Should you attend 'Expert-Led Classes' from Salesforce?

TARGET AUDIENCE: Anyone interested in attending Salesforce’s expert-led classes

READING TIME: 4 min

How My Life Changed When I Met …

After a chance encounter with Salesforce in early 2016 my view of the world changed! I realized that for 31 years I have been seeing the world in just plain black and white. Now, I saw the world in 3D and color. “Why has no one told me Salesforce before”, I thought to myself many times.

I decided to switch my career and become a Salesforce professional despite having no IT background. I jumped into high-gear Salesforce learning mode. I had no mentor to guide me on the effective learning path.

I was just using my intuition, lots of trial and error, and round-the-clock studying and learning from the internet, reading blogs, and watching YouTube videos. Trailhead existed at the time, but it had limited modules (or maybe I did not know how to use it because I did not have a mentor).

At that time I was working as a consultant at a health insurance firm. I contacted the director of the Salesforce department at CareFirst and asked to join them. They valued my perseverance in learning Salesforce and the fact that on my own I was able to obtain 3 Salesforce certifications (at that time certificates were far less pervasive than today). On January 1, 2017, I officially started as a Salesforce developer.

How I Attended My 1st Expert-Led Classes

Being a Salesforce Developer was my first experience as an IT professional, and I felt special pretty quickly because they sent me on an official Salesforce training. I was flattered that they spent $4,500 for my training. Never before in my life had a company paid so much for my learning. This validated my belief that learning Salesforce was the right decision. The Platform Developer 1 training took place in April 2017.

What are Expert-Led Classes?

Salesforce offers a wide range of expert-led classes through its Trailhead Academy (see screenshot above). These classes cover various aspects of Salesforce, from admin and developer training to specialized skills like Financial Services Cloud and Health Cloud. The courses are typically:

1. online or virtual
2. 5 days long
3. 9 am - 5 pm
4. $4,500 (see screenshot below)

The instructors are highly respected Salesforce professionals who are certified Salesforce instructors (yes, they pass special screening to be allowed to teach). There is no full list of all the certified instructors but here are a few to show you their fine caliber:

• Andres Perez
• Brian Richardson
• Kevin Corcoran

But is investing 5 days and $4,500 in expert-led classes with fine instructors a great investment?

Who is Paying for the Classes?

If I was going to use my own $4,500 for an expert-led class, then it is NOT the best possible use of my time and money. Here are the key problems with expert-led classes:

• OVERWHELMING: Since classes run from 9 am-5 pm over 5 days I clearly remember that I was counting the days till the last class by Wednesday noon. 7 hours of instruction per day is too much. My brain was fried! There was just too much information too fast! Despite my enthusiasm to learn Salesforce, I could not keep up. Other students were also overwhelmed, and hardly anyone could follow along.

• LECTURE STYLE INSTRUCTION: The classrooms where the expert-led classes take place have a traditional desk setup (similar to the image below). This type of desk setup is suited for lectures (monologues) and not discussions (dialogues). So there is a lack of discussion, teamwork and fun (i.e. Kahoot) in the learning.

• NOT FOR CAREER CHANGERS: Expert-led classes are not suited for career changers. In 2017 I was new to Salesforce and had no IT background. I had a tremendously hard time following along. Most of the other students had programming backgrounds; therefore, if you are like them, the classes could be good for you.
• TOO EXPENSIVE: Instead of spending $4,500 I would rather invest in several awesome $15 Udemy courses. The material is excellent, and you can watch and re-watch at your own pace. For personal tutoring, you can hire Apex developers from India or Pakistan on Upwork for $30/hr. Overall, if you have experience at a professional services company, are self-disciplined, and have great communication skills in English you can learn Salesforce for $95, as outlined in this article.

When it is worth it to attend expert-led classes

If your employer is paying the $4,500 and giving you time to attend the classes, it is 100% worth it. Use it as a time to get familiar with Salesforce, enjoy your time away from work and meet new people.

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