Nearly nine years ago I interviewed in Sydney for a then relatively unknown company called salesforce.com. Who knew I’d be a Director of Solution Engineers out of the gorgeous Salesforce Tower in London all these years later…
You might be thinking what is a solution engineer? We craft solutions for our customers by actively listening and asking penetrating questions in order to define value and impact for their business. We then blend this with our technical know-how and world-class products and platform, to create a prototype of the future solution they desire.
Cool huh? I think so.
You can find out what I get up to in a typical day, in my Day in the Salesforce life article. But, today I want to share with you more about life in general at this amazing company.
I have hired two large teams of solution engineers on two continents and I always get asked ‘What’s it like working here?’ Let me enlighten you with the four pillars I share with all candidates and new starters alike.
My 4 Pillars of life at Salesforce
- There are no dumb questions
- You’ll never know everything
- The only constant is change
- You don’t ask you don’t get
1. There are no dumb questions
Seriously. We have it written on giant signs in our offices.
I will recommend you always search in our ‘holy grail’ Chatter which is our contextual collaboration tool that is threaded through everything. It’s like having a recording of everything ever said at a company! You can search through and find answer to almost anything, no matter what changes – brilliant. It enables a flat company structure and you can ask anyone pretty much anything!
Two fascinating examples of this are the ‘Airing of grievances ‘and the ‘Joy and happiness’ groups which any employee can join to share their questions, thoughts and opinions for others to consume, ponder and respond to. Most importantly it allows the company to really know what is important to employees by the social voice. This transparency polarizes two different ends of the spectrum.
2: You’ll never know everything
You might as well get comfortable with the fact that you will never know it all about Salesforce - the three major product releases each year will see to that! The number of times I hear new starters say ‘Once I learn everything I’ll be ok’ - this an unrealistic goal and you are sure to be disappointed.
You’ll never stop learning and that is the best part - it never gets boring! It’s always exciting, which leads me onto my next pillar.
3: The only constant is change
I hope you are good with change. I love that we see a gap, a need and pivot and watch the world follow! We started out with one product ‘salesforce automation (SFA)', now we have 6 clouds and so much more.
We are constantly innovating both internally and externally. I participated in ‘Ignite the vibe’ which was like turning the magnifying glass on ourselves and how we feel about Salesforce. A cathartic experience to see where the gaps were and how we can create solutions to fill them.
It's been incredible seeing each of the projects come to life - for example we now have an ‘Ohana Bar’ [Ohana is Hawaiian for family] where you can request experts on the subject of your choice to speak here in Salesforce Tower. Requests include a nutritionist, mindfulness and the employee share scheme. So cool to see a company really take their commitment to their employees this seriously - no wonder we were awarded one of the best places to work last year!
4: You don’t ask, you don’t get
My personal favourite is to challenge, disrupt, innovate! Don’t accept the status quo.
No matter who you are, what you do or who you report to; its your responsibility. YOU need to own it. If you see a gap or think there’s a better way of doing something, speak up and own it – everyone wants to hear it.
Summary
These are some of my favourite reasons for being here and being part of the #SalesforceOhana. Wherever you are now - whatever your pillars are - are you living yours?
We hire the best and so many of them say in their first three months "WOW, I thought I was clever, but at Salesforce I’m surrounded by incredible people!!". It’s called social capital.
Sounds like the place for you? Come join the #SalesforceOhana.
