Talent Hub Talk

Afreen Khan on the importance of strong personal and professional support systems on your CTA journey

In today's episode, we are delighted to be joined by Afreen Khan, a Salesforce CTA and Senior Manager with Accenture.

Afreen explains why she decided to study Engineering and how she positioned herself to land a Java role when she joined her first company.

Afreen talks about her experience of moving to Australia and struggling to find a Java role, which lead her to explore the Salesforce ecosystem. She explains what she first thought of the Salesforce platform and how she hoped her career would evolve after making the switch.

Having spent her career working in consulting, Afreen gives insight into how this has helped her grow and develop her skill set and explains why she decided to pursue the CTA as a goal.

Finally, Afreen shares what she learnt from the CTA journey, who she feels makes the real sacrifice, some of the best advice she was given and what it meant to her to find out that she has passed.

We hope that you enjoy the episode.

Gregory Gifford on his Marketing Cloud journey and the power of the Salesforce community

In today's episode, we are delighted to be joined by Gregory Gifford, a Salesforce MVP and the author of Automating Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

We explore Greg's early career aspirations, how he was first exposed to Marketing technology and how he has seen marketing automation evolve over the years.

Greg talks about his initial experience with ExactTarget, how the platform has expanded since the Salesforce acquisition and when he first acknowledged the power of the Salesforce community.

We look at the differences between working client and agency side, as well as discuss the skills that are required in a Salesforce Marketing Cloud team.

Finally, Greg shares some advice for anyone on the periphery of the Salesforce ecosystem and explains who will find value in his book.

For any other enquiries, you can connect with Greg on his Linkedin page. 

We hope you enjoy the episode.

Christian Andrada on his journey from Java Developer to Salesforce CTA

In today's episode, we are delighted to be joined by Christian Andrada. Christian is a Salesforce CTA and the Head of Salesforce Advisory Services for CloudGaia in Barcelona.

Christian started his career as a Java Developer, so we explore what attracted him to the Salesforce space, what experience he could lean on to make the transition and what he needed to learn.

Christian has been with CloudGaia for over 6 years, so we discuss why he has stayed and how he has benefited from the consistency of working for one partner. Over the years Christian has performed several roles so we unpick his journey, including understanding the differences between a Solution Architect and a Technical Architect role.

Finally, Christian talks us through his Salesforce CTA journey. What got him started, what it was like preparing with a newborn baby, advice for the review board and what it meant for him to pass and fulfil such a significant achievement while putting South America on the map.

If you have any questions you want to ask you can connect with Christian on his Linkedin page.

We hope that you enjoy the episode!

Wyan Carter on combining his passion for Not for Profits and Salesforce

In today's episode, we are delighted to be joined by Wyan Carter, the Founder of Salesforce Mentor and a Leader of the Melbourne Nonprofit User Group.

Wyan is passionate about both Not for Profits and Salesforce, so we explore which passion came first and how he has been able to build a career combining the two.

Wyan has worked for large and small Not for Profits, for Salesforce Consulting partners and now runs Salesforce Mentors, so he gives some insight into what makes the NFP space so unique, complex and rewarding. We discuss tips for success when starting a Salesforce project, the Salesforce products that are often used by NFP's and Wyan shares some insight into why he started his own business and decided on the model that he did.

I think Wyan is offering a unique service to NFP's and I really think he can add significant value, on terms that work well for companies in this space.

You can find out more about Salesforce Mentor here and connect with Wyan on his  Linkedin page.

Pradeep Indiresh on pivoting his career to become a Salesforce CTA

In today's episode, we are delighted to be joined by Pradeep Indiresh, an Associate Partner with IBM and a Salesforce CTA.

Pradeep started his career with Siebel but transitioned into Delivery and Engagement Management roles over time. He had exposure to Salesforce from a Delivery Management experience, but had not worked in a hands-on Salesforce role, nor had he worked as a Salesforce Architect when he decided he wanted to be a CTA.

Pradeep talks us through his reasons for pursuing the CTA journey and how the journey played out.

You can connect with Pradeep on his Linkedin page.

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Mitesh Mistry on the importance of having the right Salesforce Architect on a project, and what he looks for in aspiring Architects

In today's episode, we are delighted to be joined by Mitesh Mistry, a Salesforce CTA and the CTO for VRP Consulting.

Mitesh has worked with Salesforce for around 14 years and has worked for large and small Salesforce partners, as well as directly with Salesforce for 3 years. He shares some insight into the different types of Salesforce Architect roles he has held, how working for Salesforce compares to working for a partner and why it is so important that a project has the right Architect.

Mitesh talks about the CTA credential, how it is viewed in the market and what it has meant for him. He explains what he currently does as a CTO, what he looks for in others who may be eager to progress to Architect, and why he chose to join VRP.

You can connect with Mitesh on his Linkedin page and find out more about his Salesforce journey.

We hope that you enjoy the episode!

Suraj Sreekumar on helping customers succeed and giving back to aspiring Trailblazers

In today's episode, we are delighted to be joined by Suraj Sreekumar, a Senior Success Architect with Salesforce, specialising in Revenue Cloud.

Suraj shares details on his early career and how his Salesforce journey started. We then explore the different hats he has worn and how being open to taking on different roles and responsibilities has been beneficial for his career.

Having spent many years working for Salesforce partners, Suraj talks about his knowledge of the partner ecosystem and gives some insight on what he feels makes a great Consultant. Suraj also details how and why he came to focus on CPQ.

Suraj has been working for Salesforce for almost a year, so he explains what his role is, shares some insight into the Customer Success team and explains why he has taken on the responsibility of being a Trailblazer Guide and why he is passionate about mentoring aspiring Trailblazers.

If you have more questions or if you want to connect with Suraj, you can contact him on Linkedin

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Poonam Keswani on her journey to Salesforce CTA and sharing her success with loved ones

In today's episode, we are joined by Poonam Keswani, a Salesforce CTA and Senior Manager for Accenture.

Poonam recently became the first non-Salesforce employee to become a Salesforce CTA in India. We unpack her career, how she has progressed at different stages and look at the impact COVID has had on how the onshore/offshore model is viewed.

Poonam talks us through how she first became interested in pursuing the CTA, who inspired her and how she explained the challenge and commitment required to her family. Poonam shares how it felt to receive the results and how her loved ones reacted to the news that she had passed.

You can find out more about Poonam on her Linkedin page.

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Ram Babu Singh on the importance of being out of your comfort zone and the value of engaging with the Salesforce community

In today's episode, we are joined by Ram Babu Singh, a Salesforce CTA and Associate Director for Accenture UK.

Through the episode we explore Ram's early interest in Engineering, whether he saw it as a long term career and how he got started in the Salesforce ecosystem. Ram talks us through the early days as a Salesforce Developer and how on site opportunity in the Netherlands really enabled him to enhance his engineering skill set.

Ram has progressed from Developer to Tech Lead and Technical Architect, so he shares some of the steps he took to improve and grow along the way. He talks about the importance of being out of your comfort zone and asking for feedback, aswell as discusses how he manages stress and burnout.

Finally Ram talks about his journey to CTA, how it played out and the lessons he learnt through the process, plus shares how valuable he found the Salesforce community and different groups that helped him achieve his goal.

You can connect with Ram on Linkedin and also find out more about the CTA Gang of Four here.

Nageen Hussain on her journey to cross cloud Architect

In today's episode, I am joined by Nageen Hussain, an experienced cross-cloud Salesforce Architect based in Brisbane.

We discuss what Nageen had initially wanted to do as a career, what first attracted her into the Salesforce ecosystem and why the company she first worked for was such a great environment and learning ground for numerous high-performing Salesforce professionals today.

Nageen shares some insight into the Salesforce market in Australia when she first emigrated, and how some of her previous training had prepared her for the onsite model.

Having started as a core Salesforce consultant, Nageen has upskilled and now works as a cross-cloud Architect, so we explore how and why she learnt Marketing Cloud and discuss the current barriers that may prevent others from doing the same.

Nageen has worked in large and small consulting firms as well as directly for the customer, so she shares some insight into the benefit of each environment. Finally, Nageen shares some exciting career news and talks about the studying she is doing and how it will help in her Salesforce role.

If you want to reach out to Nageen you can connect with her on Linkedin.