You can follow these five bloggers, and all the other SFDC Tech Bloggers on Twitter with one click. Click the “Follow this list” button here.
Books
Jeff Douglas and Wes Nolte have teamed up to write "The Salesforce Handbook: A Newcomer’s Guide to Building Applications on Salesforce.com and the Force.com Platform". They published a teaser excerpt on their blog: The Salesforce Handbook. The book is not due out until October (plenty of time to get your signed copy at Dreamforce 2010!). Visit their blog to join the email subscription list.
Salesforce IdeaExchange: Ideas I Liked / Promoted
Allow Single Test Method Execution from an Apex Class (120): Give Developers / QA Testers the ability to select the specific test methods that should be tested in an Apex test class. Handy for when you are trying to debug a single method! Vote it up here.
Cool Videos
I really liked this Flash App Demo by James Ward. The demo shows the power of the new Flash Builder tool, and integrating it with Salesforce.com. In the demo, James shows an app that allows him to take a picture of a person, associate it with a contact record in Salesforce, which then automatically uploads that picture into a custom image field on the Salesforce contact object. Very cool, check it out at the The Salesforce Channel.
Developer Stuff
In the Salesforce blogosphere, there is lots of interesting stuff happening on the developer front.
Managed Package Woes: Abhinav Gupta of Tech Germ describes a common problem that developers first encounter when migrating their Force.com web-service apps from a developer org to a managed package. During this migration, and external Java, Flex, PHP or .NET client code that made web-service calls to the Salesforce WSDL Web Services break, because the custom sObjects and fields get unique prefixes during the packaging. He presents two solutions, read more ...
Java Namespace Exception Errors: Abhinav follows that great article with a 2nd one, describing the cause, effect and solution for when Java namespace exception errors are thrown, when using WSC and Apache Axis WSDL2 Java together in a JVM or project. To avoid this problem, Abhina suggests compiling the WSDLs using WSC. Read more ...
Force.com Explorer (Beta): Salesforce Developers and Admins have a new tool for their arsenal: Force.com Explorer (Beta). This is an AIR app, built with Adobe Flash Builder for Force.com, which allows you to “browse your database schema, custom objects, and fields, and build test SOSL queries. It can also generate a simple schema report.” Read more at Developer Force.
VisualForce Pages that Talk to You? Aslam Bari thought of a great new trick: enable your VisualForce Pages to Speak! He found two useful web service / plugins on the net: jTalk is a an API that converts text to speech on the fly, and DewPlayer is flash MP3 player. Combined, you can integrate these into your VisualForce pages and convert output data to speech. Read more at Technology Share. One of the barriers for new developers posting apps to the AppExchange has been the cost of getting those applications reviewed and approved by Salesforce.com. That barrier has become less impacting, with lower security review fees. Read more at Developer Force.
Posting AppExchange Apps Just Got Cheaper: One of the barriers for new developers posting apps to the AppExchange has been the cost of getting those applications reviewed and approved by Salesforce.com. That barrier has become less impacting with lower security review fees. Read more at Developer Force.
"If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants." -Isaac Newton
Updated: I found an error in my earlier posting: the value of the Alexa ranking was reversed. I mistakenly thought that a high Alexa ranking was favored over a lower ranking. I corrected the ordering based on the Alexa scores (sorry, Mike - now I'll have to buy YOU a beer at Dreamforce!).
Mark Fidelman (EVP Sales @ MindTouch) recently wrote an article for the Cloud Ave blog titled, "The Most Influential Technical Communication Bloggers". I recognized a few names, added several to my Google Reader feed, but most were unfamiliar to me. Blogs are a primary information source for me, and I read a lot of them each week. When I first started working with Salesforce, I grew up on a steady diet of Gokubi.com, CRM FYI, X2 On-Demand, and Perspectives on Salesforce. These were the giants on whose shoulders I stood.
I compiled a list of Salesforce.com Bloggers, and then because I was curious, ranked them in a similar manner as Fidelman's Most Influential Blogger article: a weighted formula across a range of metrics, including Alexa, Klout Influence, Google Page Rank, Technocrati Authority, and Twitter Followers. I also added a 6th category: # Blog Posts YTD. Each category was given an equal weight, scaled on a rank of 1-10. With 6 categories, a blog could have a ranking between 6-60 – the most influential bloggers scoring at the top side of that range.
I started with a simple Google search on “Salesforce Blogs”, recording the URL for each. I arbitrarily stopped after the first six pages returned by the search engine. If the authors of various blogs included links to other Salesforce blogs (and many did), I added those to my research list, as well. In the end, I found 47 different Salesforce.com blogs. To be included in the ranking, a blogger needed to focus their posts on Salesforce.com, with at least 6 Salesforce-related blogs posted YTD.
For blogs that were co-authored, I used the Twitter account associated with the “Retweet” button on that blog. For instance, the Cloud Blog is co-authored by various Salesforce.com executives: Marc Benioff, Parker Harris, Peter Coffee, John Taschek, and Steve Gilmor. The “retweet” button on this blog uses the Twitter alias @salesforce, so that is what I used to evaluate the Klout influence and Twitter following of that blog.
Top 10 Most Influential Salesforce.com Tech Bloggers Here are the Top 10 Most Influential Salesforce.com Bloggers (NOTE: There were ties for 4th, 9th and 10th place):
Here is the detail break-out for all of the blogs that made the ranking qualifications:
Honorable Mentions There were 30 other blogs, but many were filtered from the rankings process due to the infrequency of their posts (the arbitrary cut-off was 6 posts YTD, averaging 1 per month). Of these blogs, Honorable Mentions go to:
"Hey JP, I notice you tweet about some Salesforce jobs occassionally. I'm looking to make a change. I've spent the last year doing a lot with Salesforce, including the Force.com API through ASP.NET / C#, custom objects, custom fields, workflow rules, email alerts, custom web-to-lead, and Salesforce.com Administration. I also do a lot with PHP, MySQL, XHTML, CSS, Javascript, and ASP.NET. If you know of any opportunities, drop me a line at ..."
Actually, it was a series of tweets DM'd to me, but I just appended them all together. I get 2-3 emails, tweets, or phone calls like this every week.
I wrote this blog for all you aspiring Force.com developers out there, looking to make a change or get plugged in to the Force.com development scene. Disclaimer: My interests are slightly self-serving: now I can just link this blog post in reply to all those emails, rather than reply to them each individually! #TimeSaver
First, take a moment and listen to @garyvee. This is one of my favorite clips by Gary, from his presentation at the Web 2.0 Expo last September.
Important Take-Away:
"Look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, 'What do I want to do every day for the rest of my life?' Do that."
Working on the Force.com Platform is great, but please, Please, PLEASE don't do it unless it's something you absolutely love. Soon after you've started working with this tool, you're going to start pulling your hair out. You'll find yourself growling at governor limits, cursing Apex 75% test code coverage requirements, puzzling over the real differences between Apex and Java, and wondering why object IDs come in 15-char and 18-char flavors. Don't even get me started on the lack of VLOOKUP() functionality in workflow rules.
You'll hate it! Just like Gary hates answering the same question day after day after day ("Which white wine should I have with my fish?"). You're going to need every bit of passion and love for what you're doing to help you ride through these moments of frustration.
"You have to love what you do. Because let me tell you something ... doing what [we] do, sucks. Eighteen hours a day? [7 days a week?] ... It gets tough! But if you love it, you will win." - @garyvee
Developing in the Cloud, and on the Force.com platform in particular, is really fun and allows you to churn out some amazing stuff. But you will definitely be frustrated along the way, as you wrestle the learning curve. Love what you're doing, to get you through those frustrating moments. And then you'll be able to do it, ALL THE TIME.
Donate Your Talent to a Non-Profit The philanthropy model at Salesforce.com is simply amazing. They have an organization, the Salesforce Foundation, which donates user licenses to qualified non-profit organizations all around the world. Developers have written custom applications specifically designed for these non-profits, to help them with volunteer management, donor management, membership / household tracking, and so much more.
With the help of Salesforce Foundation, these Non-Profits have the tools -- now they need you. to help with their deployments, customizations, and training.
If you're trying to break into the Force.com Development scene, consider donating some of your time to one of these Non-Profit organizations. They don't even have to be local! I'm located in New Hampshire, but I've been able to collaborate and design solutions for non-profit organizations in California, Texas and Colorado.
It's a great way to get some exposure working with the Force.com platorm, gain some references for future contracts, and do something wonderful for a worthy cause.
Later, after you become a wildly successful Force.com developer, I hope you'll come back to the Salesforce Foundation now and then. Donating just a small amount of your time (even just 1%) can make all the difference in the success of a non-profit organization!
Get On Twitter If you don't know about Twitter, you have to get plugged in to it. Now! Twitter is a micro-blogging service, which I've talked about previously. It's very powerful, because it lets you tap in to a huge network of Salesforce.com Employees (Program Managers, Developers, Community Managers, etc.) as well as other Consultants, Salesforce Partners, ISVs, Customers, Power Users, Administrators and more.
I use TweetDeck to manage my Twitter communications. All the folks who tweet about Salesforce.com are in a TweetDeck group, so I can monitor their Twitter stream during the day more closely than all the other folks I'm following. Not a day passes that I don't learn something new from this talented group of people! Twitter is a fantastic learning tool. Use it to learn, use it to teach, but definitely use it.
I also have a TweetDeck Search filter set up for "SFDC", "Salesforce", and "Force.com". I use that filter to find new developers and Force.com evangelists to follow. It also gives me a chance to see the many Salesforce.com related job postings that companies and recruiters are posting on Twitter every day.
Get on Twitter, and open yourself to a whole new way of learning.
Plug In to the Developer Community Salesforce.com has a tremendously strong developer community. Tap into it here: http://developer.force.com/
I've had a couple Salesforce.com Developers / Consultants contact me, and ask if I was able to pick up a contract for one of their clients. This happens when they are already fully loaded with projects, but don't want to turn their existing client away. The only way to be part of this network is to reach out and connect with the community.
Log on and participate in the message board forums. Learn from and/or help others. If you have a question or problem, put it in front of your peers in the community. For best results, include your code samples, as well as screenshots and images. Of course, it always helps to send out a Tweet, with a shortened URL link to your question on the Developer forums.
You'd be surprised at how helpful the community is. They'll help get your question answered and your project moving forward. Be sure to pay the community back, by looking at other questions that have been asked, for which you might have answers.
Connect on LinkedIn There are a ton of LinkedIn User Groups out there, full of developers and technology experts on the Force.com platform. A lot of job opportunities get shared in those LinkedIn groups, as well. Update your LinkedIn profile, and get plugged in to these groups.
Get to Dreamforce Dreamforce is the annual user conference and vendor expo, sponsored by Salesforce.com. It's 4+ days of powerful keynotes, roadmap discussions, break-out sessions, tech talk and more ... all centered around the Force.com Platform.
At Dreamforce you will meet other developers, make friends, and win clients. If developing on the Force.com platform is something you're at all interested in, this is a "must do" event. Get more details here: http://www.salesforce.com/dreamforce/DF09/
Bid on ODesk Looking for some short-term contracts for your reference portfolio? Check out the Force.com Jobs Group at oDesk! "Whether you're a skilled developer looking for that next job, or a customer or partner wanting to find and hire developers to work on small integrations and freelance projects, this is the place to be."
Contract Partners In addition to oDesk, there is an entire industry designed around connecting Consultants and Freelance Developers with the Companies who need their services. If you're looking to pick up a few projects, to start building your customer reference portfolio, you may want to look into this more. A couple companies that I've heard mentioned regularly are:
Develop Apps Of course, you don't need to have existing clients. You can start working with the platform today. Developer accounts are free, and you can start building applications right away. Want a real challenge? Sign up for the Developer Challenge, and put your programming skills head to head with some of the best of the best!
