Louise Lockie's Letters from London

Let's start with a question. Why do we take Salesforce certifications? To get that job which requires a certified candidate? To add to the number of certifications your partner employer holds? To prove to your peers and bosses that you are the subject matter expert? Because everyone seems to be doing it these days? Who doesn't love a good exam? I believe the best reason to take a Salesforce certified exam is to prove to yourself that you are an expert in your field, that you aren't 'winging' it. In short, to silence your inner critic . The London Women in Tech user group, which I lead with Jodi and Freya , kicked off 2018 with an event entitled Changing Our Relationship with the Crazy Lady Inside . It was led by Nic Conway and Danielle MacLeod of Somebody Inside , who helped the 70+ strong audience identify and control the 'crazy lady inside', their name for the internal voice which questions our abilities and can fill us with self-doubt. ...

My last post of 2017 was all about the importance of setting ourselves goals. If you missed it please check it out here . The final paragraph was entitled Take Time to Look Back and Celebrate Successes , so I am now taking my own advice and publishing (and celebrating) my 2017 highlights. Though 2017 has sped past at Lightning speed (do you see what I did there?), when I cast my mind back to the beginning of the year, it seems like an absolute age ago. So much has changed, yet so very much has stayed the same. However, each month there was something to celebrate: January saw me make the trip to Leicester to speak at the User Group there. It was the first time I had attended a user group outside of London (where we have 8), and it was a great experience to see how other groups are arranged. I sat on a panel as well as delivered a presentation on end-user training. I was also thrilled to be featured on the Salesforce Admins' website in their Admin Stories series here . I ...

I've blinked and another year is over. I know I am not alone in feeling this way but I just don't know where the time goes! Which also forms a handy excuse for not achieving all you had hoped to accomplish in the past year. Blaming being busy and the time flying by is instinctive, but just a short moment of self reflection is enough to remind you that excuses are easy to make, but are not going to fill you with purpose and pride. Now I am not saying my 2017 hasn't been successful, I have achieved a huge amount this year and I am proud of all of it. Sometimes, however, that can be an issue in itself, it is tempting to be content with the levels you have reached, and not push yourself that bit further. Which is why I am setting my goals for 2018, and why you should too. I'm mapping out what a successful 2018 will look like for me, and planning the steps I need to take to meet these goals over the next 365 days. The Importance of Goal Setting In the recent pa...

With the demand for Salesforce professionals at an all time high, it has never been more important to highlight the different routes we have all taken into the industry and what has helped us on our way. For those of us that have found ourselves on this journey, whether as 'Accidental Admins', as part of a strategic career path, or from somewhere in between, we can testify to what a great and rewarding career choice Salesforce Administration can be. However, a lot of people don't believe that they have what it takes to move into a 'technical' role and so I hope that the story of my journey provides another example of a route into the world of #Awesome Admin. Salesforce Administrator is a great and rewarding career choice which comes with a fully formed support network in its global community. At the time Salesforce entered my life I had been working at a b2b publishing company in the city of London for 13 years. Having graduated from University in the ...

Picture the scene, it was an average Tuesday morning on the last day of February. I was up slightly earlier than normal as I was traveling to our Birmingham office. I was nearly ready to kiss my still sleeping husband goodbye and leave the house when I picked up my phone and quickly scanned my notifications. What's that? Received at 3am from one Holly Firestone with a subject line of Congratulations ! My finger has never moved so fast, open open open email now. Ohhhh Myyyyy..... cue a rather loud scream as I ran into the bedroom to tell my now very alarmed husband that I wasn't being murdered but was instead an MVP. A Salesforce MVP. A most valuable professional in the Salesforce ecosystem. Me. Mind blown. I did what I later found out several of my fellow Winter 17 class did, which was to reply to check that Holly wasn't channelling Warren Beatty in opening the wrong envelope... I then had 9 hours before the award was made public. How would I last that time ...

I don't think that it will seem terribly controversial for me to state that 2016 has been a crappy year. The last 365 days has seen some rubbish things happen, not just politically (in my opinion) on both sides of the Atlantic but it has also been a year which has seen more shared loss than usual. Those in the public eye taken from us too soon aside, I know I am not alone in having experienced personal bereavement this year. BUT as I always try to focus on the positives, to keep my glass half full 🍷, I can't help but look back at this disparaged year with rather a LOT of fondness. So, what's to love? Having been part of the London UG community since the London Admin User Group was established in Autumn '14. 2016 was really the year I switched from consuming content and wisdom from the leaders in our groups, to trying to impart some knowledge of my own, to give back to the community which had supported me so thanklessly. When I now reflect on the year passed, these...

I've got one of those r0und birthdays coming up. I am 40 in May. Now, I am OK with that, I know that 40 isn't old, I am not worried about my own mortality, that comes to us all and, if related to age, then we are one of the lucky ones. It is just that as soon as we ticked over into 2016 and the phrase  I am 40 next year  entered my inner monologue, I have been in a state of evaluation. As I say, this isn't about age and death, but about landmarks and measuring myself against my own expectations.  Now that I am approaching it I don't feel that 40 is at all old but when I left university and entered the workforce in 1999,  where did I expect to be come 2017 ? I've always been keen to move up the ranks and progress at work but more from a point of being ready to take on a new challenge, having mastered the last one, as opposed to outright ambition. In my company I have had a number of long-term colleagues who are the same age as me, against whom I have been ...