Success Story of :- Fabrice Cathala

Welcome to my 9th 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

Senior Salesforce Solution Architect

2) Your success Story    

I started my career in the world of data centres in 1994 and took the risk to change my path to CRM implementations in 2001. In 2005, I discovered cloud computing when deploying Salesforce at Symantec. Only then I realised that my career change had paid off.

I moved from a highly technical job (working at the operating system level) to a mix of technology and business (CRM). Salesforce fulfils the geek in me as much as giving me the satisfaction of delivering business solutions to happy customers. I could have stayed monitoring networks and controlling IT systems performance forever, but I follow my gut feeling, stick with it for five years before getting rewarded.

In March 2017 I was honoured to be awarded the title of Salesforce MVP joining a crowd of highly talented individuals.

Build your career path, believe in yourself and keep learning.   

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

User groups are a great way to learn new Salesforce related topics that you may not need for your current project but will position you as "the expert" in your next project.

The ambience in the Salesforce #ohana events is always warm and welcoming. Networking becomes fun! After a little while,  attending a Salesforce meetup will turn into an excellent way to meet your friends from the ecosystem, chill-out still learns new Salesforce tricks.

I'm a co-organizer of the Thames Valley DUG in the UK, and I can tell you that we do spend quite a lot of time and energy hunting for the best speakers and researching which hot topics we should propose to our audience. 

Now, there's one user group in particular that I'd like to put under the spotlight and it's "Women In Tech" (#WIT). In most cases, these groups are welcoming men, and I'm begging you, if you're a man, please attend at least a couple of WIT meetup this year. It's going to open your mind to an old problem which now needs an urgent solution. I believe that men need to be part of the solution to unlocking STEM careers for women. Please attend WIT meetup and show your support for a start. Then try and figure out how you can help.

4) Advice for new Salesforce Developer

If the only tool you have is a hammer, it is tempting to treat everything as a nail. But you shouldn't. Although it's fun to code, your responsibility is to provide an enterprise-class solution to all business problems thrown at you. The most robust tool is not code but standard (declarative) features: they have been tested for years and are supported by Salesforce. Your code will always be less resilient than out-of-the-box capabilities.

For this reason, always think declarative first and programmatic second.  

5) Trailhead badges

105. I'm a ranger since last December; the #100club was one of my goals for 2016. I've slowed down since (only five badges in three months) but will restart soon at a more steady pace.

Follow Fabrice Cathala on:
Twitter :@fcathala

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
@amit_sfdc