How one woman is giving back to the Trailblazer community
Jessica Murphy, Salesforce MVP, shares how she got to where she is today through the support of other inspirational women in tech. She also offers some top tips for setting up and teaching via Trailhead at your local user group or Salesforce Saturday.
Jessica is trained as a sign language interpreter and educator (she has a Master’s in Education) and has always had a passion for education. She has co-founded not one, but three community groups in the Salesforce ecosystem; Women Who Dev user group, Phoenix Salesforce Saturday, and Saasie Tech Social. Jessica also loves helping others achieve their potential.
“In college, I took a class called ‘Disability in the Normal Classroom’ and I found out that deaf students graduated at a rate of only 30% due to the lack of supportive services. I decided to become a sign language interpreter and study education so that I could become a professor or work in an office of disability services.”
After earning her Associate’s Degree, Bachelor’s, and Master’s in Education, Jessica found that the job market was not in her favor, “Friends and family would keep asking me how the job search was going and I would cringe or make a joke about it. It was painful.”
The incredible women in tech who inspired a career change
Fortunately, Jessica’s luck changed when she met Sheena Smith from Women Who Code. “I had known some developers in my life, but never a woman developer. After talking to Sheena I thought, well maybe I should do this too!” Jessica went home and started teaching herself HTML, CSS, and Javascript. She joined her local chapter of Girl Develop It, a nonprofit which teaches women to code. She signed up for an 8-week Ruby on Rails and a 4-week Javascript bootcamp and got to work.
“One day I decided to accompany a friend to an event she was interested in. It was a Salesforce event but since I was married to the idea of becoming a Ruby on Rails expert, I only went as a supportive friend.” Jessica was so uninterested in giving Salesforce a chance that she brought her own laptop to the event so she could practice Javascript during the session.
“I remember typing away on my computer but making an effort to look up at the speaker once in a while, you know…to be polite.” Turns out that the speaker was the one and only Chris Duarte, Editor-in-Chief of Trailhead. “If you’ve ever been lucky enough to see Chris speak, you know she has a magnetic power. As she was speaking, I kept finding myself tuning in, despite trying to block her out. So many of the things she said were interesting. Before I knew it, I had closed my laptop and was giving Chris my undivided attention.” Jessica ended up attending the second day of the event which was a full day of working in Trailhead.
“As an educator, I saw the benefit of Trailhead right away. Self-paced guided learning, with information presented and tested in various modalities. I was hooked.”
Jessica’s career was sparked into existence by these strong women in tech, and there are more out there, inspiring and supporting women in the developer community, including Kieren Jameson. Jessica isn’t the only Chris Duarte fan out there, Kieren, the founder of RADWomenCode and now a member of the Trailhead team, counts Chris as her own personal champion and mentor:
Becoming the strong woman helping others
Now, it’s Jessica wanting to give back and be the strong woman that helps others to realize their potential in the Salesforce ecosystem. One of Jessica’s three extra-curricular community groups is the Women Who Dev user group which meets virtually for discussions and lessons on development. “It’s particularly important for me to build the confidence of women developers.”
“We still have a long way to go before women developers are as well respected as male developers in the workplace.”
Jessica has many stories illustrating this very fact. “One of my friends who was working on an issue in her org was talking to a male consultant and he said, ‘Let me talk to your developer’ and she was like ‘I AM the developer!’ I have met many women devs who say they will recommend a course of action at work and people won’t listen, but a male developer can suggest the same action and people will gladly accept it. Even in an ecosystem as equality driven and kind as Salesforce, we still have a long way to go.”
Besides providing a space for women to support each other, Jessica also brings in guest speakers, “Recently, we had a guest speaker talk about what it’s like to be a woman developer in Latin America, we’ve also had a woman present her code solution for an issue that came up in her org at her company.
“You can’t always celebrate discovering solutions at work because you may want to act cool about being able to figure something difficult out, especially if you are in a male-dominated environment.”
A surprising outcome of the group has been that it’s just nice to have a place where you can share what you have recently figured out and get cheers from your friends.”
Seeing the code
When setting up the Women Who Dev group with Zayne Turner and Rachel Watson, Jessica not only wanted to provide networking opportunities but also ways for people to see code. “Seeing good code is one of the best ways to become a better developer and a lot of people starting out benefit from seeing what others are doing, or else they’re just working in a silo.” But no one works in a silo if they are near Ms. Jessica Murphy!
Jessica also co-leads Saasie Tech Social, a networking event that meets quarterly. “I started Saasie Tech Social because I had a friend who was too afraid to meet a recruiter at a Girl Develop It event. She looked at me with almost tears in her eyes, and I took her hand and I said, “Come on, let’s go meet this recruiter together.” I was scared too, we were both new developers but we walked up to that recruiter and started up a conversation.”
“The key to a successful Salesforce career is, of course, a strong understanding of the platform, but it’s also knowing people.”
That experience made Jessica realize how important it is for people to have a chance to regularly meet and network with fellow professionals and recruiters. A chance to meet those who can help when you have a question or those who can assist you in getting to that next step in your career.
🌟Jessica’s Tip: “I can’t run across every room and make sure my UX friend meets my Admin friend. And neither can you. That’s why I started using “Ice Breaker Bingo.” Why not try it for yourself at your next user group or Salesforce event? Use this Icebreaker Bingo card or create your own!
The Salesforce Saturday pioneers
Jessica is proud to have helped start the second oldest Salesforce Saturday group in the entire world. “Paula Nelson was so inspired by Stephanie Herrera’s work with the first ever Salesforce Saturday group in Austin, Texas that she asked if she could start a similar group here in Phoenix,” Paula called on Jessica, as well as community member Rachel Watson to help out.
When Paula moved away, Jessica and Rachel forged forward. “Since our inception in 2015, we have tried many things in our group, but the one thing that works is sharing within our community. Salesforce Saturday is a great space to learn and network. Our group meets every week because we believe that a weekly practice gets people in the mind space to help, collaborate and explore. If you want to start a Salesforce Saturday, just do it. You will learn as you go along.”
🌟Jessica’s Tweetable Tip: “Don’t have a Salesforce Saturday group in your area? Pick a public place with wifi, like a coffee house, and let others know that’s where you will be on Saturdays. That’s really all it takes to start. #SalesforceSaturday” Tweet it!
“From my understanding, trailblazers, pioneers, and innovators aren’t always people who make new things. They are people who take existing resources and put them together in new ways.”
For Jessica, this has meant “putting together” her past and her present. “I am a language teacher and a Salesforce expert. I’ve found ways to pair these two facets of my personality to create positive change in my community.” From her experience, Jessica knows that when some people are learning code and technology it’s a lot like learning a new language.
So, when she welcomes new people to her Salesforce Saturday group, one of the first things she has them check out are some of the beginner trails on Trailhead. “Because if I were to teach you American Sign Language today, I would start with vocabulary.” These trails give newbies the skills they need so they can start speaking and understanding the language of Salesforce.
Jessica’s tips for helping Trailhead newbies get started in your user groups:
- Get all new Trailblazers situated on Trailhead with the Learn Salesforce on Trailhead trail. “Trailhead is amazing and intuitive, but I’ve found that this trail answers a lot of the frequently asked questions I receive from new learners.” (Great job, Trailhead writers!)
- Next, have the Trailblazer work through the Lightning Experience Basics trail or the Learn CRM Essentials for Salesforce Classic if they’re at a workplace still using Classic. “The sooner someone learns those basics, the sooner they can really start to take in all of the conversations happening around them.”
- Then, ask your Trailblazer what their learning style is. “For instance, find out if they prefer to learn from the big picture down to the details rather than from the details up to the big picture.”
Becoming an Admin: Big-Picture Thinkers Edition
Becoming a Developer: Big-Picture Thinkers Edition - Finally, make sure they know they can ask questions. “In addition to your in-person group, make sure your newbies know about the Trailblazer Community and the supportive community on Twitter which can be activated via the #askforce hashtag.”
Proud Admineveloper and woman in tech advocate
Jessica has come a long way on her “Admineveloper” journey. (Admineveloper is a portmanteau of her own creation, combining Administrator and Developer.) “I’m proud to inspire other women in tech, especially having been inspired by so many strong women myself. We need to develop and support in order to break down barriers in this predominantly male-dominated space. And I hope all you strong women out there join me driving this change.”
Want to learn more about Jessica’s love of Trailhead? Check out her Trailblazer Story on the Meet the Trailblazers page!
Want to be a part of the conversation? Join the Trailblazer Community.
Want to start a Women Who Dev group in your part of the world? Learn how to start a user group.
Want to kick-off your own Trailhead journey, get started today.
