Behind the Certs – Vishal Gupta

SG – Let’s get started. Why don’t we start from the beginning? Please tell us about your education/ career before coming into the Salesforce ecosystem.

VG – Before coming to the Salesforce ecosystem, I pursued a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science. Post that, I joined my first company as a Software Engineer where I got training in manual and automation testing. In my early career, I acquired knowledge about the testing lifecycle and different testing tools. I got a chance to work in a COE team where I worked on a small proof of concepts on Salesforce. This piqued my interest in Salesforce and a drive to learn/ explore opportunities in it.

SG – That’s awesome. We’d love to know the tipping point, that moment when you said ‘I want to make this change’ and what was the trigger?

VG – I was never a fan of testing and always wanted to move to development and architecture roles. After certain organizational challenges and a bit of a struggle, I got into a development role and never looked back. After getting into development projects, I worked on upskilling myself rapidly and utilizing the opportunity to the fullest. I invested time to learn Salesforce and worked across multiple projects which involved integration, apex, visualforce, configuration issues, etc. I also got exposure in handling C-suite customers and giving project demos to a wider audience. I also mastered development methodologies, built a consulting thought process, learned to manage teams and support junior associates to grow.

SG – You achieved many certs along the way. Can you share three things with us,

1. why you value certs
2. challenges associated with the process and,
3. your top tips for being successful in cert exams?

VG –

1. Certs are very important for your career as it provides recognition & credibility of your skills in the Salesforce ecosystem, organization and to the recruiters.

   2 – To achieve certs you need to have a good preparation strategy along with a collection of quality study references. Obviously, industry experience would help you to prepare yourself better.

   3 – Read the questions properly, get real project experience, make good connections in the Salesforce ecosystem, participate in salesforce webinars, and have the curiosity to learn more.

SG – What do you enjoy most about your work as a certified Salesforce professional?

VG – As a certified professional, customers trust you for providing world-class solutions. This gives an opportunity to help businesses in their transformation. I got multiple opportunities to work as an Architect in transforming customer business for different domains like Airlines, Life Science, and  Manufacturing where I worked with their product teams to implement scalable solutions in Salesforce, integrated with third-party apps to provide outstanding customer experience. I was also lucky to be part of a few product innovations which helped to reduce turnaround time for case closure, increase customer satisfaction and many more.

SG – Time for gratitude!! Finally, is there anyone (individual or company) you would like to take this opportunity to thank for their role in helping you along your journey? If Yes, what was their role in your success?

VG – I would like to thank TCS for all the opportunities they have provided in shaping up my career. I would like to especially thank a few of my managers –  Kunal Bhagat, Vaibhav Chitaley, Sudhir Chauhan, Chetan Srivastava, and Amar Gupta. My friends Mohit, Aakash, Vaibhav, Dushyant, Vijayendra, Rajat, Tarun, Himanshu, and many more from who I have learnt a lot and who have been constant sources of encouragement.