You’ve found our blog and website, you probably have a Developer Edition org. But have you been to a Developer Group meetup in real life?

Whether you’ve been working with the Salesforce platform since the dawn of Apex (like me), you’ve just switched from another platform (welcome!), or you’re building your dev skills from scratch (keep on learning!), I want you to know there’s something different here, and it’s not just the platform.

The Salesforce Platform has world-class technology. It’s metadata-driven and multi-tenant. It’s trusted, fast, easy, and smart. In short, it’s groovy. But there’s a lot of cool technology out there, and the same can be said for other platforms. When I talk to Salesforce Developers, what I hear most is that they love the tech, but the key differentiator is the community. I also hear that from Bret Taylor, Salesforce President and Chief Product Officer, and co-creator of Google Maps and the Google Maps API, among other things.

“I’ve worked at a lot of amazing technology companies in my career but no company has a community like the @salesforce Community #TrailheaDX @trailhead #TDX18 @btaylor pic.twitter.com/nElhS3nXIP

— Charlie Isaacs (@charlieisaacs) March 28, 2018

So, if you haven’t yet stepped foot into a Developer Group meeting or joined a Developer Group meetup virtually, you’re missing out!

What’s a Developer Group?

Developer Groups in the Trailblazer Community are one of the fastest ways to learn best practices and get inspired by learning with and from your peers. There are hundreds of active Trailblazer Community Groups all over the world. These volunteer-led groups typically meet monthly to learn with and from each other (and Salesforce employees) and to inspire each other to achieve great things in their careers, companies, and communities.

Take a look on TrailblazerCommunityGroups.com to find in-person or virtual groups that interest you, and register for the next meeting!

Don’t take it from me — check out what our Developer Group members have to say:

Jigar Shah

Melissa Hansen

Philip Southern

Sue Maass

Adam Olshansky

Ready to get inspired? Go to Trailblazer Community Groups and I’ll see you soon!

Awesome resources

Mary’s Favorite In-Person DG: New York City, NY Developers Group
Mary’s Favorite Virtual DG: Women in Tech Developers Group
Trailhead Module: Trailblazer Community Groups

About the author

Mary Scotton is a VP of Developer Evangelism at Salesforce and has been blazing trails with the Salesforce Platform since 2005. Originally a member of the Platform Product Management team, she led the development of many of the point & click app development tools that are still used today. She is passionate about educating, enabling, and having fun with the awesome Salesforce Admin and Developer community. You can find her on Twitter @rockchick322004.