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Jackal HarrisonJackal Harrison 

Admin to Developer - best way forward?

Hi folks,

I've been powering my way through Trailhead recently, I've now gone through all of the Admin (just looking through the Advanced trail currently) and also want to gain a better understanding of Programmatic side/more Development focused features.

It probably helps if I state that I've worked in Sales for most of my career so  stepping into the technical realm is a fairly big jump for me! Can anyone advise:

- Would it be best to cotinue with the advanced admin trail *before* moving onto the 'Developer - Beginner' trail, or is it worth learning the programmatic side along with declarative before tackling the final trail?

- Is there a good place to start learning APEX? I have a very basic understanding of the code from what i've managed to gleam through Trailhead, but it seems like a 'JAVA/C# for Dummies' book or something similar may be a good idea?

If anyone could spare 2 mins to give me some advice I'd really appreciate it!

Thanks in advance

Jack
Best Answer chosen by Jackal Harrison
pconpcon
If you want to learn some of the logical bits to programing, Codecademy [1] is a pretty good place to learn.  As for learning Apex, I'd suggest finding a project, or a trigger or something in your org that needs code and do it.  What you learn will stick way more by getting your hands dirty and any number of online tutorials.

I would also say try out the Apex Superbadge [2] [3] on trailhead.  It's a decent mix between hand holding and letting you figure it out.  The only reason I say it's not great for learning to program long term is that you have no real emitional investment in the project and therefore to gain / lose if it doesn't work right.

[1] https://www.codecademy.com/
[2] https://developer.salesforce.com/trailhead/super_badges/superbadge_apex
[3] http://blog.deadlypenguin.com/blog/2016/06/06/trailhead-apex-specialist-superbadge/

All Answers

pconpcon
I would say that it doesn't really matter if you do the advanced admin trail before or not.  If you feel that you want to grasp all the admin bit first, do that.

Learning Apex is a bit tougher.  I'll give you the same advice that I give anyone that wants to learn how to program.  "Find a reason to program and do it."  In otherwords, find a project or a reason to code.  If you just program to learn it, you won't have the drive or the need to program and it'll just get lost.  Or you'll be memorizing and not learning why.  Books are a terrible way to learn programming also.
pconpcon
If you want to learn some of the logical bits to programing, Codecademy [1] is a pretty good place to learn.  As for learning Apex, I'd suggest finding a project, or a trigger or something in your org that needs code and do it.  What you learn will stick way more by getting your hands dirty and any number of online tutorials.

I would also say try out the Apex Superbadge [2] [3] on trailhead.  It's a decent mix between hand holding and letting you figure it out.  The only reason I say it's not great for learning to program long term is that you have no real emitional investment in the project and therefore to gain / lose if it doesn't work right.

[1] https://www.codecademy.com/
[2] https://developer.salesforce.com/trailhead/super_badges/superbadge_apex
[3] http://blog.deadlypenguin.com/blog/2016/06/06/trailhead-apex-specialist-superbadge/
This was selected as the best answer
Jackal HarrisonJackal Harrison
Thanks Pcon,

Those a perfect links, just what I'm after. Your blog looks pretty handy too so I've bookmarked it! 

Cheers again :)