Description
As DevOps takes the Salesforce ecosystem by storm, it’s increasingly valuable to learn about DevOps and demonstrate your expertise with certification. Jack McCurdy, DevOps Advocate at Gearset, introduces you to DevOps Launchpad, the free training platform for all things Salesforce DevOps.
Find out:
- What is DevOps Launchpad?
- What courses does it offer?
- How do you get certified?
Learn more:
Transcript
Alrighty. We are moving, well past the hour a little bit here. Thank you all for joining us this evening.
My colleague Becky is with me today as well. Becky has just dropped a message in the chat there, letting you know about any q and a's that you might have. Please use the q and a box, if you have any questions kind of as we're going through. And then what we'll do is we should be able to get through some of those, at the end there for you. So if you have any questions, be sure to use the q and a function, and, ask away in there. But, thank you all for for joining me this evening, on this, the short webinar this evening, to chat about certifying in Salesforce DevOps and getting started with DevOps Launchpad.
So my name is Jack McCurdy. I am Salesforce DevOps advocate here at Gearset. It's really, really nice to meet you all. I've worked with Gearset for the last three years or so.
And over that time at Gearset, I have helped, a wide range of teams from small, non and block shops right up to Fortune five hundred enterprises assess their DevOps processes and help them assess what is gonna be the best solutions for them when it comes to streamlining their Salesforce release management and making sure that the teams that are responsible for delivering Salesforce can do so in a nice seamless manner. And I've helped them overcome, both the technical and cultural challenges that are required to, adopt DevOps best practices. So, it's an absolute pleasure to meet everybody, and, hopefully, for the short instructions to DevOps Launchpad, we'll give you something to think about today, and give you a little bit of a clearer picture about what you can do, to set yourself, on your way to either maturing your DevOps journey, or simply just get started.
So a little bit of the agenda, of what we're gonna look at today, is here. So we're gonna cover what is DevOps Launchpad, and what areas DevOps Launchpad covers.
Then we're gonna take a little quick demo into DevOps Launchpad so that you can actually see the platform and know what you're up, what you're faced with, when you come to signing up and creating your account if you are completely new to DevOps Launchpad or just a little bit of refresher, if you already have an account.
And then towards the end here, we're gonna chat a little bit about what we have coming through the platform and what you can expect to see from DevOps Launchpad in the future, as well as the q and a there at the end as well. So like to say, if you have any questions, be sure to pop those into the q and a function, and we'll be able to answer a few of those at the end for you if you have them.
So first and foremost so what is DevOps Launchpad? So DevOps Launchpad is a free online learning platform that was created by Gearset to give folks in the Salesforce ecosystem a solid basis and a place to go when they are looking to upskill themselves and look to add to their repertoire, the DevOps skills that, are becoming more and more essential to being successful in the delivery of critical Salesforce projects, but also business as usual, on the platform. So, like I said, it's free platform. Anybody can sign up for it. Anybody can use it, and anybody can take, take onboard all the content and everything that Launchpad has to offer.
So it was created by Gearset. And, naturally, as a DevOps vendor, what we did is we aimed to create a platform that was inclusive and has not only, the platform where you as a Gearset user can learn a little bit more about the Gearset product as an interactive platform. But stripping that away, we also aim to give you a platform where you could actually learn about the best practices. So removing Gearset from the equation give you a space that you can learn, about all the principles behind best practices and give you somewhere where you could make a really solid foundation, whether you were looking to use GearSet as a tool or another tool or perhaps just look at thing doing things a little bit in a different way.
And with that in mind, we created it to be a fantastic, fantastic platform for you if you were new to the space, to give you a lot of initial background context and introduce you to concepts as a beginner, which may be a little bit alien to you and really distill that down to the most important things, as well as give you that might be a little bit more mature or a little bit further on in your DevOps journey the opportunity to learn a little bit more about more tech, more technical or slightly more advanced, aspects of DevOps, if that is, the place that you are, in your DevOps maturity.
As such, the platform, we made as interactive as possible. So what you can do on with DevOps Launchpad is get certifications for the courses that you complete on there, which you can then use for your bragging rights or, or simply have another, another certificate in your belt there to to use when it comes to promoting yourself and increasing your personal brand, for, your Salesforce skills.
I started to touch on it a little bit there as well. So, the areas that, DevOps Launchpad covers, is broad. So from the very beginning, and if you are one of the people in the room that is slightly newer to the Salesforce ecosystem, we have introductory courses, to Salesforce development and giving you all the years of knowledge that the Gear Set team has based on on developing on the Salesforce platform and building a solution that is designed to help Salesforce professionals deliver, in a best practice way on the platform. We've distilled all of that knowledge into an introduction that is really easy to understand, give you a lot of context, as well as start to introduce you to the fundamental concepts.
So things like version control, widely considered to be the core pillar of a Salesforce DevOps process. But there's introductions to version control so you can start to get to grips with that and understand why it's needed and why it's so important and why it is considered one of those four pillars. And then on top of that, I mentioned that it has content there that can be accessed and utilized by those slightly more mature in their DevOps journey. They might want to learn a little bit more about, Git branching strategies and the pros and cons of different ones, and you have that content all accessible in Launchpad for you as well.
So those of you that aren't a beginner and looking for something a little bit easier and a little bit more, advanced you are k h two there as well.
Any good DevOps learning platform is gonna teach you a little bit about, automation too and those kind of fundamentals as well as testing, which Launchpad does as well. But one of the key things in there, that often gets overlooked as part of any DevOps process but is becoming increasingly more important in the Salesforce space is ensuring that you're protected. So, we have a course on DevOps Launchpad that is centered around Salesforce backup and Salesforce backup strategies and has really tangible, tangible information that you can take away and apply to your own orgs to make sure that in the event of disaster that you're protected as well.
So we have the whole spectrum of things there that you might want to learn about and are probably gonna be concerned with as it comes to leveling up your delivery life cycles as well as your overall management of the platform. And I mentioned there as well, obviously, it's a it's a platform that was created by Gearset as well. So if you're a Gearset customer or a prospective GearSat customer, you can learn a little bit more about the tool. There's interactive GearSat courses that you can use, to get a little bit more of a deep dive into the GearSat application, how it works, and the different ways that you can utilize that so that you can, adopt some of the best practices that are outlined, throughout the courses.
So how do you use DevOps Launchpad?
So first and foremost, you wanna go to dev ops launchpad dot com. So I am gonna flick over to my tab here, which I already have open, and you can see here that we are, on the DevOps Launchpad homepage.
On the homepage here, if you're signing up a little bit later or navigating here a little bit later, we've got a reminder here of everything that I'm talking about today in terms of what DevOps Launchpad offers, a fantastic group platform to learn all your areas of Salesforce DevOps and build the skills and expertise that you'll need to be successful. If your organization is already doing this or is planning to do it, you have this all available to you here as well.
We have a little bit about, the maturity matrix. So I mentioned gears, DevOps Launchpad isn't just for those beginners. It's for a little bit more advanced users as well. And you can see here the journey that DevOps Launchpad can start to take you on.
DevOps Launchpad also has a fantastic blog as well. So if you are interested in kinda learning and development and, why you should be doing DevOps or more interested in the thought leadership around DevOps and, adopting these best practices and more intricate details into what you can do to be successful with DevOps, we have a fantastic Launchpad blog in here as well, that has more thought leadership pieces.
Let's go back to the top of my screen. Let's get ourselves started. So I'm gonna click sign up now. Now this is gonna launch me straight into the application for me, as I am already a Dell Launchpad user. But if you click this nice blue button, what you'll then be able to do is create your free account. And now all you're gonna need to do is create your free free account is your name, your email address, and you'll be ready to get going, and you'll be able to to access all of the fantastic Launchpad content that we have here.
Now this is my DevOps Launchpad account. So you'll see here that I have already subscribed and completed a bunch of courses here, and you can start to see, start start to see those here. But for you as a new user, or an existing user that is revisiting the platform, what you'll wanna do is in the left hand side of the application here, you'll see library.
If you click on the library, you'll then be able to view all of the content that's available to you and all the courses that are available to you. So no matter where you are, or no matter what your interest is specifically is, in the space, you'll have a course here that is available to you. So you can see here getting started with Launchpad, your instructions to Salesforce, development here as well as the Gear Set Academy, your courses that are centered around Git from the fundamentals to more advanced branching strategies, your CICD, Salesforce backup.
We have a deep dive into Salesforce DX tooling. If you're new to DX and you want a little bit more information on that and how you can utilize DX to your, to your advantage, then we have a course centered around that. We have a course on lightning web components as well. So this is something that you'll start to see a little bit more of, and I'll mention again, when we take a little bit of sneak peek.
Key Salesforce development skills are covered in Launchpad as well, as well as testing. Another core component of any fantastic Salesforce DevOps process, is included as well here, in this course. One of these courses, was built with help with our friends at Profar, the automated testing tool. So lots of deep knowledge of the Salesforce ecosystem and DevOps best practices throughout these courses.
If you're wanting to sign up to any course or want a little bit more information of any course, you click new, and you'll have a course overview here on what's involved, and you'll have a checkout button. Now, this checkout button doesn't mean that you have to pay for anything. This should be free. So if I go back to the shop, all like all of these courses are, if I select the lightning work components here, I can get this course for free. And that goes for all of the courses that are available on the DevOps launchpad for you.
Once that product has been unlocked, it'll be added to your library. So if I refresh my page here, we'll be able to see that lightning web components, aspect has been added to my account here as well. So I'll then be able to view that course and be able to get started.
So when I start my assignment, we'll be kicked straight into it, and you'll see the course overview will have a fantastic introduction here as well that we can read through and digest all of the things that this course is gonna teach us about.
And then for each course that we do as well, if I scroll to the bottom of this page quickly for you and click continue, much like Trailhead, for each module of the course that you run through here, you have an interactive quiz where you can assess what you've learned in, the chapters that we've been exploring here as well. And then once you reach the end of the course and once you've completed the course, what we'll be able to do is view that course. So if you view a course and complete a course or have already completed a course, if you're already a member of DevOps Launchpad, you won't be able to revisit that, revisit the content if you need a refresher.
But you'll also see here that you can download a certificate of completion, to say, yay. I've completed, the course on DevOps Launchpad, for you then to use. If you wanted to brag a little bit, then you can share with your peers on LinkedIn, and make sure, that everybody knows just how fantastic you are and how much you're upscaling, in the Salesforce DevOps space. So that's an option available to you as well.
As you run through DevOps Launchpad, you might be interested to see how you're using the application and have a little bit of analytics around how much you've been doing here as well, and you can do that via the results tab.
Not too much to say about this here, other than a little bit of personal gratification, for just how fantastic you are. So really easy to get started. It's a whole library of courses there that are available to you right now that you can get going with straight away.
And then I'd encourage you to do so. Like I said, it's a little bit like Trailhead there as well. So a platform that you're all obviously familiar with, and should have no trouble, in learning actively a little bit more about the dev ops space.
So what you can expect to learn, and what you can expect to see from DevOps Launchpad is the future is dedicated certification tracks and new courses. So, we are investing in DevOps Launchpad to give you specific guided tracks, which you can then use for more dedicated certification, on the platform. So we should start to see some really fantastic content in here for you, that you can really use and feel really comfortable, that we're giving you the best platform to be successful and that foundational knowledge that you'll need, to be successful and start to apply to, start to apply to your own organizations, as well as community content and connections as well.
So there's plans for DevOps Launchpad to develop into a community much like the Chill Vision community as well, where you can come and share your experiences with other, DevOps Launchpad users and people in the community, to start to raise that conversation and start to share a little bit more about DevOps. I know DevOps is a fairly new concept. We have DevOps center coming in the fall, in GA and Salesforce as well. So this is gonna become a really important topic that you're gonna wanna talk a little bit more about, with your peers in the community.
So DevOps Launchpad is gonna be a platform, where you're gonna be able to do that as well.
Along with the blog as well, we're gonna start to see more content around interviews and, blog posts with Salesforce DevOps experts, people that are actually doing this on a day to day basis that you can learn from, and really start to elevate that experience if, you're slightly new on your journey, and you want to start to see what best practice can look like and the benefits of stepping into best practice workflows. You're gonna see that demonstrated through some of the fantastic customers, that Gearsat has, and, their story is gonna be shared on here. And maybe a little bit more food for thought if you do have a DevOps process already that you'd like to tweak and change, you'll see that too. And much, much more as well. So I really encourage you to keep an eye on DevOps Launchpad. Even, even if you do go in and complete all the courses there and are hankering for more, there is gonna be more things available to you over time. So be sure to keep coming back to us.
To get started today, dev ops launchpad dot com is exactly where you can do that.
And if you have any questions or, would like any further advice from the team, you can always reach out to me. Like I say, my name is Jack McCurdy. My email address is jack m at gear set dot com. You can find me on Twitter, on LinkedIn, and all those fantastic places as well. So be sure to reach out to me if you have any questions, and I'd be more than happy to help. So if anybody has any questions, then you will be able to, drop those in the chat now if you have any.
Will DevOps launchpad cover the new DevOps center eventually too? So, Vanessa, as as it is right now, there are no plans, I don't think, to go into DevOps center specific content. I know the DevOps center team are planning, a lot of content around that themselves, to help people skill up in that area, with probably more specific details, around the DevOps center that you may be looking for here as well. But as with, as with any platform, irrespective of what tool, they're gonna be using for those DevOps practices, Launchpad is a great way to start to understand the concepts that, tools like Gearset and DevOps Launchpad will start to enable, and those foundational things that you'll be able to, take away. If you go away to use DevOps in there, I'm sure they will have more specific DevOps center training for you. I know that's something that Karen Fidelak at TDX was talking about, putting together and something that should be available to everybody, ahead of GA or at the time of GA.
Hopefully, that answers your question.
Sure. So, Merrick, you've asked us a question here in, in the chat. If you had any experience with other third party tools similar to Gearset, could you please explain the reasoning why you would choose to work with Gearset instead of a similar application?
So that's a fantastic question, Merrick.
And the reason that, we see a lot of customers here at Gearset choose Gearset over, the other third party tools out there, It's down to the versatility, of an application like Gearset. This webinar isn't isn't a sales pitch for Gearset, so I won't delve too much into the selling points. But as you'll start to see if you take the DevOps Launchpad courses, a DevOps process should be designed to be versatile and be able to help you scale and grow and allow for a little bit of flex and, bendability as you begin to mature. And as you start to incorporate other things into your DevOps process, you should have a tool that enables that.
And that's one of the key reasons that, customers of Gearsets choose Gearset is because we can suit any DevOps process from the smallest teams right up to large enterprise teams, with their DevOps goals. So, if you're just starting out in your DevOps journey, then we're a fantastic place to start, and then we're a platform that's gonna allow you to grow with, your maturity level as well.
Thanks, Rob. Easy to use as a consultant. We always get lots of comments about how easy GearSet is to use from us, UX, and UI, as well as our fantastic support as well. But I'm gonna stop talking about GearSet because this isn't, this isn't a GearSet sales pitch. And, if you'd like more information, be sure to reach out to me, and I can connect you, with people if you'd like to see a more in-depth demo with Gearset.
You are more than welcome.
Alright. I'm just checking that I haven't missed any other questions in here.
Diane, you are welcome.
Alrighty. I'm gonna give you was this announced on SFDX Discord? Shaman, was what announced on SFDX Discord?
S s f x d Discord?
Well, as in DevOps Launchpad. So, DevOps Launchpad, was created around a year ago. I believe at that time, it was, it was mentioned to the the Discord crew. If you are a member of the Discord crew and like what you've seen today and want to want to plug us in there, then please do. But that is a great reminder that I will drop a message in, in the vendor's gear set channel, in the Discord, just to make everybody aware of that again.
Any last minute questions for us in the q and a?
Okeydokey. I think that, I think that wraps wraps it up here. So, thanks everybody again for for joining me today. Hopefully, that's given you a little bit of confidence about where you can go if you're interested in learning, more about the concepts, of DevOps and where you can start to skill up in in those areas. As I mentioned, feel free to connect me on LinkedIn or reach out to me on Twitter or send me an email, jack m at gearset dot com. Glad to help you and hopefully get to see you all again either in person or online.
Thanks very much. Have a great day. Have a great evening.
