Meet Seth Minton, the 16-year-old UK-based student who is set to take the Salesforce ecosystem by storm. Please tell us a little about yourself.
Hi, my name is Seth. I’m a 16-year-old student currently completing my GCSEs, and really passionate about the power of technology. I joined Trailhead at the end of 2022, and have since become a Salesforce Ranger with 15 Superbadges.
Over the last couple of months, I’ve completed both my Salesforce Associate and Administrator Certifications.
How did you first hear about Salesforce?
I’ve always been interested in Technology and Business and chose them as GCSEs in school. After learning about the power of Salesforce, and the vast amount of career options from my mum (Laura Croudace, who works in the Salesforce ecosystem), I was instantly engaged as it combined these two passions.
My mum introduced me to people like Jonathan Fox who is a Golden Hoodie Award winner, and David Massey who runs Get Certified. Lee Durrant has offered career advice and lots of other Trailblazers have been really kind and helpful to me starting out.
How have you been using Trailhead to learn? What do you like about it?
Trailhead has been crucial in preparing for my certifications as it’s given me an insight into the functions of Salesforce. I enjoy learning on Trailhead as it is very engaging, especially the hands-on challenges. It has a game-like, friendly competitive nature through its points and badges system, allowing me and my mum to gain motivation from each other.
You’ve achieved Ranger status, 15 Superbadges, and the Salesforce Associate and Admin Certifications already. What’s your secret?
Discipline. The first step I took in November 2022 was to stop playing video games and stop scrolling on TikTok, which helped me gain more free time that I could contribute to something useful. Recently, I’ve been studying for and sitting my GCSEs, so I’ve been taking my exams in school, coming home, doing two hours of revision for my exams the next day and then studying on Trailhead or for my Admin Certification. That’s my secret!
What challenges have you faced, and what have they taught you?
The main challenge I have faced is when things don’t go right you have to keep going. I was taught this quite early in my journey through Trailhead, as sometimes silly mistakes are bound to be made but I’ve found it’s best to learn from them rather than dwell on them. Trailhead has definitely taught me the key attributes of perseverance and resilience.
I also think that the Trailblazer community and being able to ask people questions is amazing – people like Jonathan Fox and David Massey have been a massive help.
What are your future ambitions?
I’ve just left school so I’m putting a huge amount of energy into finding a Salesforce apprenticeship. I want to go straight into a role and learn on the job as that’s how I’m going to be able to grow and give my best rather than going to college and learning older technology. I believe applying my knowledge in a real-world setting would help accelerate my Salesforce Career.
Getting my Administrator Certification was a brilliant milestone and foundation to build from. As for long-term goals, I’d like to start off as a Salesforce Admin, then become a Developer, whilst also giving back to the community by getting involved in User Groups.
What advice would you give someone just starting out?
My advice to someone starting out in their journey is to:
- Make a LinkedIn account – the Salesforce Ohana is very friendly and always willing to help
- From an educational perspective definitely utilise Trailhead as it is an amazing free educational platform
- Now that you have both of these I would recommend posting your Trailhead progression on LinkedIn as you will receive support and could even inspire other people
- Look into the Associate Certification as it will give you a basic understanding of how the platform and ecosystem work
