In episode 16, I talked about my Salesforce TrailheaDX attending experience. It received an unexpectedly large number of listening times. I feel there is a need to share more to give listeners a holistic 360 overview of it, so here we go!
What is Salesforce TrailheaDX?
TrailheaDX is the Salesforce hosted a yearly conference for people who want to learn the technical platform. In the past, it was always hosted in San Francisco, close to the Salesforce headquarters. Since the year 2019, it starts to take place in India as well.
In short, you can perceive TrailheaDX as a DreamForce event for Salesforce technologists.
What to prepare before going to Salesforce TrailheaDX?
If you are going to attend the conference for the first time, congratulations! I’m sure you will learn a lot and have great fun!
In order to get the best out of this event, I’d recommend you to plan it in advance. Ask yourself, why do you go there?
There could be multiple reasons. It might be that you want to learn more about Salesforce, you want to feel the unique atmosphere of Salesforce Ohana, or you want to network with more people. Either way, you need to plan your trip well and attempt to reach all your goals.
Salesforce TrailhedDX Event
TrailheaDX comprises two consecutive sections.
Section 1 is the 2-day conference, taking place on Wednesday and Thursday.
Section 2 is the 3-day Bootcamp, taking place on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Yes, Bootcamp is across the weekends.
The conference is mandatory to attend while the Bootcamp is optional. Thanks to my previous company Biit, I registered with the ultimate pass which grants both the conference and Bootcamp access to you.
Salesforce TrailhedDX Conference
The 2-day conference, in my opinion, is the meat of TrailheaDX. Though quite hectic, a lot of presentations, games, hands-on labs, happening in parallel.
It is the best time to socialize and network with people. Make sure you have agreed with people where and when to meet :).
Also, do not forget to play games to collect TrailheaDX gifts!
Salesforce TrailhedDX Bootcamp
The Bootcamp is a 3-day onsite learning class, including 2 onsite certificate exam opportunities and 2 exam vouchers to take home.
The teachers in the Bootcamp are Salesforce Certified Technical Architectures, who have a lot of knowledge and insights to share.
However, I personally did not learn much from it, or perhaps I have learned, but all forgotten.
For one reason, I need hands-on practices to remember stuff, thus it is not my way to learn sitting in a classroom. For another, It was a 10hours time gap and the trip from Helsinki to San Francisco and the preceding 2-day conference was too exhausting.
Therefore, it is wise to take the above points into consideration before purchasing your TrailheaDX pass.
Questions of today
When are you going to attend TrailheaDX or if you have already, what was your experience?
Contact Me
If you enjoy this podcast, please reach me out to let me know your thoughts or simply say Hello. My (Xi’s) contact info:
Take care, until next time :)!
Transcript
AI-generated, unedited.
[00:14] Hey everybody! This is Xi Xiao. This is yet another episode of Salesforce Way podcast. In this episode, I'm gonna solo again without any guest, and I'm gonna again talk about Trailhead DX 19 session that has happened back in May in 2019. So I know, I know, I've talked about the very same topic before in this podcast. But here, my main focus is to share everything, all the details that has happened in those five days. I'm gonna wrap them in a package and deliver to you. And I think the content in this episode mainly serves two type of listeners. First, if you have never been in the TDX and you want to go there in the coming years, then definitely this content is gonna give you good value. And then, if you are generally curious about what happens in TDX, the difference between watch those recorded YouTube videos and going to the TDX conference in person, then definitely this episode is for you as well. Other than that, I don't know if you really should listen to this episode. I'm sorry to say that. Or of course, if you just want to listen to me to ramble all the time, so I just don't want to waste your time anyway. You know, I will start my talk now. So about the
[01:44] TDX, going to the TDX. The very important part is you have to plan the things well in advance. You need to really think about why you should go to the conference, why you you should go to the TDX, and how to get the best out of that session. So from my point of view, I can think of couple of reasons. First, maybe the company pays you, right? I think ninety nine percent of the audience is because the company pays. And if a company covers all the costs, I'd say why not, right? It's a really good experience, and you enjoy a lot of their dinners, their food, even their drinks. The people to talk with, people are nice, and a lot of learning points, a lot of talks, presentation, a lot of good stuff happening there. So if company pays, go there. There's no question about it. Okay. Second point I can think of. Some people may think I want to go there to learn more. Actually, I think this is not a so good idea. It's a shaky reason. The reason is that. It's a really hectic days there at the TDX session, and there's a lot of things happening in parallel. I don't really think you can learn much more than just lay down in the bed and watch those recorded videos. I think it's just impossible for you to really learn stuff and digest those stuff well. The third reason, maybe you want
[03:15] go there to network with people. If this is one of the reasons, I just say definitely go there because the TDX is the most important session for Salesforce technologists. If you are a developer, architect, or you are generally working the technology side, TDX is the best session, and definitely there are a lot of technologists go in there as well, and also a lot of famous internal Salesforce employees that go in there to do the presentations. So network with people. One of the most important reasons. The last one that I can think of is that maybe you want to go there to feel about the Ohana atmosphere. If that's one of the reasons, definitely go. Right, because I'm living in Nordic country, so here the Ohana feeling, the Ohana kind of atmosphere isn't so strong compared, definitely compared to the U.S. So going to the TDX was really an eye opening session for me. I go there. A lot of the people are so passionate about Salesforce. They are so kind of you know so happy and so so outgoing, so easy going, so want to socialize, so want to help each other. So that was definitely definitely a really good experience for me. So if you want to feel that atmosphere, definitely TDX is a good place for you to go.
[04:45] So now, then, I want to talk about the things that I really experienced during those couple of days, and then I want to quickly go through what is TDX. So TDX contains actually one compulsory, which is the conference days, which is the first two days. That is Wednesday and Thursday. That's the compulsory thing you need to participate if you register to the TDX. And then the second part is the boot camp, which is the following three days. So which is Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Yes, it covered the weekends as well. So the bootcamp is about to learn stuff there to participate in the certificate exams. So there, there are really experienced coaches. There are a lot of class. You know, you can join different type of class. If you are pursuing the advanced admin, if you're pursuing architect, system architect, or or application architect, or maybe even the the CTA, there are different type of classes for you to join. Then let's talk about the TDX itself. The conference contains 200 to 300 presentations, including those important keynotes. So it's really really hectic two days. So I highly recommend that you plan your things in advance before joining those two-day conference.
[06:16] So one thing I do highly recommend is that you reach out people in advance, either in Twitter or in LinkedIn, whatever channel. You know, ask them if they are joining the TDX. If yes, then agree upon the time in advance that where you want to meet and which time of the day you want to meet them in the TDX conference. Because the TDX is gonna happen in the big mall. At least in my 19th session, it was three-story floor. You know, there are a lot of sessions happen in the same time. A lot of people there. You might easily just miss each other in the conference room. So definitely, highly recommend you get their phone number, get their Twitter account, so that you have an instant communication channel in the conference room. And of course, in the TDX, they offer the Wi-Fi. If you're from a foreign country, you can still use the Wi-Fi to communicate with each other. Another important thing to go to the conference in advance is that you need to download the TDX event app one to two weeks prior to the TDX. Salesforce will send you an email to give you the link to download the event app. After downloading the app, you can see all the list of the presentations that are going to happen in those two days. There are two hundred to three hundred. It's really really exhausted
[07:46] long list. So I recommend you spend some time to go through those sessions and then bookmark the things, the presentations that you want to participate. And in addition to that, the event app actually also serves another purpose, that is to play the game in those two days. So what the game is, is that when you enter the conference, you have your own badge, and the people are working in the conference. Each time when you participate in the presentation, they will scan your badge to prove that you have listened to that presentation. And by doing this, you're kind of collecting your points in different spots, and then the event app has those games that once you collect a certain point for the from those presentation, then you can unlock a gift. You know there are Salesforce bottles. It depends on the session you participate. There are some bags. You know those mascot toys. There are different sorts of stuff. So definitely highly recommend. Since you are anyway in that conference, why not enjoy and then collect these Salesforce you know gifts. So definitely in those two day conference day, don't forget to network with people. Don't forget to to reach out to people in advance and then meet them really in person on their place to shake hands with them
[09:17] and to social network with them. This is very important. And then don't forget to use the event app to play those games to collect your Salesforce gift. So after the compulsory TDX two-day conference session, there is also this boot camp three-day optional session. So by the time you register into TDX, you have already chosen whether you go to the boot camp or not. The bootcamp costs extra, but it has good content as well. The bootcamp is all about learning, so you can pursue different paths. You can pursue the advanced admin, the system architect, application architect, maybe some other topics as well. I'm not aware of. According to the topic, you are gonna get assigned to different classrooms and those coaches dedicated on that path. So, in addition to the class session, the bootcamp session, you are gonna get the two on-site certifying exams. So one happens before the bootcamp, and one happens after the bootcamp. That's the end of the TDX days. So before you leave, then you can take a final on-site certificate, and then in addition to that. After a month or two, then Salesforce will send you two free vouchers for the certificate. So in total, you're gonna get four free vouchers
[10:47] for certificate exams, which is really good. So. This is all the content about the bootcamp. In my opinion, to be honest, those three days doesn't really help me much for learning Salesforce because there are too many students in the classrooms, and when the coaches start to talk about the content, everybody is allowed to ask questions. So easily things get you know distracted and maybe the questions isn't the things that you want to learn or or you already know what it is. So basically, I don't really get good things out of that. The four free vouchers for certificates and is good, but really go there to learn stuff doesn't really help much. But the good thing is that you go there to meet those CTA guys. You know those coaches for at least for my class, which is the application architect. Those are CTA. So we have two CTA's in the room to give us training sessions. You can learn something, but I don't think you can learn enough. And I still prefer maybe later by myself to learn certificate by my own. But anyway, again, if the company pays you to go there and allow you to join the bootcamp, why not? So this is everything I want to talk about the the bootcamp, the TDX. So I want to just give
[12:17] a quick wrap up about all the things I've talked about. So plan well in advance. Think about what the reasons you go there, and then how to get the best out of the TDX sessions. And then it's the first the two day TDX. That's meat of TDX. So definitely think about what sessions you're gonna join, what the presentations, and who you're gonna socialize with. So it's very important to get the things out of those two days, and then the following three days is very hectic. So you're gonna sit on the classrooms three days to listen to the coaches. Personally, I don't get too much out of that, but I get to know those DTA people. Then I add them into my LinkedIn. I also got to know several of the classmates from the same classroom. And of course, I get four free vouchers. I passed my App Builder certificate there, and I also give it a try. The Sharing and the Visibility Designer certificate. I didn't pass that. That was too difficult for me. I didn't prepare anything for that. But anyway, I got four free vouchers, and then I, you know, I listened to some good information from classes. I think I've already now forget almost everything. I just, you know, so that was definitely not a good things for me to go there to learn. All right. So this is all about the TDX session. I want to share with
[13:47] you. I hope you definitely have get something out of this session. And hopefully, I don't waste you too much time. So, see you next time.
[14:00] If you enjoyed listening to this session and want to have a really easy way to support this podcast, why don't you give us a quick rating or even a review on whatever channel you are listening to this show? If you are using iTunes, just go to SalesforceWay dot com slash iTunes. It should open up the iTunes page for you. I read pretty much all the reviews you leave over there, and it really helps other people discover this show. So your support is very much appreciated. And I'm super grateful you have spent your invaluable time with me here, and I'd really love to hear how you think about this podcast. At last, I hope you are doing well, taking care, and see you next time.
