers at this time.
- Does anyone have any actual experience with this resource? (link is below)
- Does anyone know if they have a place for relatively new Salesforce admins / devs that would allow us to contribute while also getting valuable hands-on experience in a learning environment?
- Salesforce Pro Bono page
To readers that are still pursuing your first certification, the blog you are viewing has lots of Salesforce learning resources (links) and I hope one day to add another section that lists non-profits (with real projects) that are willing to entertain the idea of having someone who is still learning join their team as a junior admin or developer providing support for their Salesforce.com users. My goal is to identify volunteering opportunities that make it possible for both non-profits and volunteers to benefit from the shared experience. Volunteers gain a sense of satisfaction from contributing to deserving organizations and they also learn valuable skills first-hand through solving real-world business challenges. The non-profit benefits from having access to the business and technical skills the volunteer offers, contributing to the future success of the non-profit.
Would such a resource be of interest to you?
Most likely these would be volunteer positions and I'm assuming there would also be an existing expert (either an employee or a consultant, or perhaps another volunteer) available to assist with assigning basic but progressively more complex tasks to the "new person" such that they can learn while still being productive.
I would really appreciate your comments & suggestions and also encourage contact from anyone that is interested in participating either by helping track down those elusive "real-world" learning opportunities or serving as a volunteer for a non-profit that needs our help once they have been identified.
Thanks for reading!
John