As the holiday season fast approaches, we here at Team Trailhead wanted to take a moment to spread the love and relive some magical moments, to celebrate all the mind-blowing achievements of our Trailblazers from this thrilling year. So, shall we?

 

1. The magical numbers.

 

Kicking off with a fresh start to 2017, #MyTrailAhead gave you all the resolution to climb up the ranks and earn great prizes to boot! Record numbers of Trailblazers attended expert-led classroom learning and earned certifications.

And with a whopping total of 335 badges and 80+ trails now available on Trailhead, you helped us reach the extraordinary milestone of 4 million Trailhead badges earned—wow, just wow! 

 

2. One big learning Ohana.

 

Probably one of the most exciting developments for Team Trailhead in 2017 was the creation of one big learning Ohana when expert-led training and certification became part of the Trailhead family. The productivity benefits of having all learning together were immediate with the development of a new way to blaze your trail to a Platform Developer II certification and the introduction of superbadges, like Data Integration, to help pave the way to your Architect journey.

 

3. Personalizing learning for a more productive you.

 

New product launches and feature-enhancements this year were developed with productivity top of mind. The award-winning Salesforce Proficiency Pack for Sales Cloud gives you a 30-day track to an #AwesomeAdmin credential. And Business Administration Specialist really is THE Superbadge for everyone—the business user, the super user, the accidental admin, the certified pro, the career path switcher, the graduate...well, we did say everyone...

Trailhead got a new look and feel and received a whole host of new features meaning learning is MOAR personalized to you than ever before. Personalized homepage, self-service account merge, and did someone say vanity URL? But arguably, the biggest announcement of the year was the sneak peek of myTrailhead, set to reinvent learning and enablement at your company...stay tuned for more details.


4. Taking action in your career.

With the Salesforce ecosystem set to create an astonishing 3.3 million new jobs by 2022, our four-part “I'm Salesforce Certified—Now What?” series offered advice on how to create a career strategy, nail that interview and land your dream job. Plus, the launch of Trailhead for Students took the power of Trailhead into the classroom to help the next generation find their way to a career in tech.

 

5. Events to remember.

 

Earlier in the year, thousands of you joined us for the second TrailheaDX developer conference, the learning event of the year for developers and admins, ensuring you got a deep, technical understanding of all the features, tools, and resources you need to build amazing apps. But don't just take our word for it, here's what our attendees had to say:

“I was delighted that there were almost no pie charts in the talks…it was REALLY proper, hands-on technical stuff semi-colons and all.. brilliant!”

“My favorite part of the event would have to be either the immersive nature of the event, or the availability of experts for casual conversations and on the spot Q/A sessions. Probably both…”

“I loved the hands-on approach and the variety. Everything was Admin or dev focused and I was always learning something.”

“Learning about RAD Women, and other Salesforce Developer user groups! It was great to hear from SF Admins who became Developers”

And now TrailheaDX '18 registration is open! With even more learning opportunities than ever before, the Ultimate Pass includes a 3-day training bootcamp and the opportunity to attend two certifications sessions on-site. Get all the details and secure your spot today. 

Dreamforce '17 was record-breaking for Trailhead. Thousands of you attended pre-conference training and Hands-on Training sessions, and more than 1,450 new certifications were earned. Plus, we hosted the first-ever Trailhead Keynote, spreading #trailheart far and wide! Check out the top 8 trailblazing things you can do to keep the Dreamforce magic going strong before the year's out. 

 

6. A global movement of Trailblazers.

 

The #SalesforceOhana is at the center of all we do. The Success Community became the Trailblazer Community relaunched with a new name and new look that was purely inspired by you. With millions of members worldwide, you've become a virtual family that spans the globe, propels the future of technology, and has tremendous power to do well and do good. And nowhere was this more apparent than through the 200+ Dreamforce Global Gatherings that took place over the last couple of months, extending the fun of Dreamforce beyond the one week in San Francisco to include a world of Trailblazers. 

Our community of certification heroes shone brightly this year as seen in our second blog series of incredible certification stories where Jeff shared how his love of Salesforce led to his whole family becoming certified, and CY told us how he came to be one of the most Salesforce-certified people in the world! Eric vowed that he would not language be a barrier to his certification journey, and Jordon became the proud holder of the 1000th Architect credential on her #JourneyToCTA. Not to mention these other impressive trailblazers...

There were inspirational stories abound in 2017 with Trailblazers like Shonnah who “...wanted to help other people, particularly women of color, enter the tech world.” and who now hosts a Trailhead bootcamp teaching in-demand Salesforce skills to young women of color in Minnesota’s Mall of America. And Vanessa who epitomizes courage, endurance, and resilience by beating cancer and becoming a true Salesforce star. And then there were all of you who aimed to rank up and earn those badges. 

 

7. Finishing the year strong, Seize the Trail!

 

And finally, we're giving you the motivation (as if you need it) to keep the drive of 2017 going! #SeizetheTrail will help you finish off your year strong as you rank up to earn the chance to win fabulous prizes. But hurry, this badge earning promo ends Dec 31st, just like this banner year. 

Stand tall and proud, Trailblazers, as you have been on fire this year and that fills our #trailhearts with joy. Thank you for all that you've done and all that you are. And watch out! For who knows what memorable moments await in 2018. 

Happy trailblazing!