All About Trailhead, Salesforce’s Free Online Learning Platform

According to the World Economic Forum’s “The Future of Jobs Report 2020,” 50% of all employees will need new skills in the next five years to keep up with the pace of technology.

Many people and companies are exploring alternative avenues for learning new skills rather than pursuing traditional degrees, redefining the education landscape. Online learning is also eliminating the educational wealth gap — in some ways — and helping others build skills in the booming customer service sector.

Launched in 2014, Trailhead is part of this movement. The platform breaks down barriers to learning and creates an equal and accessible pathway into the Salesforce ecosystem for anyone with an internet connection. From admins to developers, marketers to architects, consultants, analysts, sales and services roles, and everything in between. Whatever your background or interests, there’s a learning path for you.

Want to jump straight in? Get answers to your top questions:

• How does Trailhead work?
• Why is Trailhead effective?
• How does Trailhead help people?
• Can anyone use Trailhead?
• What about the Trailblazer Community?

With Trailhead, you can:

• Learn in-demand skills needed to build your career or land a position in the Salesforce ecosystem — no degree required. Not to mention gamification with points and badges make learning fun.
• Earn credentials (such as a role-based Salesforce Certification or a real-world business challenge via a superbadge) that prove your Salesforce expertise, build your resume, and give you a competitive edge in the job market.
• Connect with the global Trailblazer Community of learners for mentorship, collaboration, and job opportunities.

Naturally, Trailhead offers robust training in Salesforce skills, among its many other offerings. But the demand for Salesforce skills has risen in recent years as more companies adopt our technology to help manage their customer relationships. An IDC report from 2019 predicted that by 2024, the Salesforce ecosystem will add 4.2 million new jobs around the world. With a library of more than 1,000+ badges of learning content that spans tech, business, and soft skills, Trailhead helps people further their careers however they choose.

Discover how you can skill up for the future with Trailhead:

Trailhead puts the learner at the heart of everything we do. Bite-sized, conversational content makes learning complex topics easy to understand and is personalised by roles and level — for example a would-be marketing practitioner might Learn Marketing Best Practices, while a director of customer service might want to pick up skills to Cultivate Equality at Work.

Our online learning even includes hands-on elements, called projects, so you can practice as you go in a free instance of Salesforce, which we affectionately dub a Trailhead Playground. Once complete, you take a multiple-choice quiz or challenge to test your new skills. These quizzes and challenges earn you points and badges that display on your Trailblazer.me profile.

The more badges you earn, the higher you rise in Trailhead Trailblazer ranks until you reach Trailhead Ranger rank with 100 badges and 50,000 points!

Trailhead Quests, the gamification aspect of Trailhead, adds another element of fun and motivation. These revolving monthly sweepstakes combine the challenge of gaining new skills with the chance of scoring fun prizes such as community badges, swag, gift cards, Salesforce Certification vouchers, and more.

Trailhead also personalised learning with career-based paths that help individuals achieve their specific goals. If you want to work on professional or personal development, there are modules on business skills such as storytelling, coaching, hiring, and leadership. 

The Trailhead experience gets even more personal when you curate your favourite trails, modules, hands-on projects, and superbadges into Trailmixes. Just like your favourite song playlists, you can share these Trailmixes with other Trailblazers.

Salesforce’s AI technology, Einstein Recommendations, is embedded into Trailhead. This helps the platform learn about you, so it gets smarter and offers more tailored recommendations as you progress.

Well, let’s take a look at some stats from a 2020 study. More than 50% of Trailhead learners reported they had gained skills that resulted in a promotion or a raise at their current company. One in five reported a salary increase of more than 20% because of Trailhead. And one in three Trailblazers have found a new job with the skills they’ve learned on Trailhead.

“More than 50% of Trailhead learners reported they had gained skills that resulted in a promotion or a raise at their current company. And one in three Trailblazers have found a new job with the skills they’ve learned on Trailhead.”

Case in point, Becka Miller had been a school secretary for seven years when her family faced financial hardship. Motivated to increase her earning potential, Miller began her learning journey on Trailhead, and after a few months became a certified Salesforce Administrator. Today, she’s a Salesforce Consultant at Slalom, helping others break into the tech industry.

Jarrell Ramos is another perfect example of how Trailhead helps you pivot to a new role. Ramos graduated with a chemistry degree but realised he wanted to pursue a tech career. He began learning on Trailhead and connecting with the Trailblazer Community, and today, he’s a certified Salesforce Administrator working on cloud-based laboratory solutions at ThirdWave.

Anyone with an internet connection who’s ready to take their skills to the next level, regardless of background, age, gender, or belief can simply sign up for a free Trailhead account (no Salesforce CRM account needed) at Trailhead.com

Since Trailhead offers free learning available to everyone, it helps create new pathways into tech for diverse talent. This levels the playing field to shape a more inclusive future. 

But while Trailhead is for everyone, not everyone learns the same way. That’s why it includes:

• Virtual and in-person expert-led learning with Trailhead Academy.
• Live-streamed and on-demand expert-led videos via Trailhead Live.  
• Access to Trailhead’s modules and Trailhead Live sessions with the free mobile app for iOS and Android, Trailhead GO.

We recognise Trailblazers are in different stages of their careers and hail from diverse professional backgrounds too, so we provide several workforce development programs. For example:

• Trailblazer Connect helps people find opportunities through events, mentorship, and career resources.
• Pathfinder partners with Deloitte to mentor participants and train them with the technical and business skills necessary to pursue a career in the Salesforce ecosystem.
• Salesforce Military Alliance offers online training classes and certification exams at no cost to active-duty military, veterans, and military spouses. 
• Salesforce Talent Alliance connects partners to Salesforce-certified candidates and brings new, diverse talent into the ecosystem.

If you’re brand new to Salesforce or have never heard of our company, you might not know what a Trailblazer is, and what makes our community special. Trailblazers are the pioneers, innovators, and lifelong learners who will make the world a better place by propelling the future of technology, and who give back to their communities.

Our Trailblazers are innovating with Salesforce and using our platform to transform their companies. The best part? Anyone can be a Trailblazer! And many attribute their success to the support of the Trailblazer Community.

Having a supportive network of people is all the more important now that many of us work remotely. The Trailblazer Community is where Trailhead learners connect with Salesforce customers, partners, product specialists, and employees to learn together, find mentors, and connect to career opportunities. There are currently 1,300 Trailblazer Community Groups across 90 countries.

Discover how Trailblazers are achieving more in their professional lives with all the passion, grit, and #Trailheart that are Trailblazer hallmarks.

Ready to start your learning journey? You can kick things off by signing up (for free!) and completing the Beginner’s Quest Get Started with Trailhead Trailmix. See you on the trails!