Success Story of : Sharif Shaalan

Welcome to my 2nd Salesforce Success Story series. This series is focused on success story and to inspire/encourage new user/Developer. And why we should join our local Salesforce Developer/User group.

1) Your Job Title

Technical Architect Manager, roundCorner

2) Your success Story   
 

Sharif :- I have a sales background and had always been in sales positions as a top seller in the companies I worked for.  This is where I was first introduced to Salesforce, as a user at a few of the companies I worked for.  In 2007 I found myself doing inside cold calling sales and using Salesforce once again.  I was promoted to Sales trainer in order to train the new hires in the methods that I used to become a top seller.  On my first day off of the phones as the trainer the Salesforce Admin for the company quit.  The CEO called me into the office and said, “you are now the Salesforce admin too”.  “Sure” I responded and that day my Journey really started. I spent the next two years learning Salesforce the best way in my opinion, hands on!  I wore many hats as I became the CEO’s right hand man and helped expand the team from 12 reps to over 100 reps increasing revenue from inside sales exponentially.  In 2009 the company sent me to Dreamforce, and that is when I realized the true potential of the platform.  I signed up for as many hands on sessions as possible and came back with a ton of quick wins for the team.   The best thing that came out of that visit was my introduction to certifications.  I spent the next few months after Dreamforce studying for my Admin Cert and passed my exam early 2010.
As soon as I added “Certified Salesforce Admin” to my LinkedIn profile I was bombarded with job and contracting offers in the NYC area.  With a few good contracting offers I decided to start my own consulting company, Agile Cloud Consulting LLC.  I had a talk with the CEO of the company I worked for and he agreed to become a client rather than me leaving altogether.  I spent the rest of 2010 with a lot of work and my company was doing very well.
In early 2011 one of my clients was roundCorner.  I contracted with roundCorner as one of my clients until late 2011 when they gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse to come on as a Principal Consultant.  I am still with roundCorner and am now a Technical Architect Manager at the company.  Along the way I was a product manager and now have 7 Certifications.  I am also a 4x Salesforce MVP. ( Amit:- your story is really motivating )

3) Why we Should Join a Salesforce User/Developer Group

Sharif :- Joining a user group allows you to stay up to date on the latest and greatest salesforce has to offer as well as meeting peers in your geographical region. (Amit:- That true , User group is one of the best place where we can know about latest release or feature )

4) Advice for new Salesforce Developer

Sharif :- Go through the trailhead modules! even if you're coding you need to be sharp on the declarative side to implement best practices. ( Amit:- Day by day i am become a fan of TraillHead. Now learning in salesforce to much easy as compare to our time )

5) Trailhead badges 

Sharif :- I have 13 badges, i've been slacking : ) ( Amit:- Start using Trailhead :)  )

Follow Sharif on:
Twitter: @sharif_shaalan 
 Blog :- yappexchange.com

 
 If you want to share your Salesforce Success Story, Please feel free to drop me an email :- amit.salesforce21@gmail.com

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Thanks
Amit Chaudhary
Twitter @amit_sfdc