In May of 2009, I left the world of IT for a new position doing analysis and reporting for a sales and marketing group. It was a good move as I’d tired of the world of outages and unending repetition of the same instructions over and over. I wasn’t challenged anymore, I’d answered all the questions, every day was the same. Worst of all was the feeling of knowing I’d done all I could to change things and yet the same problems and issues persisted.

I loved my new job. I played with data and pulled meaning from numbers. I helped pull together information that made a difference. It was almost relaxing after years in my former position. I was actually feeling a bit unchallenged, after years of fast-paced problem solving.

Then came February 2009 and Salesforce.com into my life. As Neo said after being shown the Matrix-

Whoa.

I jumped headfirst into Salesforce, took the Admin 201 class, and hit the ground running upon my return to the office. I spent the first year cleaning up what was built before I arrived, building tons of new items and learning a lot about the platform in the process. I was excited and challenged again! I would even get in trouble at home with my family for focusing on “work stuff” not because I had to, but because I wanted to. Working in Salesforce is like being invited to play with the biggest box of LEGO ever. And I love me some LEGO!

The only downside to my experience was that in my office, I was the only administrator. It can get pretty lonely when you don’t have anyone else who “speaks the language” and I found myself seeking information anywhere I could. Books, blogs, Twitter, Salesforce.com sites, etc.

The first thing I realized was that while I may be solo at the office, at the tips of my fingers was a connection to the best community think tank I’ve ever experienced. Through Twitter and the Dreamforce application, I found “my peeps” as I like to think of them. Folks from various backgrounds who jump on a challenge, are very friendly, and share a desire to help others on this Salesforce.com path. People who inspire me to push the limits, think of new solutions, create new functionality for users, and to engage in this wonderful community.

So I guess you can say that Salesforce brought the sunshine and rainbows back into my work life. For all the talk about clouds, it’s never overcast and dark anymore. I tell all my friends who are disillusioned with the IT world to check out Salesforce. I’ve been given a platform to make users sing and cheer, a community to laugh and share with, and personal experiences I’ll never forget.

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting those who inspire me and honored that others have shared how I’ve inspired and helped them. In a world were jobs change and companies appear and disappear, having Salesforce as a focal point in my career path has given me more opportunities to do the kind of work that is fun and inspirational to me- and I couldn’t ask for anything more.

If you’ve got a story of how Salesforce positively changed your life, please email it to mystory@salesforce.com. If your story inspires us and is chosen, we'll reach out and ask for your story to be shared, like this one, across our social channels! And of course, many thanks for sharing your Salesforce story!

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