A Force.com MVP, Anup is a Salesforce Architect and Mobile Developer. He is also the Co-organizer of the London Salesforce DUG and hold 9 Salesforce certifications.
We’d like to know more about the fun side of the MVPs! And from what we heard, so do a lot of people in the community. Welcome to the Proust for Salesforce experts.
The ability to prototype something in days and give users the chance to provide feedback on a functionality which was just an idea in their mind is very powerful.
Q: How did your love for Salesforce start? Was it a conscious choice or did the whole universe just conspire and make it happen?
It was a bit of both. 🙂 I was working as a Java developer at a medium-size firm building their internal billing application using Spring & Google Web Toolkit. The firm was using Salesforce but I wasn’t involved in managing or maintaining it.
In 2008, my manager who was also the Salesforce admin went to Dreamforce and witnessed the launch of the Force.com platform. He came back from the conference full of ideas on how to use Apex & Visualforce to build more awesome apps for the employees of the firm. Since I was the developer in the team, he asked me to learn the basics to help him build these apps.
I took the first ever DEV401 course in London and learned everything there is about force.com app development. Since I was proficient in Java, servlets, JSP, I could quickly pick up Apex, Visualforce, and general salesforce app builder concepts and was cranking out apps in no time.
I fell in love with the speed and agility of the platform. The ability to prototype something in days and give users the chance to provide feedback on a functionality which was just an idea in their mind is very powerful. I became a full time salesforce developer and gave up my java gig. I haven’t looked back since.
Q: What is your current role?
I am a freelance Salesforce Technical Architect now. I’m currently working as a consultant Salesforce Architect with a large Insurance company in the UK.
Q: What does being a Salesforce MVP mean to you?
In 3 words, it means community, community & community. 🙂 It’s all about contributing to the community by writing blogs, answering questions on StackExchange & Success community, speaking at user groups and conferences, being a thought leader etc. It is not a state of being but a mindset to cultivate. A word of caution for aspiring MVPs though – don’t do these things just to become an MVP. Do them because you genuinely want to improve your own knowledge, share it with your fellow developers and users and help the community.
Q: If not a Salesforce expert, what would you have become?
SAP expert perhaps 😉 Just kidding. I think I would have specialised in some Java technology. It was certainly the path I was on until I encountered the Salesforce trail.
Q: Which blogs / channels do you follow to get your Salesforce elixir?
I follow and read the following blogs to get my Salesforce elixir.
Q: What is your advice for those venturing into Force.com?
If you want to be a developer on the force.com platform, make sure you have a solid understanding of general programming principles. You should be intimately familiar with object oriented programming concepts, data modelling, MVC pattern, software engineering etc.
I cannot emphasize enough that these are prerequisites for learning any programming language or framework. With a firm understanding of these basics, head to trailhead.com and start learning the basics of salesforce, then jump into intermediate to advanced concepts like Apex, Visualforce and now Lightning Components. Trailhead is great in terms of teaching you everything about Salesforce and the platform, but it won’t teach you software engineering or basics of programming. If you understand the generic concepts of programming well, you will be able to pick up and master any platform and build awesome apps.
Q: What’s next in line for you after the coveted MVP title?
I’m working towards becoming a CTA.
Q: Tell us what led to the start of your Youtube channel “Coding with Anup”?
I had been thinking about it for a while now. I always find how-to videos on youtube quite useful. I think it’s a great way to share tips and best practices. I think in the age of MOOCs (massive open online courses), quite a lot of people prefer to learn by watching how to videos than reading from a book. It’s a generalisation for sure and people do have different learning styles. But delivering a shot of knowledge via the medium of youtube video is a great way to share knowledge and reach out to a wider audience.
Q: What has been your most memorable Dreamforce experience till date?
When I gave my first talk “Building a messaging framework on the Salesforce platform”, an audience member approached me after the talk to tell me that he really enjoyed the talk and that the MQ implementation was elegant and clever.
Q: Other than Salesforce, what does your world look like?
I enjoy reading a lot. I usually read 3 or 4 books in parallel and most of the times finish them. I am a science fiction and fantasy genre junkie, but I also read a lot of science based non-fiction books.
I’m also a casual gamer and like spending an hour or two on my ps4 to de-stress.
Q: What’s something about you that you think would surprise others?
I know how to solve the rubik’s cube (although it still takes me between 4 to 6 minutes) and I can quote the value of PI up to 50 decimal places.
A Force.com MVP, Anup is a Salesforce Architect and Mobile Developer. He is also the Co-organizer of the London Salesforce DUG and hold 9 Salesforce certifications.
Salesforce Certifications
