Training Future Salesforce Admins

Welcome to our blog series, Salesforce Partner Success in the Classroom. Every month, we’ll introduce various Salesforce partners that support colleges in teaching Salesforce content or curriculum. Along the way, you’ll hear stories of the incredible work happening across the ecosystem to create and skill up new talent.

Today, we spotlight how Wipro Limited and Butler University have teamed up to teach students Salesforce Admin skills. Alli Gunderson, Associate Manager, and Rajeev Kumar Singh, General Manager, share more about the course.

Give us a snapshot of the semester-long course.
Alli: The Introduction to Salesforce course we’re teaching at Butler is designed to give students foundational knowledge of Salesforce technology, its uses in the business world, and the variety of careers available in the Salesforce ecosystem.

After each lesson, we recommend Trailhead work to students to solidify the concepts covered in class. We’ve also introduced our students to a hands-on case study where they learn about a company, their pain points, and the scope of their initial Salesforce implementation. Each student took a scope item ranging from documentation of user stories to big deal alerts and custom objects. Then, at the end of the semester, each student presented on what they built, how they built it, and what they learned along the way. We've been amazed at how much the students have learned and their ability to apply it to a real-world scenario.

How did the course get formed?
Rajeev: Last year, I spoke with a senior executive at Salesforce about how Wipro has worked with various universities around the world. Through Wipro’s Project Readiness Program, and in conjunction with these academic partners, we help students to bridge the gap between industry expectations and classroom learning. Numerous initiatives, including faculty development programs, curriculum development, and student enablement, are undertaken to meet the objective of “closing the gap.” Our Salesforce Talent Alliance friends suggested that Wipro could do a similar initiative for preparing current students for a seamless transition into the Salesforce ecosystem.

Knowing that the hub of our global Salesforce practice has always been in Indianapolis, it made sense for us to reach out to Butler University. The office has heavily drawn from the Butler graduate population, and this seemed like a great way to help fortify that natural talent pipeline.

This is one of our first initiatives focused on developing Salesforce skills before students graduate. This program will give a head start to these students in the ever-growing Salesforce ecosystem.

What are some of the challenges you faced?
Alli: A challenge that we initially had was showing students why they should commit three hours a week to a course that’s not for credit. We quickly tweaked the syllabus to emphasize why it matters to a college student as far as the business applications in the real world, the growth trajectory of the Salesforce ecosystem, and the average salaries of Salesforce careers.

What have been the outcomes of the class?
Alli: By the end of our course, students are ready to sit for the Salesforce Administrator certification to prove their expertise as they launch their career search. In our first semester last fall, several students took the exam. A former student is using Salesforce in their current internship and bounces ideas off of us to help solve complex security problems in their org.

What's next for the program?
Alli: We intend to continue teaching the Introduction to Salesforce course at Butler University to build a Salesforce talent pipeline here in Indianapolis. In a post-COVID world, we also hope to be able to invite students into our office to see how a Salesforce consulting career looks day-to-day.

You can teach this too!
Access our Educator Portal for the Salesforce for Future Admins and Salesforce for Business Consultants role-based course kit. You’ll have everything needed to set up and deliver the course, including an instructor guide, weekly presentation slides with built-in talk tracks, and a customized Trailhead trailmix.

If you’re a Salesforce Partner looking to learn more about reaching new Salesforce talent, check out the Talent Alliance and our university toolkit.